I just barely survived the most terrifying driving experience I’ve ever had! I’m still shaking from a panic attack.
It has been supernaturally warm for February. It’s the warmest February ever for the United States, and the whole year looks to be worse.
About 2 p.m. I ventured out to a local store (4 miles away) to get some supplies for me and my wife for the weekend. I thought I was well ahead of the major storms blowing in from the west.
Halfway home I was hit by the most serious storm I’ve ever seen while driving. It was a thunder cell that erupted from the south, not the big storms we were worrying about from the west.
I almost died. I was in terrified fear for my life! I’m still shaking from the terror two hours later!
The road I was driving on to get home is a busy 2-lane road with no shoulders and lots of big curves and big hills. Most of it is on a ridge-top, where the winds can be huge!
As SUV’s and big trucks kept sailing by in both directions, my visibility dropped to ZERO! That’s never happened to me before. No 10 feet, I mean ZERO! I was getting hit with a huge barrage of thousands of large hail (quarter-size) and I had NO IDEA where I was on the road. The unbelievable barrage of hail completely iced the windshield, overcoming the wipers.
I had no idea where the road was, but I was being slammed by 60-mile winds. Big SUVs and trucks kept coming and I thought it was certain I’d have a big wreck. In my whole 62 years of life, I have never been more terrified. I’m not close to shaking off the terror. It’s really awful to be on a busy road with no shoulders with a 50 speed limit, when weathter conditions get apocalyptic!
I was born on the Feast Day of the Guardian Angels, October 2nd. I think I got saved again today (hopefully not for the last time, but we’re getting there) by those angels.
When it got to where my visibility was ZERO due to ice from the incredible hail, I veered off to the right to avoid incoming traffic. I turned on the heat to full blast, and eventually discovered I was 60 feet off the road in a farmer’s field. Miraculously, I had missed many posts they have there for new trees.
The place I turned off is only about 100 yards from the right turn to my house’s road. It’s the ONLY place on the 3-mile journey from the local town to my house where I could have possibly turned off. Any other place would have rolled the car, from falling down a steep embankment or from hitting a steep uplift. When I drove off the road, I had ZERO visibility and had no idea where I was. I was expecting to die right away from a collision or a fall or roll-over. I was so terrified it took me 15 minutes to somewhat recover myself and get back on the road.
On the way home, I saw that there were great piles of hail in every direction that looked like snow. The road was very slippery from the hail.
My wife and our dogs were terrified too, worried to death about why it was taking me so long to get back from a short trip.
Another global warming saturday!