Wild weather...
Today was not a great day for Spokane: Mudslides, fires, storm drains overflowing, sever thunderstorm warnings, tornado warnings, thunder, lightning, hail, 3 inches of rain an hour.
At first I thought it was just a really big thunder and rain storm, one of the bigger ones we've had in quite some time. After a while the rain dissipated more and more until it stopped altogether. I had to go to the store so I figured that now would be a good of time as any. Everything was fine until I was about to turn onto University Street. It was at that point that it started to rain again, it progressively became heavier and heavier within a minute of it starting. I turned onto University and had to stop at a light. While waiting for the signal to change the heavy rainfall changed to heavy hail. I thought my windshield was going to spider-web or something, as I already had a lengthy crack on the bottom and the hail was hitting very hard. The green light comes on, but by that point there was so much hail coming down that you could hardly see in front of you, much less to your sides. Even though I needed to turn shortly after the light I decided to keep going straight since I couldn't see anything and didn't want to get into an accident. Within five minutes the hail had stopped, leaving behind at least an inch of hail (it looked like a bit of a winter wonderland) and it was raining heavily again.
My windows began to fog up and I had to turn on the heat to counter act it, but it took forever to "defrost" everything. By the time I reached Argonne Street, having to drive through gigantic collections of standing water (many of which coming up to the middle of my hubcap), I felt my steering wheel stiffen up. Immediately my brain went "Oh...fuck!". When my steering wheel stiffens up it means that my car is either going to die on me or it just did. The "check gauges" light came on and I looked over to see that my car was somehow overheating. I couldn't just stop my car in a turn lane so I waited as long as I could before having to pull over on Appleway and put on my flashers while I let my car cool down. I fucked up traffic a bit there, canceling out one lane altogether for a while. I waited there for about ten minutes, hoping for the best and feeling like an asshole. My car started up again, but it sounded really weak. About a minute after I started to head back home the gauge light come on again, and I turned (it was becoming more and more impossible to turn my steering wheel now) into a parking lot of some telemarketing building. Again I had to let my car cool down, but this time I also decided to talk to the nearest phone to try and call my dad just in case the car died on me altogether. By the time I reached the store I was completely soaked. Needless to say I couldn't get ahold of my dad for the life of me (just my luck, haha). I walked back to my damn car and let it cool down for about twenty minutes. I started my car up again, and was greeted by a very weak engine turn over. Things were going alright, even though my eyes get scanning the gauges and watching the needle rise to "H" at an unsettling speed. Then, less than thirty feet from my parking space, I had to stop behind a school bus and wait...and wait...and wait...and my the gauge light came on again. I had no choice but to turn off my car, put my flashers on and wait for about five minutes before making the lousy thirty-foot trip to my parking spot.
I'm not really a car person at all, but if I had to guess I would say that I most likely lost a belt going through one of those huge puddles of standing water.
Everything seems to have passed though (except for my car troubles), and I am still alive (which is good too I guess).
At first I thought it was just a really big thunder and rain storm, one of the bigger ones we've had in quite some time. After a while the rain dissipated more and more until it stopped altogether. I had to go to the store so I figured that now would be a good of time as any. Everything was fine until I was about to turn onto University Street. It was at that point that it started to rain again, it progressively became heavier and heavier within a minute of it starting. I turned onto University and had to stop at a light. While waiting for the signal to change the heavy rainfall changed to heavy hail. I thought my windshield was going to spider-web or something, as I already had a lengthy crack on the bottom and the hail was hitting very hard. The green light comes on, but by that point there was so much hail coming down that you could hardly see in front of you, much less to your sides. Even though I needed to turn shortly after the light I decided to keep going straight since I couldn't see anything and didn't want to get into an accident. Within five minutes the hail had stopped, leaving behind at least an inch of hail (it looked like a bit of a winter wonderland) and it was raining heavily again.
My windows began to fog up and I had to turn on the heat to counter act it, but it took forever to "defrost" everything. By the time I reached Argonne Street, having to drive through gigantic collections of standing water (many of which coming up to the middle of my hubcap), I felt my steering wheel stiffen up. Immediately my brain went "Oh...fuck!". When my steering wheel stiffens up it means that my car is either going to die on me or it just did. The "check gauges" light came on and I looked over to see that my car was somehow overheating. I couldn't just stop my car in a turn lane so I waited as long as I could before having to pull over on Appleway and put on my flashers while I let my car cool down. I fucked up traffic a bit there, canceling out one lane altogether for a while. I waited there for about ten minutes, hoping for the best and feeling like an asshole. My car started up again, but it sounded really weak. About a minute after I started to head back home the gauge light come on again, and I turned (it was becoming more and more impossible to turn my steering wheel now) into a parking lot of some telemarketing building. Again I had to let my car cool down, but this time I also decided to talk to the nearest phone to try and call my dad just in case the car died on me altogether. By the time I reached the store I was completely soaked. Needless to say I couldn't get ahold of my dad for the life of me (just my luck, haha). I walked back to my damn car and let it cool down for about twenty minutes. I started my car up again, and was greeted by a very weak engine turn over. Things were going alright, even though my eyes get scanning the gauges and watching the needle rise to "H" at an unsettling speed. Then, less than thirty feet from my parking space, I had to stop behind a school bus and wait...and wait...and wait...and my the gauge light came on again. I had no choice but to turn off my car, put my flashers on and wait for about five minutes before making the lousy thirty-foot trip to my parking spot.
I'm not really a car person at all, but if I had to guess I would say that I most likely lost a belt going through one of those huge puddles of standing water.
Everything seems to have passed though (except for my car troubles), and I am still alive (which is good too I guess).