Lightning Crashes

Does it ever!  It is so quiet out here in the country, on more than one occasion I have been jolted from sleep by a burst of noise.  I love a good light show, but it's very disorienting when you aren't in your own bed.

 

[I must preface this story by saying that we emerged unscathed from yesterday's storm, though my grandfather told every person who called that we were trapped under rubble and needed help.]

 

The really dangerous storms roared through Missouri late yesterday.  It was a pretty typical spring storm, only this one was more deadly than most.  Here in Farmington they have tornado sirens.  They sound a bit like the aliens in War of the Worlds.  We heard the alarms but it wasn't "bad" yet, so my thrill seeking grandfather and I stayed upstairs to watch the show.  I don't either one of us really wanted to miss out on anything.  We even had the back door open, enjoying the wind.  The temperature dropped about 30 degrees in one hour (from 83 to 52!).  We sat, talking about how the storm must be someplace else, selectively ignoring the weather man on TV and the sirens all urging us to go downstairs.  The TV guy said the storm was traveling at 55 mph with wind in the 80 mph range with large hail and it would arrive suddenly at that speed.  He was not kidding.  With a large clang and a tremendous gust of wind the storm was here and we went scurrying for the stairs down to the basement.  I grabbed the laptop, our various medicines and my wallet.  Papaw ushered down the dog.  We both talked about bringing the lasagna I had just made, but thought better of it.  Who hides with lasagna?  Of course, once we were downstairs rather than hiding deep in the back room, we hung out by the French doors and watched the storm through the window.  Some people never learn.