Storms? Try weather.gov first, last

 Weather.gov is the best way to learn about the weather, bar none.

Most of the storm damage at our home Aug. 10 came from broken branches.

We had quite a storm in Scott County, Iowa on Monday, Aug. 10.

This storm contained winds of up to 80 miles-per-hour, and a downpour of rain. We live in rural Scott County and our television weather cast was often not available so I used my favorite website: weather.gov.

This online approach to weather is second to none. Weather scientists are located in Mount Joy, Iowa, less than 10 miles south of our home and these folks are spot-on when it comes to weather.

Oh, we also listen to the television forecasts, and look in the newspaper as well. But the best information comes from scientists, folks who have spent their lives studying weather and ways it can and does change in the Midwest. It is the first thing I check, every day.

This is not to diss the television community. Weather is a broadcast station's bread-and-butter topic, and those folks are quite verbal during an emergency. But you have to turn on the TV and then listen closely to catch the area of interest: Television reaches far and wide in the Quad-Cities region and the weather specialists spend plenty of time talking about areas far from home.

If you want to know what's up, right to the minute, log online at weather.gov. There is so much information available; including forecasts, radar, and lots more. On Aug. 10, for example, my hubby Steve was trying to hear the television weather caster (the signal kept getting lost) while I looked on my cell, online.

We'd gotten a heads-up about the storm from daughter Kirstin, who lives in central Iowa. The storm had damaged the deck and roof at her home, 2.5 hours west.

By the time the storm got to Scott County the top winds weren't quite as strong. We have a couple of dying trees on our big property, and that's where most of the branches came from. We spent about 90 minutes picking up branches, and Steve will eventually haul the debris to the compost area, owned by our neighborhood association.

In the meantime, my back is sore from picking up sticks, and there is another 30 percent chance of storms, tonight. I like our yard to be well-maintained and will be picking up sticks for days to come.

Some help will come from Tylenol, but I'll use the online site that's been bookmarked for years: weather.gov