Mother Nature's spectacular show

I’ve been drawn away from the computer the last 48 hours and we can hold Mother Nature responsible for my abandonment of my blog. Podunk has just gone through two nights of spectacular fireworks, as late night lightning storms have left the entire area in awe. Fueled by over two weeks of unusually hot and sunny weather for our area, the mixing of pressure systems finally brought us to an amazing display of atmospheric pyrotechnics. Having lived both in humid Ontario and flat and hot Manitoba I have seen my fair share of thunderstorms, but the evenings of the last 48 hours, have provided me with a show I can honestly say I haven’t seen before. Podunk traditionally does not get hot enough to provide the conditions for a severe thunder storm, but we've had a very very nice summer thus far, extremely not and very sunny, a definite change from our frequently cool and cloudy climes. With the heat bound to break eventually, the last 48 hours set in motion the chance to sit back and enjoy a show without compare!

We began our own version of the Symphony of Fire with a Sunday night show of dry or sheet lightning; off far in the distance it lit the sky up for two hours with nary a sound of thunder, nor a drop of rain. Bright flashes of energy changed the hue of the sky and lit up the surrounding mountains in an eerie bright light. The first night of our double header brought people out onto their decks, gathered along the waterfront and on street corners taking in a most unusual spectacle for our area. It was interesting to listen to the neighbourhood as those outdoors for the show ooed and awed, screamed and cursed during the two hours of bright flashing bursts. Large crowds gathered on our waterfront which is pitch black at night to view the best the atmosphere could offer.

But if Sunday night was impressive, Monday night was the BIG show. It again began around 10:30 as thunder crackled off the mountains and flashes of the sheet lightning once again cascaded around the Podunk area. And then came the bright flashes of fork lightning, dancing across the sky in all directions, whichever way you looked you would find a bolt stretching across the sky or crashing downwards toward the ground. The noise was deafening as the thunder boomers rolled through the area with a force not seen here in a long time, if ever. By eleven o’clock the power grid in most of the city surrendered to the Gods of lightning and we were plunged into darkness in over 70 per cent of Podunk. (Having decided to shut down my computer earlier on in the festivities, sensing that we were in for a beauty of a storm, the power interruption quickly brought my plans to update my blogs to a halt).

The complete darkness only added to the drama of the show, some bursts of lightning were so bright as to hurt the eyes. The loudness of the thunder would rattle off the walls of your house. You could feel the electricity flowing through the air when the crackles of fork lightning zipped across the sky. Torrents of rain would finally arrive at the peak of the storm, pounding off the pavement and roof in a tattoo of noise. Emergency vehicles added to the symphony of noise as they rushed from one end of town to the other, investigating near misses, examining some hits or taking care of medical problems caused by the storm and blackout.

Once again as with the night before, many gathered out doors to watch the unfolding show (though to be honest I myself stayed within the confines of my home content to view the event from the comfort of my living room couch, I’ll leave it those that are either braver or more foolish than I to wander outside in a storm such as this one). And in true podunkian fashion many gathered once again on the waterfront to watch the flashing bursts of lightning up close and personal. Of course, one must realize that this is a town that when issued with a tsunami warning will rush down to the waterfront to watch the waves. Observers say that the traffic downtown the last two nights was much heavier than usual on two normally slow nights in Podunk. Apparently we are nothing if not a village of Lookie Loos.

Needless to say the marathon storm has been the topic of the day in Podunk as people compared notes and shared their experiences with the wrath of Nature.

The day began cooler today and though it heated up again as the afternoon went on, we seem to have been denied a third night of celestial entertainment. Podunkians will be talking about the last 48 hours for a while; it was a most spectacular display and reminds us all once again, of the power of nature and how we’re but mere observers in the face of its full wrath!

With the relative peace and quiet of the night, its back to my blog and the task of cobbling together my little efforts in the blogsphere, I only wish I could provide as much entertainment as that which was sent through the atmosphere these last two nights.