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I looked outside this morning and my urge to ride was rising. Then I looked at the weather report:
A COLD FRONT CURRENTLY OVER NORTHERN LAKE MICHIGAN IS FORECAST TO CROSS OVER SOUTHERN ONTARIO THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ALONG AND AHEAD OF THIS FRONT THIS AFTERNOON..LIKELY AROUND OR AFTER 4:00 PM. CONDITIONS ARE FAVOURABLE FOR SOME OF THESE STORMS TO BECOME SEVERE. THE MAIN THREAT WOULD BE FROM THE DEVELOPMENT OF FAST MOVING LINES OF STORMS WITH STRONG WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ASSOCIATED. ENVIRONMENT CANADA CONTINUES TO MONITOR THIS SITUATION.
My urge to ride was gone.
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I decided to get out of the office as quickly as I could to beat the storm, so I was able to get out about half-an-hour late. It started raining the moment I left the building, and by the time I got to my car, the vehicle was already hit by many large droplets from the sky.
By the time I got to the highway, traffic was at a standstill and the spray of rain turned into a heavy downpour. The water droplets were huge, and I was wondering how large the hail would be when it arrived.
When I finally broke out of the traffic jam on the on ramp and headed to the underpass, the heavens opened up. It was raining and hailing so hard that it was nigh-impossible to see the car in front of you even with the lights on. There were some crazy drivers out there who had not turned on their lights and they were invisible. I made sure that I stayed behind someone who did have their lights on and kept mine lit.
Amazingly enough, I was still moving forward. By the time I got a kilometer away from the intersection, the rain stopped and I was able to zoom by most of the slower cars.
Because of the sudden torrent of precipitation, the drainage systems on the highway were overwhelmed and the passing lane (which was empty) was actually half covered with water. This coverage was uneven as well, so it was difficult to control the car, and dips in the road led to sudden slowdowns. There was one large puddle that I plowed through and sent a wave of water over my windshield. If it were a few inches deeper, I would have had a few more problems.
It is still raining off and on, but the rest of the ride back home was fairly uneventful. Traffic was actually quite normal, although I did take a detour to shop. I got soaked when I left the car, but so was everyone else. Besides, it is only water. I do not think we have serious acid rain issues anymore. Do we?
