It was the strangest thing. This afternoon I heard thunder. Not faint thunder, either. It sounded huge and explosive. But when I looked outside, not only wasn't it raining, but the bright sun was shining on all and sundry.
Now around midnight, the thunder returned. And this time there was a heavy rainstorm. Lightning too. So this afternoon was kind of like an actor showing up for a matinee performance when there was only an evening show scheduled.
2 comments:
I know what you mean about hearing thunder, loud at that, and seeing nothing but a clear blue sky outside. While thunderstorms are a fairly typical event on the east coast they're quite rare on the west - at least along the coastline but likely not in the mountains. We'd hear distant thunder in the mountains when we lived in Portland but if there were true rainstorms there I don't remember any.
Thunder like what you've described is called a dry thunderstorm or dry lightning. From what I've read it seems all the electrical activity is there - enough to spark wildfires but without rain that might quench them.
I do wonder, though, about how it was you heard such loud rumbles but saw no lightning. The world is strange.
What I never realized until just now is that the water on the Pacific Coast never really rises above the 50s. First time swimmers on all those California beaches must get the surprise of their lives. But that's why there aren't many thunderstorms. Thunder results from big shifts in temperature, which aren't there. Not that that stops rain from falling in Portland or--God knows--Seattle.
Curiouser and curiouser. Yes, dry thunderstorms exist. But they're by and large a desert phenomenon. This certainly isn't the desert. And a good thing, too. I'm not sure if there was lightning or not. But if there was it at least didn't have all that dry material to ignite.
That is kind of weird. The only thing I can think is that because it was daytime and the sun was out, the lightning just didn't show the way it would have on a dark day. You'd have to be looking for it.
Post a Comment