Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Flash, Boom, Wet


I've been traversing back and forth from middle to eastern North Carolina for the last two weeks. There have been a few thunderstorms since I arrived. One blew by as I was sitting alongside a pond at my brother Greg's hunt club, but it was just a teaser ~ just a bit of far away lightening, some soft rumbles of thunder and a tiny bit of rain. I stood in my brother's yard later that day as the sun was about to set. I had my back to the sun as a light rain fell on me... in front of me was the full arch of a rainbow. Ah... the wonder of rain, sun, and country acreage.

Yesterday though.... as I was driving towards "down east" the leaves began to fly. As I drove past the Pamlico River, there were waves and whitecaps. The sky was darkening as the 100 degree heat of the day was fueling the storm. There were white puffy clouds under the dark storm clouds; they seemed to be running for cover ~ blown by the wind. Ionization shifts, the temperature drops, big raindrops begin to fall...

This was not an "isolated thunderstorm," the kind that pops up here and there every afternoon. This was a biggie and it lasted into the night. (See the picture ~ right in the middle of the red ~ the tip of the middle "finger" into the NC coast is where I was last night.)

As the lightening flashed and the thunder boomed and the neighbors came out on their porches to watch, the rain soaked into the parched grass. North Carolina, like California, is in the midst of a pretty serious drought. The mosquitoes also took shelter under the porch, sending most of us inside fairly quickly.

The welcome rain continued into the night. The lightening faded into the distance and the thunder became imperceptible other than to the cats hiding under the tables.

This morning everything is clean and green. The mosquitoes are happy, the tomatoes have some hope of finally ripening, and the humidity is back up around 100 percent. Woo hoooo.... more thunderstorms predicted tonight!

Peace. Mona

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