Today's Lovely Storm

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Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:53 am

It happens every time! I love storms, and for nearly 10 years I chased them as much as I could. A few years back I gave it up, mainly because I had never once seen a funnel touch the ground. Then today, while I'm happily working at my office, the sky goes black-green, and THIS happens. The action was not 50 feet from my office: trees and power lines coming down, cars getting squashed (nobody seriously hurt), debris flying around, hail, and near-zero visibility. The main street in the little town I work in was shut for hours while crews cleaned up and restored power.

It's like Mother Nature is mocking me! Of course, it wasn't a tornado unless a government official says it was, but the damage was far too localized for it to be anything else. (I think Environment Canada issues a fine for having an unauthorized tornado or something.) Anybody else get some good storm action today / yesterday?

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 7:03 am

We got a good rain this evening and lots of wind, but no falling trees.

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:11 am

It wasn't GOOD storm action. It looked like it was going to be nasty when it was rolling in, it was fast moving, dark, menacing... lots of lightning. Then it hit us... and decided it was just going to drop a fair amount of rain and really wuss out on the lightning, thunder and wind.

I want another active thunderstorm. I like to watch the lightning.

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 8:18 am

Over the last few weeks there have been some pretty decent thunderstorms here. There was one where the lighting was just coming down everywhere. There were at least 2 per minute. It was stunning to watch, it's just that there was one little teensy weensy problem: I'm kind of terrified of thunderstorms. Sad

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:01 am

The weekends weather here, and a forecast for the rest of the week, throw in a few low impact earthquakes, around 4 - 5 scale, plus a volcano showing burping symptoms, and it's just a typical winters week here

http://blogs.nzherald.co.nz/blog/weather-watch/2008/7/21/north-island-records-25000-lightning-strikes/?c_id=104

And it's thunder, lightning and hail outside at the moment with 45km winds meant to rise to 70km over night

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 10:18 am

I loved thunderstorms as a kid but in my part of the UK we just don't get them like we used to do. We must get the most boring weather in the world here, mild with drizzle all year round, bloody global warmings passed us by here I can tell ya Rolling Eyes

I'm off to release my stock of 1980's CFC laden hairspray, you might wanna cover your eyes !

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 12:29 pm

There is a thunderstorm happening here right now. It's nice after the very hot weather. I like the sound of thunder. Very Happy

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:00 pm

^ you're not supposed to be using electrical stuff in a storm!
You could get zapped, that'll really make your eye sparkle Shocked

I've got a video from last year's holiday of a good storm in Germany. There was a big flash of lightning from sky to ground right behind the castle.....just after I switched off the video camera..... Crying or Very sad

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 3:09 pm

My cat Titania (yes, my user ID is in fond memory) loved lightning. She would sit in the window and watch for as long as she could. We lived in Ft. Lauderdale when Andrew came through, and she did not want to stop watching the lightning and the transformers exploding - lots of pretty colored flashes. She objected strongly when I pulled her off the windowsill to take her into the bathroom (the safest spot in the apartment).

I grew up in mid-Michigan, and we had a few black-green days. I remember sitting in our basement recreation room and hearing a tornado go overhead - they really do sound like a freight train. That tornado went to the other side of town, picked up a gas station, and set it down in the middle of the street - practically in one piece.

Now I live in southern California, and the weather is a little less - interesting. Fires, yes. Earthquakes, yes. But for the most part (barring a few spectacular downpours and mudslides) predictable and stable.

Posted: Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:58 pm

We're having a really spectacular storm here as I type.
It's pouring rain, with lots of thunder and lightening.

Of course I'm rather afraid of lightening. Sad

I've had to get used to the storms, it's a part of summer here.

When I was a child -I listened to the adults discuss people they knew who had been struck and killed by lightening.
I would hide under my bed in terror that I would be struck. Embarassed

The only reason I quit going under the bed is I no longer fit underneath. Smile

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:39 am

We just had rain again. Light rain. No storm. This recent rain trend has made tending my plants much easier, I rarely have to go water them. Too bad ants decided to injure most of my pepper plants... stupid ants.

Be honest: Who else uses their computer when it's storming like mad? I've always done it.

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:56 am

I never am not on my computer. So yea... Luckily I have two surge protectors and a batter backup keeping my stuff alive just in case the power goes out here, which it never does. Yay for technology!

But if the power did go out I would be sad. I'm kind of technologically dependent. I feel naked without a the internet staring back at me.

We haven't had a storm here in a while despite them being forcasted. I must admit that's quite strange.

ETA @ 11:10 PM:

I find it ironic that a thunderstorm is passing nearby right now.

Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:31 pm

Having a good one right now - Cant even see the mountains it got so dark and its only 4:32pm!

Though I really do like T-storms!

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 12:01 am

Lightning. Less than 30 feet from my open window. NOT COOL. I don't think I have ever closed a window that fast in my.

Today seems like a particularly nasty day for storms. The entire Atlantic/Gulf coasts are simply getting throttled.

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 12:14 am

i love thunder storms too. im in rogers arkansas today, and going to laredo,tx for friday morning. so i should get to see some of the leftovers from the big one that went ashore today.

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 12:21 am

H'm,looking at radar,it looks like 2 lines of storms are getting ready to colide somewhere around here.Looking forward to it.I remember my dad sitting in the garage on a lawn chair watching storms.Guess I got it from him.

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:38 am

[The following post is not suitable for those who fear lightning.]

When I lived in Sioux Falls, SD, we had some wonderful thunderstorms. One night, three cells met right over the city. Hardly did one flash of lightning finish before another one lit the sky. The trees didn't know which way to bend because the wind was coming from everywhere. Very fascinating to watch. I loved it.

When we were teens, my brother had a summer job placing and removing sprinkler heads on a golf course - a night job, obviously. One night, as he was on the picking-up route, a thunderstorm came up suddenly from Lake Michigan. In no time he was drenched to the skin, and he could barely see where he was going. As he approached one of the sprinkler heads, he thought it would be better to just find his way to one of the roads that bordered the golf course. Then, the Protestant work ethic kicked in and made him turn back toward the sprinkler head. At that instant, a bolt of lightning hit the sprinkler head. He was deafened for a moment by the huge CRACK of thunder. Then he turned around and RAN in as straight a line as he could. If he had not hesitated, his hand would have been on that sprinkler head at that moment.

It didn't deter him from doing his job in the future, though, and his boss understood why that night's task was not completed.

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:33 am

Well, about a day and a half after my office-town was hit, another storm came right into my back yard. Marble-sized hail, light debris and a bit of a lightning dance. Then my brand-new inflatable pool flew out of the back yard, over a fence, and across the street and got a hole torn in it. My boys really loved that pool, dammit.

Still cool though. Very Happy

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 6:40 am

^^^ That's why you should have bought an in ground swimming pool. It's much more difficult for them to fly away.

Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:17 pm

If your inground pool does fly away,now that is an impressive storm!