Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Stormy Weather

It has been an unusually hot and humid summer. Our lows are in the mid- to upper-70s overnight and the highs have been high 90s to low 100s. Just walking outside in the middle of the day is enough to make you feel like you're breathing warm jello.

We've been praying for rain to cool our piece of the world off a bit, but obviously, you have to be careful what you ask for. When there's that much heat in the atmosphere, there's also a lot of energy. That energy tends to express itself as lightning. Florida is the lightning capital of the country - more people get hit by lightning here and injured or killed than anywhere else in North America. My own brother's been hit by lightning twice. He survived.

As you can imagine, we have a very healthy respect for lightning. The kids have the 30-30 rule drummed into them from kindergarden on. Sporting events have lightning delays that can turn a two-hour game into a day-long event.

We've had two days in a row of incredible lightning storms. Having spent nearly 8 years in Oklahoma, I don't normally cringe when thunderstorms are howling overhead, but the lightning in these last two days of storms have had me burying my head in my shoulders like a little child. When my boy sees me turn off the computer and the tv and unplug them so we don't catch the house on fire, he knows it's a bad storm.

As much as I love thunderstorms, I wouldn't mind if this kind would back off a little. Give me a little tropical storm anyday!

3 comments:

Janis said...

I know all about the storms in Fl. after living there for 6 years, you do learn to respect the furry of their lightning and take cover. Did you know that Colorado is second to Florida in Lightning strikes. Just a little trivia for U!

karisma said...

Yes! Do be careful what you ask for..last time I did a little rain dance for some rain..it flooded!

Funny you should post this today, I had a rather strange dream last night about a huge black cloud. No ordinary cloud either, it streaked across the sky like a comet but much larger and seemed to be warning me of something to come! I hope not. I would really rather not know I think.

On a lighter note, I also love a good tropical storm. Its been very windy, wet and cold here this week. Today the sun came out but apparently it will only be for today! Heres hoping it proves the weather man wrong!

Hugs xoxoxox

R.Powers said...

Storming here all evening!