Zach LarkinsTHUNDERSTORMS
I got lucky the other day. I was off work and the radio was predicting thunderstorms in our area late in the afternoon. I was ready. I love thunderstorms.
I know it all depends on where you are and what you are doing at the time one hits, but I was safely ensconced on my patio when this one came rolling through, so I got to thoroughly enjoy it.
I set myself up with a drink and some cigarettes and sat back and waited for it to happen. My wife thinks I am crazy, but she just doesn't appreciate the finer things in life.
The sky to the northwest turned an eerie shade of green, a true harbinger of a good storm. The clouds became black and soon the sky was dark enough to fool you into believing it was hours later than it really was. The first drops of rain started to fall gently enough, but they were followed in quick succession by the hard, pelting bullets that actually hurt if they hit you. Having a northern exposure and protected on the west by a wall, I felt quite safe in watching this storm develop.
I watched as the wind blew the rain up the side of a neighbouring house, causing a tidal wave effect when the water hit the peak and was quickly dashed off in one fell swoop. Trees bent to let the torrents of water sweep over them and shook it off their leaves like a dog shakes itself after emerging from a pond.
The sky was split with lightning. Not the soft, gentle glow of sheet lightning, but the fierce jagged cutting of forked lightning that makes you glad you are not standing under the tree that it hits. The soft rumble of previous thunder gave way to ear shattering cracks of what can only be described as being akin to artillery fire. Even knowing that it was coming, it made me jump.
I had wondered about what our mothers had told us when we were so young. That the sound of thunder was only the sound of angels bowling. Nothing to be afraid of. And it had sounded as gentle as that. But in the midst of the storm, that sound had changed. It was if you were the pin boy when that angel smacked one square on and scored a strike.
The rain was being pushed so hard by the wind that it didn't drop any more. It came in sideways and in such a torrent that you couldn't see twenty feet in front of you. I tried hard to think of tornado or hurricane victims and how they must have been frightened out of their wits when faced with such an awesome force. But I couldn't. We rarely get tornadoes or hurricanes here and it is hard to be empathetic unless you've lived through one. I drove through the remnants of Hurricane David, after it had been downgraded to a tropical storm, and as frightened as I was at that time, it was years ago and memory fades. Maybe that's why I felt safe. I knew this would not be anything like that.
"Took a drag from my last cigarette,
Took a drink from a glass of old wine,
Closed my eyes and I could make it real and
Feel it one more time..............."
Words from Neil Diamond. Words that came back to me after so many years. I did just the same. The storm was over. As quickly as it came, it went. The birds were back out, soaring in the sky as if greeting a new day. The squirrels poked their noses out of their hiding places, sniffing the air, cautiously rattling down the trees to continue their quest for food.
It was over. I went back inside, thankful that I had the pleasure of witnessing Mother Nature in another one of her temper tantrums. Thankful for the sun which now shone in the west.
I know it all depends on where you are and what you are doing at the time one hits, but I was safely ensconced on my patio when this one came rolling through, so I got to thoroughly enjoy it.
I set myself up with a drink and some cigarettes and sat back and waited for it to happen. My wife thinks I am crazy, but she just doesn't appreciate the finer things in life.
The sky to the northwest turned an eerie shade of green, a true harbinger of a good storm. The clouds became black and soon the sky was dark enough to fool you into believing it was hours later than it really was. The first drops of rain started to fall gently enough, but they were followed in quick succession by the hard, pelting bullets that actually hurt if they hit you. Having a northern exposure and protected on the west by a wall, I felt quite safe in watching this storm develop.
I watched as the wind blew the rain up the side of a neighbouring house, causing a tidal wave effect when the water hit the peak and was quickly dashed off in one fell swoop. Trees bent to let the torrents of water sweep over them and shook it off their leaves like a dog shakes itself after emerging from a pond.
The sky was split with lightning. Not the soft, gentle glow of sheet lightning, but the fierce jagged cutting of forked lightning that makes you glad you are not standing under the tree that it hits. The soft rumble of previous thunder gave way to ear shattering cracks of what can only be described as being akin to artillery fire. Even knowing that it was coming, it made me jump.
I had wondered about what our mothers had told us when we were so young. That the sound of thunder was only the sound of angels bowling. Nothing to be afraid of. And it had sounded as gentle as that. But in the midst of the storm, that sound had changed. It was if you were the pin boy when that angel smacked one square on and scored a strike.
The rain was being pushed so hard by the wind that it didn't drop any more. It came in sideways and in such a torrent that you couldn't see twenty feet in front of you. I tried hard to think of tornado or hurricane victims and how they must have been frightened out of their wits when faced with such an awesome force. But I couldn't. We rarely get tornadoes or hurricanes here and it is hard to be empathetic unless you've lived through one. I drove through the remnants of Hurricane David, after it had been downgraded to a tropical storm, and as frightened as I was at that time, it was years ago and memory fades. Maybe that's why I felt safe. I knew this would not be anything like that.
"Took a drag from my last cigarette,
Took a drink from a glass of old wine,
Closed my eyes and I could make it real and
Feel it one more time..............."
Words from Neil Diamond. Words that came back to me after so many years. I did just the same. The storm was over. As quickly as it came, it went. The birds were back out, soaring in the sky as if greeting a new day. The squirrels poked their noses out of their hiding places, sniffing the air, cautiously rattling down the trees to continue their quest for food.
It was over. I went back inside, thankful that I had the pleasure of witnessing Mother Nature in another one of her temper tantrums. Thankful for the sun which now shone in the west.
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Good thing, too, since I live in "Hurricane Alley"....
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