Thunderstorms

Modeps

Lifer
Oct 24, 2000
17,254
44
91
When there's nothing else going on, I just love watching a good thunderstorm. How's about you? I'm at work right now and there's one going on... huzzah!
 

edro

Lifer
Apr 5, 2002
24,326
68
91
I will sleep with the window open even when it rains. The rain on the face is petty compared to the rain's sleeping powers!
 

Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,938
6
81
It sucks because sometimes the power goes, so I can't use the PC/lights/TV/do much.

As for the storm itself, I'm indifferent.
 

When I was 10 years old and living in Alabama at the time, a tornado-spawning thunderstorm hit my town. The winds (tornado?) uprooted a tree, tossed it on our roof, and the tree hit our chimney. Bricks poured onto the roof and the roof gave way, sending bricks and drywall into our great room.

My family was all in the basement and no one was hurt, but the bricks and pieces of the roof all landed exactly where we'd been sitting only three minutes prior. :Q

I've been a little tense around thunderstorms ever since. We've got pictures somewhere, but I can't locate them at the moment.
 

Modeps

Lifer
Oct 24, 2000
17,254
44
91
Originally posted by: edro13
I will sleep with the window open even when it rains. The rain on the face is petty compared to the rain's sleeping powers!

Heh, nothing more soothing to me than a downpour on the roof and outside my windows when I'm going to sleep. :)
 

Bassyhead

Diamond Member
Nov 19, 2001
4,545
0
0
i like em, just not when people's stuff gets fried or things get damage or people get hurt
 

Here's what I posted back then:
Long read, but definitely worth it:

When I lived in Alabama (for a year), my family and the house we were renting at the time were victims of the infamous Palm Sunday tornado outbreak (March 27, 1994).

It was almost dinner time and my family was just about to sit down to a meal of brisket and potatoes - one of my favorites. We were all sitting in the family room watching Jerry Tracey (the NBC weatherman), and he said that the strong storms wouldn't pose much of a problem for the metro-Birmingham area. Having lived in Alabama for about 8 months at the time, we were pretty used to strong thunderstorms, and hail was even somewhat normal.

It had been thundering and raining for a while, and we were just about to eat when Jerry came on the screen again and said that a tornado warning had been issued for Jefferson County (we lived in Mountain Brook, in Jefferson County). Almost at that exact instant, we all turned our heads to view an amazing sight outside: golfball sized hail was blowing into our French doors at 90 degree angles. The hailstones were literally flying at 30-40 m.p.h. at our windows, and we knew it was time to get into the basement.

We went downstairs to the garage (there was no basement, only a garage under the house) and into the storage room, which was reinforced on one side with our front yard - basically it was an underground room). My dad remembered once we got down there that he forgot flashlights, so he ran back upstairs to get some. My sister and I were screaming for him to come back downstairs, as we could see through the garage door windows that branches were being ripped from trees and rain was flying in all directions.

Finally, we saw the door to the house open up and my dad came into view. It sounded like he slammed the door on the way down, but he maintains to this day that he only shut it lightly. Either way, my sister and I heard a bang and a crack as my dad came down the stairs.

When we came upstairs after the storm had subsided, we found out what the slamming of the door really was. Our house, as we had known it, was destroyed. The wind (probably a tornado) had uprooted a tree and thrown it onto the roof of our house. The tree smashed our chimney, and the bricks from the chimney had fallen onto our deck. The deck was destroyed - the floor of the deck was laying on the ground under numerous large branches and about 2 tons of bricks. The tree had cracked the beams in our great room (we had a vaulted ceiling, and the cracks in the beams were quite noticeable). There was also a large chunk of drywall that had collapsed from the wall, and it was lying on the couch where my entire family had been sitting only moments before.

We spent the night at the front of our house in the living room (we weren't sure if the back was safe to be in). During the night, the tree slid off the roof, and we all ran out of the house screaming, instantly awake, because it sounded like the entire house was collapsing. We stayed in a hotel for the next few days, but the lessor refused to fix the house (we ended up taking him to court because of it and won damages). We lived in that unsafe atmosphere (with absolutely NOTHING fixed) for the next four months. We moved all our furniture to the 'safe' part of the great room for the remainder of our stay in the house.

I was terrified of thunderstorms for a long, long time, but I've finally gotten over my fear (I was 9 then, and I'm 18 now). Still, whenever I hear about a tornado or a strong storm, or I see hail, I feel that twinge of pain. It's permanently scarred me, and I'll never forget March 27, 1994.

My family has pics of it somewhere, and I'll post them when I can find them. But it's been a while, and they're probably somewhere buried under lots of stuff.

EDIT: here's a link to a meteorological analysis of the storms: Text
 

Modeps

Lifer
Oct 24, 2000
17,254
44
91
Wow jumpr, that's pretty scary! Maybe my views would be different if I had that type of experience.
 

Fiveohhh

Diamond Member
Jan 18, 2002
3,776
0
0
Just the other day had a killer thunderstorm. Never saw any lightning, but I stood outside and there were constant crashes way above the clouds. Was awesome sounding. You could here the thunder everywhere.
 

Apathetic

Platinum Member
Dec 23, 2002
2,587
6
81
I *love* storms. Even as a little kid, I would stay up at night and just watch the lightning.

Dave
 

Triumph

Lifer
Oct 9, 1999
15,031
14
81
LOOOVE summer t-storms. As kids, my cousin and I would sit on the back porch and just watch. In the middle of the night during a t-storm, we'd both wake up from the same crack of lightning and say to each other, "Did you hear that?" "Yeah, that was awesome!" We used to dream about going to Africa just to watch one of their amazing thunderstorms in the rainy season.

Love the thunderstorm. Hopefully we'll get one today.
 

Eli

Super Moderator | Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
50,419
8
81
I also love them.

That may be because they're realitivly rare around here, though. I am sure if they were a nearly every day occourance, they would quickly lose their novelty.
 

JohnCU

Banned
Dec 9, 2000
16,528
4
0
It hasn't rained here in 25 days. :( I loveeeeeee storms, especially at night, or even better, driving in one at night. ;) Although then I can't enjoy them quite as much...
 

imported_Strang

Platinum Member
Jan 8, 2001
2,177
0
0
I don't like thunderstorms that much for a couple reasons. As previously mentioned, the loss of power means that I don't really have much to do at home. The most annoying thing about them is that it scares the living bejeezus out of our dog and he whimpers and cries and needs to be held throughout the storm (fireworks affect him the same way).

Rain in general, I don't mind (as long as it's not ongoing for weeks/months at a time -- wintertime here in Seattle can be rough on me).
 

KDOG

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
5,525
14
81
I love them, which is why I'm joining SKYWARN and chasin' those suckers!!!
 

Chu

Banned
Jan 2, 2001
2,911
0
0
Not a thunderstorm, but the coolest rainstorm I ever saw was late August in the Grand Canyon. It was raining *IN* the canyon, with us on the top rim looking down at it.

-Chu
 

imported_Strang

Platinum Member
Jan 8, 2001
2,177
0
0
Originally posted by: Chu
Not a thunderstorm, but the coolest rainstorm I ever saw was late August in the Grand Canyon. It was raining *IN* the canyon, with us on the top rim looking down at it.

-Chu

That's cool. When I was at the Grand Canyon, it was snowing on us, so we only had visibility for about 5 minutes before it was blocked with fog and precipitation. Nobody ever bothered to tell me that Flagstaff got snow in March. ;)
 

Modeps

Lifer
Oct 24, 2000
17,254
44
91
Originally posted by: Chu
Not a thunderstorm, but the coolest rainstorm I ever saw was late August in the Grand Canyon. It was raining *IN* the canyon, with us on the top rim looking down at it.

-Chu

:camera:?