Does anyone else out there love thunderstorms as much as I do? We are having a sweet little one right now!
The rain is coming down pretty steady and every once in a while, when the wind really gives it a go, the rain pelts down on the roof with the ferocity of a pianist as he approaches the next crescendo...and..... POW! There's the spectacular lightning flashing brilliantly across the sky followed by the Crack and Boom rumble of the thunder as warm air meets cold with reckless abandon!
Wahooo!!!! I love it!
When we get a really good one, we watch it with the kids. It is a family event. In the old house,we had a nice porch, where we could squeeze into one corner, and see all the action and stay dry, it was deep , and the angle of the house usually kept the rain coming from the wrong direction to find us there.
Once though, we had a ligthining fall into the small forest we have nearby, and it was scary. Even though we were home (It was a really big storm) we felt the power if it. DW started to run hysterically , and was going to hurt herself, so I ahd to stop her from running, and kids screamed loudly. I had to do a lot of "It is ok" ing to all of them, no body cared about poor me, Iw as soo scared myself :)
So, yup, it is good to watch them .......Right now we have the edge of a huge snowstorm. It has been snowing in Toronto and its west since 6 am, they got like 8" or so I believe , but we barely got anything, it started to snow lightly just couple of hours ago. Advantages of living 25 miles east of Toronto :W
I love it as long as the lightening is not close to any trees at my house.;)
I love it too, as long as it's not right on top of us that is. We get lot's of them in the summer around here, and they can be quite serious storms. Some of them have been real scarey too. But when they get too close for comfort, even I head inside!
I do not mind them unless we are in the Pu half way unpacked at Cherrystone with wind, and so much lightning and rain!!! I still find pine needless in weird places in the PU from that trip and that was almost 2 years ago!!!
Momma, where we love to camp in the lower Adirondacks, when there is a thunderstorm you get echoes of the mountains that sometimes last for 5-10 echoes. You can get it for smetimes a 1/2 hour before a storm will work it's way toward you and another 1/2 hour after it passes.
Only time I get nervous is when it's close/right on us and all of a sudden all your hair stands up. Then it's time to hit the ground as that signals you are at ground zero for a strike. Had that happen without a cloud in the sky and all of a sudden I dropped and a tree about 20 feet away exploded from a strike out of (litterally) the blue.
You cant be raised amidst the rich cornfields and soybeans of Illinois witihout loving and respecting thunderstorms. I LOVE the kind we used to have there in the summer. The western sky would turn purple and the wind would come up, and the air would "smell of ozone" (or freshly cut alfalfa--the BEST smell in the world) (or maybe the neighbors hogs--not so great a smell!) Seems like these storms always came up during baling season and as flat as it was, you could see the men in my grandfather's fields frantically trying to bring the hay in before the rain hit and ruined it.
Quite wonderful until the sky turned GREEN--then it was time to be very watchful for funnels. And then there were the multiple "snakes tongues" of lightning. Mean-looking things people were very wary of in those flat, open squares of farmland. (Every now and then, a neighbor would report a cow killed by lightning although I never heard of my grandfather losing one that way.)
And like you, Cindy, I also loved the Florida rainstorms and how marvelous they made the air smell :)
And by the way, the dirt on that Illinois farm was BLACK. And it smelled SWEET! Anyone who has ever experienced it on a warm Spring day knows exactly what I mean. What a treasure those little 3 and 400 acres farms were. Unfortunately when I was back there (near Pontiac) 2 years ago, ALL of those neighboring properties are now owned by Agri-Industries. Dont ever think for a minute that it is "family farms" who are now the chief beneficiaries of all the $ being thrown into the agricultural giveaways by our government farm programs.
I love thunderstorms, too. In fact I have some 'relaxation' type audio tapes that I listen to at night when I have a hard time sleeping, just thunderstorm sounds, and it feels so good to lay there quietly and listen to them. Believe it or not, they do put me to sleep! Sometimes if the window is open and I can feel the breeze, i can almost imagine that i can smell the rain coming.
T
;)
My absolute favorite!! My kids think I'm nuts!! But I love to lay back and listen to the pouring rain or watch some spectacular lightning!
-Debby
Our storms here are fast and furious and because it so dry it floods and disappears in a short time. After a rain storm here the fragrance of sage and rosemary fills the air. The rain comes on fast with a spectacular lightening show then the thunder and as the storm moves on it leaves a beautiful rainbow in it's trail. They come around seldom but when they do it really a show.
One my favorite things to do when my son was young was pop some popcorn, open up the garage door, pull out our lawn chairs sit in the garage and watch the storm go by and talk. Those are moments I will always cherish.
Mary Romeo
Oh yeah....I love them too as long as we're in a safe place.
Momma, you have a wonderfully poetic way of looking at them. Reckless abandon, huh? Reminds me of one of the DWs romance books.;)
I do love the storms too. But this time of year, all we are having is snowstorms. 6 inches of snow, freezing rain and wind this morning. Then a lull and back to getting 6 more inches tonight. Oh how I wish it was summer so we could hear the thunder.
I enjoy thunderstorms so much I like to shoot video with my cam corder and then later capture stills from it and post them on my Web site. I've been doing that for 2 years now.
http://home.twcny.rr.com/rajones315/
Thanks for sharing the pictures, they are really good ones !
Quote from: rajones315I enjoy thunderstorms so much I like to shoot video with my cam corder and then later capture stills from it and post them on my Web site. I've been doing that for 2 years now.
http://home.twcny.rr.com/rajones315/
I love them too! We used to live in front of a farm so we had fields on 2 sides of the house. I used to stand on the deck and watch. Haven't had a good one since we moved but I will have a nice view here too.
I thought I was one of few who like watching thunderstorms. Maybe it is a camper thing.
Anyway, I grew up learning to love thunderstorms. You see, it meant work, food, and money for my parents. Dad was the local "TV man", meaning he fixed televisions (not Tow Vehicles :D ). So, when it stormed, that meant (unfortunately for some people) that we would have work to do, and a means to pay our bills.
So, sort of like Pavlov's dog, I "salivated" with lightning. And I still enjoy watching the "show!"
Larry
Our family loves thunderstorms!! Love it when the rain comes pouring down in buckets and then you hear the rumble of thunder and then count the seconds till the lightening streaks across the sky!!!
Quote from: Starcraft DadMomma, you have a wonderfully poetic way of looking at them. Reckless abandon, huh? Reminds me of one of the DWs romance books.;)
Hey Thanks! It's been brought to my attention in the past few days/weeks/months that I haven't exhibited much of my artistic side lately.
Besides... I love thunder and lightning so much that I get caught up with bubbling excitement when I think or talk about it. When I wrote what I did, the storm was going on just beyond the window to the left of my computer chair. I was merely writing what I was experiencing at that very moment! I let the first words that came to my head fly from my fingers and onto the screen to share with all of you. The method seemed to work pretty well. I think I'd like to try to employ the technique with some of my other writings. It seems to me that there is a tern for the technique, but I can't for the life of me think of what it is....
Oh well..... My pillow beckons me and I have one more post yet to make!
Quote from: rajones315I enjoy thunderstorms so much I like to shoot video with my cam corder and then later capture stills from it and post them on my Web site. I've been doing that for 2 years now.
http://home.twcny.rr.com/rajones315/
Oh they are gorgeous!!! You are so clever to use the cam corder! I have tried so hard to catch the image of that pure energy streaking it's way to earth, but it's impossible with a digital camera and nearly as hard with a 35mm!
I'm going to try to catch some electric excitement of my own! Thanks!
Quote from: MommaMiaOh they are gorgeous!!! You are so clever to use the cam corder! I have tried so hard to catch the image of that pure energy streaking it's way to earth, but it's impossible with a digital camera and nearly as hard with a 35mm!
I'm going to try to catch some electric excitement of my own! Thanks!
Thanks Momma. The main thing is to do it safely. I shoot all my video from within my van.
Also, be prepared for a lot of dead time on the video tape. I usually just set it up on a tri-pod and let it start recording. As the storm moves through, you'll be slowly moving it, but I've found it's better to let the camera do all the work.
Also, don't be fooled by lightening. Just because your eye can't catch a bolt, the video camera might. What I mean is a lot of times we just see the flash, but a video camera can catch much more.
Here are a couple more tips. Only shoot at night, and turn your exposure down. The exposure control determines how much light the lense will take in. If your camera has an automatic light sensing control, disable it and adjust the control a few notches down yourself. If you don't your pictures will most likely be grainy.
Also, if your camera has an autofocusing adjustment, use it to focus on something in the area like a tree, and then turn the autofocus off.
I've actually been fortunate to catch streamers. Streamers are ground discharges that reach toward the sky. Lightning uses streamers to touch the ground. It's also those streamers that give you the feeling that your hair is standing on end just before lightening strikes.