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Electrical storms are my favorite kind to watch and we're getting a really good one right now. Shitty phone photo, but thought the view might be appreciated.

Amzungu 8 July 11
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0

I'm another Illinoisian surrounded by corn. And beans. We've had some weather lately, haven't we?

Deb57 Level 8 July 22, 2020
1

It seems they usually precede a good thunderstorm.

It does. We had an hour of good lightning before any rain or thunder began.

1

They certainly demonstrate why primitive people believed someone else was in charge! - My mother’s from Ill, and missed those storms … so dad would pile us all in the car and head uphill to Oregon City ..so she could be closer to it! ...as she’d describe how wild they were.

Varn Level 8 July 12, 2020

We really do have some spectacular storms! I agree, it's easy to see how primitive people would ascribe such immense power to some supreme being!

1

We got that storm last night, preceded by a gorgeous sunset. It was pretty scary around 9pm here.

It got pretty wicked here for a bit, too. Pretty sure my A/C unit got struck by lightning. It shut down after an extremely loud boom and it's not coming back on. 😟

1

I used to love lightning and thunderstorms. Now I dread it. One word: wildfires.

On September 8, 2012, I ecstatically danced and whooped, watching spectacular lightning strikes. A severe lightning storm on September 8 caused hundreds of fires across the east side of Cascade Range. Smoke caused hazardous air quality conditions in the cities of Ellensburg and Wenatchee, WA and was noticeable in Seattle. The cost of fighting the largest four fires was estimated to be $67.5 million.

With asthma, my doctor said I must evacuate from Wenatchee. Smoke in Wenatchee was over 1,200 ppm. Extremely unhealthy smoke is 151-200 ppm.

I fled to Sequim, WA on the Olympic Peninsula for nine weeks. Negotiated a weekly rate at a hotel. There went my savings.

Air Quality Index

[webcam.srs.fs.fed.us]

2012 Washington wildfires

[en.wikipedia.org]

Our experiences certainly do color our perspectives. That had to be terribly frightening, and I certainly don't intend to demean the destructive power lightning can have by expressing joy in observing the phenomena. I have great respect for the potential destructive wrath of nature's extremes and am aware of lightning being a common wildfire cause. I live in the prairie where tornadoes are our most terrifying and destructive weather threat, and we have learned to take them very seriously.

1

I enjoy electrical storms... until th epower goes out.

Agreed. I do still enjoy my creature comforts. Power outs a downer.

1

The drama is always heightened by the audio.

1

Yikes! 🙂

1

As a kid and up until the shift in weather patterns (climate change) I loved thunder and lightening storms. NJ had terrific ones. Seattle not so much but if there was going to be one it would be in the fall. Eastern Wa has some good thunder and lightening shows but now the concern for a lightening strike that sets off a wild fire is huge. It is with a sense of unease that I now watch the show.

2

Nice photo! I love the rain as well.. I'll sit on the terrance and just enjoy it even if I get a little wet.. Everything is so clean and fresh after a good storm...

I have a nice covered front porch that is also excellent for watching the storms pass. This rain brought our temps down over 20 degrees. It was a beautifully cool evening after it passed!

2

It's hard to get good shots of lightning with a cell phone I live on lake Erie believe me I tried thunderstorms are excellent anyhow.

3

Yep, that steeple is just asking for it!

5

One of the disadvantages of living near the Pacific coast -convective storms and lightning are almost unheard of.

Yes, I lived in SoCal for many years and they are rare. Probably saw more on TV and movies about LA than ever saw in person. Moved to Wichita and loved the storms, but not the tornadoes.

@Boxdoc Agreed, no love of tornadoes here in the midwest, but I do love the fabulous thunder and light shows.

Yes. I more so had to hear about them growing up in Portland.. Headed East, I drove all night toward lightning in the Ozarks. Unreal, wrecked cars, power outage and flooding as well. Now further East, I’m the only neighbor on his porch watching them pass by, suppose they know what they’re missing

3

They are a bit too scary for me.

My hounds are with you, not fans. You would not like the American midwest.

2

I have never liked lightning storms. Watching a tropical storm from the safety of a well-built home away from any body of water is a different story.

3

LOVE it! Like a thunderstorm on the Mara?

Oh, there is nothing quite like the sky view in Mara during a storm!

@Amzungu ..... especially if you breathe in deeply to savour the scents that are released.

@Petter Petter! You've been there, too? Such a wonderful place...literally....full of wonder!

@LucyLoohoo The Cottars, of Cottar's Camp in the Mara, were sort of relatives by distant marriage. I have many happy memories of the Mara over many years.

@Petter Now there are THREE of us who've been so very fortunate! Perhaps there are more?

@LucyLoohoo All my family of course, and some old girlfriends. I love the Kenya bush country, and the Narok area. Many a time, on a Saturday, I would go there with a friend, drive off the road right into the bush, then pitch a small tent, and light a fire. I always chose full moon nights and we would sit up, barbecuing meat and maize, and gazing out over the moonlit landscape, dotted with grazing animals. Then, having watched the dawn, we would crawl into the tent and sleep until it became too hot.
One such night we had a herd of zebra stampede right past us, with a leopard in pursuit. Magic!

@Petter You remind me of hearing a strange CRUNCHING sound outside the tent...crawling over to the bottom, peeking through....to see two hippos happily enjoying a meal. Knowing what I know about hippos...I crawled back and got into bed again! Magical!

@LucyLoohoo I too have gazed at a grazing hippo. The number one rule to remember is "Never get between a hippo and the water". Of course, getting between a mother and her child is another death sentence. We used to sail on Lake Naivasha, but even we atheists "religiously" avoided a shallow area that hippos inhabited. 🤣😂 One bite can chomp a sailing dinghy in half!
I had a thoroughly spoiled early life - I probably still have in many ways.

@Petter Almost exactly a year ago...we were paddling on Lake Naivasha...noticing that the flamingo population had dropped dramatically!. That was true in all the lakes we saw, and I was concerned, until my Kenyan friends took us to Lake Boringa.

Want to see flamingos? Literally MILLIONS of them have turned the lake a brilliant pink!

This is such an unusual event that a local school had brought about six buses of middle-school kids to see the birds/hot springs. It's not a tourist area at all and when the kids saw mzungus like us (one very tall man with snow white hair and one blonde/blue eyed woman) well...nothing would do but we HAD to pose for probably a hundred photos! It began with friendly arms around shoulders and ended with tight embraces! (Some of them wanted to touch my hair....)

I'm always happy for meetings like that one because it shows we're all just people, after all. And, unexpected ''stops'' on a journey can sometimes be the best part of the day!

@LucyLoohoo No flamingo on lake Naivasha, it's not saline, but lakes Elementaita and Nakuru are, and have them. Likewise Natron and Magadi.
Lake Bogoria and it's surroundings is awe inspiring. Only 2 miles across, but 20 miles long, it has constant geysers of boiling water dotted around the desert-like western shore. However, the Eastern shore sits below the steep sides of the rift valley. Here, there is a thick forest of fig trees, with crystal clear streams of cold water flowing rapidly through the trees and into the lake. A glorious place in which to pitch camp.
The Northern end of lake Bogoria has a stream of fresh water fed by lake Baringo, just a few miles away. I have seen snakes, including cobras, swimming across the surface of lake Baringo, on their way to the island right in the centre of the lake. On the island there is a prehistoric games board, hollowed out of a large, flat rock, on whoch I have played "Omweso", a modern descendant of this game that dates back thousands of years.
I think the board at Island Camp was dated to around 15,000 years ago.

@Petter I MISSPOKE! It was Nakuru! Mea culpa! Felix (my Kenyan friend) tells me the tourist trade in the Bogoria area area has essentially dried up. Of course, the virus has killed the tourist business in all of Kenya. I don't know what the folks who work in the game lodges will do. The lodges have shut down. Sopa lodges, too. I didn't know about that game board....are you talking about a game played with small stones? I've seen that one.

@LucyLoohoo Omweso can be played with any small items. Ugandans like to use dried coffee beans.
I could go on for hours about my homeland, but this general forum is not really the right place!
Have you read this?
[mojacar.ws]
(I designed it to work best on a computer screen, or a large tablet, rather than a phone - although it might be readable if the phone is held sidrways.)

2

Awesome picture of mother nature!

Thank you! It was an awesome storm!

3

Lucky you! I LOVE rainstorms. There's even a word for it - pluviophile. Someone who loves rain.

I did not know that word. Interesting. I love all storms, but especially the very electrical ones.

@Amzungu In that case you need to live in Kampala, where they are a regular occurrence all year round.

4

I once was camping in the mountains of central Arizona at around 9,000 ft. We were at the head of a very narrow shear wall canyon, right on the lip. Shortly after turning in for the night, a thunderstorm moved it. The lightening strikes were striking very close to our camp which lit up the night like daytime, we smelled ozone multiple times.

But the worst was the thunder. It would follow immediately after each lightening strike, but above and the head of the shear wall canyon, each clap bounces and reverberated down the canyon like cannons at the same loudness as the original clap. For about an hour it felt, sounded and seemed like a battle raging outside our tent. About midnight it went deathly quiet. We woke to a foot and a half of fresh snow.

t1nick Level 8 July 11, 2020

Wow, that sounds like one crazy close storm. I can't imagine how loud the thunder was. Or how rude the awakening must have been in the morning!

Wonderful experience - except the fresh snow part.

@Petter

True about the snow. It was late spring and we werent prepared for snow. No weather alert when left on the trip. We were in shorts and had a five mile hike out. Lol

4

watching storms and watching fires and watching little kids is so much better than anything on TV. maybe that steeple will get struck by lightning. fun.

Agreed. On all points. 🙂

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