I can remember as children, we would put on our bathing suits and ride our bikes during the summer rains, finding puddles to splash and ride our bikes through. As an adult, I love to watch them come in, standing out on the porch, counting the lightning strikes and guess how far away they are by counting the seconds between when you see the lightning and actually hearing the thunder.
Growing up in the Great Lakes region of Michigan, US, we are well known for our severe lightning storms and heavy rains during the summer. The huge thunderhead clouds coming in from the west are as beautiful as they are potentially dangerous. When the sun is low in the sky, the orange cast to the sky, the smell of ozone, and when there is a break in the clouds, the beautiful rainbows. Then the plants all perk up, the grass appears a darker shade of green, and a warm, moist breeze comes with clean, fresh air.
When I was a kid, we lived near the Bluewater Bridge that connects Port Huron, Michigan, US to Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. It's where Lake Huron empties into the St. Clair River. There are several areas where people can park their cars and walk along the river. When the wind is coming out of the north or east, as many large atmospheric fronts have a rotational pattern to them, Lake Huron and the St. Clair River can get quite angry, kicking up some violent 10-20 foot tall waves no boat would ever want to be caught up in, including the huge 1000 foot lake freighters. The break walls on either side of the river only amplified the violence on the river. I've seen that river push those giant, powerful freighters off course and into the steel break walls or even into other freighters coming from the opposite direction. Sitting in a car parking lot, eating and drinking, watching those storms kick up all that violence, it is quite a show.
It has been exciting walking through the front pasture to feed the horses during the tropical storm. I know, I know, I'm a little weird,
but it is fun and exciting!
