there was thunder so loud today it shook the windows at my work... lightening hit a palm tree outside of a freinds house in lakeside... and hit a house a few blocks away from me near the water tower...
I heard it hit the water tower, but there isint anything important there... but several areas are without electricity from anywhere from 30 mins to hours on end...
That's nothing, we get those types of storms a lot around here, in fact, the last time a storm like that came through was two weekends ago. A lightning strike hit a transformer, then a tree and then the house which were all in a radius of 5 feet of one another, when this happened, the tree and house caught fire, along with live power lines that came down after the transformer got hit, and turned off the power to our section of the neighborhood for about 5 seconds, but the street that had the house that got hit, didn't have power for the rest of the night. The house that got hit was 4 blocks away, and the thunder that came almost exactly at the same time as the lightning struck, rattled every window in our house, in all the houses that were near the lightning strike, but like I said, this a normal occurrence that happens in our area almost all of the time between spring and fall, and there are times when we get those types of storms in the middle of winter.
We were lucky with this storm, we didn't lose our electricity, but others weren't so lucky and are still without power. There are reports that they might not get it back for at least 2-3 days from now, due to fallen trees onto power lines, or from flooding, which those who were unlucky to have that happen, might not get back to their homes for another week or so until the water recedes and when they return, power is the least of their worries, cleaning up and hoping that their house won't be condemned. Some of the flooding wasn't too bad, but some other places, it was unreal as it was caused by only a short time period of a heavy downpour.
-sighs- I dont want it to rain tomorrow... which is funny cause it got up to 113 on monday, and thurs there are thunderstorms...
Try dealing with those temperatures with 80% and higher humidity and then tell me how you like it, as I am pretty sure that if you came out here during the summer season, you would be wanting to be back in Cali, where you can walk outside and not get hit with what feels like a solid wall of moisture, with not a single cloud in the sky. We had 55 days of 90+ degree temperature days starting back in May/June and most of those were with high humidity. This is one of the reasons you see a lot of window a/c's in a lot of the houses around here, then again, trying to install central air in a house that is over a 100 years old is extremely expensive to have done, though I know those living in this house that would love to have such done, but not likely to happen.
So, you have it good, plus I know you guys out there need the rain, being in the midst of a drought and all, like we were until this deluge came through. Just remember if there's a thunderstorm in the area, stay away from the windows, stay inside, if you are driving, stay inside the vehicle, and if you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be hit by lightning and yes, there have been reports of people being struck by lightning through their windows. And something I have been told time and time again, is thunder is just the angels/loved ones who have passed, taking time off from watching over you and others, to go bowling, the lightning is when they get a strike or spare.
I am glad some got some good things out of the rain we got, as I know a lot of us along the Atlantic seaside needed rain pretty badly, but as I mentioned to others and it was also said to me several times today, we didn't need it all at once and more is coming in next week. A storm system that is coming in from Minnesota with a cold front, and then shortly after that, the storm that came to shore yesterday in Cali and is still making it's way out, add that to another possible system that's starting to develop in the Caribbean, will know more in the next few days.
