Lightening up the Sky

I was going to write on a different subject for the September column but the weather was too intense to ignore or talk about. The thunderstorms here in Taos County have been dramatic, energetic and gusty. “In the summer thunderstorms develop in the afternoon when the sun heats the air near the ground; if the atmosphere is unstable, bubbles of warm air will rise and produce clouds, precipitation, and eventually lightning. Thunderstorm dangers include strong winds, hail, and flash flooding.”

In San Cristobal valley, the monsoon rains have drenched the fields and dirt roads. Moderate flash flooding happened down my driveway on one of the stormy days, not causing any damage. Thankfully, we have been blessed with this moisture for our gardens and fields. I am awed by the intensity of the lightning, the thunder, the wind and the pounding rain. One day we had huge hail balls come slamming down to the ground. It was wild, totally chaotic and loud. It lasted 20 minutes. In the middle of the afternoon. I have also seen incredible lightning storms at night. Huge bolts that light up the whole night sky with continuous booming and rumbling for hours. Tell me a story about thunderstorms. Where it happened or happens. How does it make you feel?

Susan
Never been afraid of thunderstorms. There is God bowling. He may be angry making all that noise. In Ohio when we were kids we stood in the yard, never thinking twice about the danger of the lightning. The thunder would be rolling down the hill. My brothers, sisters and cousins would dance around in the yard. Back then, nobody said, “Come in, you will be struck by lightning!”

Avery
We lived in Nebraska at the lake. This storm was a dry lightning storm with no rain. The lightning would strike going from cloud to cloud. There was not a single second when lightning was not striking. Balls of lightning flying across the sky. We never forgot it. The whole sky lit up, never hit the ground.

Jenny
I love weather, it’s interesting and exciting. It brings the rain. I love how it sounds, how it goes through your body. It’s a breathing, living dynamic thing. We were at the Temple, playing in the playground area. The lightning struck so close so bright so loud. I looked at my three-year-old grandson and we both screamed at the same time and ran to the car. He looks at me and says, “thunder go boom!”

John
Last Sunday, my partner’s friend came to visit on his motorcycle from Albuquerque. He came up to get apricots. We went to gather apricots and saw the clouds rolling in. We get back to Seco, he insists he is fine. He leaves on his bike and we hear a gigantic crack of thunder. Oh no, the skies open up and a huge dump of water comes down. Now we are worried about him and go to look for him. We never found him, guessing he was fine. 1-1/4 miles down the road, no rain at all. Later a text from Michael, he got totally drenched but by the time he got to Ojo Caliente, he was completely dry.

Sandra
Out there at Heron Lake in the late 1980s the reservoir was high. Two friends and I rented a canoe one afternoon and went paddling around. Big clouds started coming in, lightning and thunder and the rain came pouring down while we were still in the canoe. We crawled in our tents, it rained all night. The wind, the waves, the whitecaps, pouring rain. Our adrenaline was high.

Andy
Every year when the last school bell rang for summer vacation, I’d pack up my camping gear and my Great Pyrenees and head to Heron Lake. The thunderstorms and lightning up in Champ valley was spectacular, until they became so booming close that they became terrifying. I remember one summer the storm was raging so wildly that my dog, who was almost as big as me, and I lay in the tent, sure that we would be struck by lightning. As the rain pelted down and the thunder shook the entire campground, I held onto my trembling dog, as we both shook throughout the night, while the tent was brightly lit like a strobe light… And then the surreal beauty of the quiet aftermath of the storm in the morning when we stepped out of the tent and the whole world was saturated with blues and greens, pungent fragrance, sunshine, and silence.

Mike
Whenever we were listening to thunder, we had a lot of room to move. Long rumble = a thunder bumper. On the gulf coast of southern Texas, the windows would rattle right over your head = explosive. It was exciting to experience. Rain came down flooding the streets in no time at all. The storms felt really close, we never had hail storms. I remember a lightning strike on some old pine trees. You could see the line of lightning on the trunk, it had grooved out a place.

Jennybird
I was doing a concert in Kentucky. Big thunderstorm clouds start coming in. The trees were falling in the road, the electricity went out, I could not use the microphone. Limbs all over the road, for sure I thought the concert would be canceled. The restaurant put out candles and the whole town came and we all sang together. Just like in the olden days. People want to gather in thunderstorms.