THUNDER BOOMERS ! ! !

Acquiunk, I hope they get paid very well for risking thier lives. As a teenager, I would have loved chasing tornados; as a 62 year old, I love to see them, hear them and smell them.

RP, great links. Watching that tornado get closer was better than watching a scary movie!

Boomerang, Jesus skies. Perfect description. Like one of those Charlton Heston movies. You almost expect to see a hand with the index finger extended or the breaking of the 10 commandments by an angry god. Nature is the only think that can make me feel religious.

Add me to the list of heathen thunder-lovers.

Someone once told me that my fascination with thunderstorms meant I had a violent nature. Whaddaya think about that? (I disagree - I just like the drama of it.)

I always think of those as Assumption of the Virgin skies....

Oooh, love the picture.

I call them god rays, same idea. A few of our favorite playgrounds offer amazing vistas, big skies, have seen a lot of that kind of stuff lately (swirly clouds, approaching walls of rain, god rays). Love it.

Set hogged the thunderboomers though, I saw 'em but they didn't get near enough for me to hear 'em. That's definitely a thunderboomer perk, when they're near enough -- so fun to HEAR something.

Setanta

Do you suppose there's something a wee bit odd about A2Kers?
I mean, I understood that most folk were frightened of thunderstorms .... yet everyone here seems to finds them quite delightful & thrilling!
What can this mean about us?

That we're all heathen savages, ready to take up our spears, and dance frantically around at the drop of hat . . . or the far off rumble of thunder . . . do you need to borrow some face paint?

YES, let's all do it!!!!

I really enjoy thunderstorms.
Not only the big show of lightnings and rolling thunders but also the atmosphere before and after a storm.
Two thunderstorms I will never forget. One was a winter storm- the sky didn't become black,but yellow, and then there were simultaneous thunder, lightnings and so much snow you couldn't see the houses across the street.
The other one had a "Kugelblitz". We were sitting in the livingroom during a storm. Suddenly there was a very loud thunder and we saw a ball of fire coming out of the chimney. It was about the size of a tennisball. It travelled through the room towards the door, split in two and then was gone suddenly.
It was sparkling in itself, very bright. We were so surprised that we didn't move. It seemed very unreal, but the room smelled awkward and there was a fine torched line on the floor.

How extremely bizzare, Miss Ul . . . you know that yellow or golden caste to the sky, especially near sunset, is often found with thunderstorms here. I love it . . . i'm sure there's a banal explanation having to do with dust in the air, but i ignore that, i just enjoy the effect.

Ul, I think what you saw, the ball of fire rolling through your home, is called St. Elmo's fire here. It can actually be swept along with a broom--there, now you know I'm a witch.

Soz, I didn't know you could hear thunder. How wonderful. Somehow your words made me realize just how fun it is to "hear."

Face paint is on, my hair--for some unknown reason--has started to frizz and I'm feeling very, very heathen. Too bad I leave today for another short trip. I'll check in on the heathen dances and other heathenish doings when I get back.

That phenomena Ul saw is called ball lightning, a form of plasma that physicsits have yet to adequately explain. You might enjoy this link.

http://www.amasci.com/tesla/ballgtn.html

BBB
Thunder, lightning and rain storms rolled across New Mexico yesterday evening.

My dog Maddy trembles when he hears the thunder. Both he and Dolly usually end up on my lap. Dolly, my party girl, doesn't seem as bothered by the sound as Maddy.

BBB

Ohhh, it feels so wonderful to be in the company of such worthy heathens!
Pass the face paint my way!!

The first ten years of my life I grew up in Iowa and while I do remember lots of big boomers and lightning and even tornadoes, I think I became desensitized to those wonders when I moved to California. As both Calamity Jane and Osso have pointed out, we never got many there. At least not the same quality. The oddest thing though, shortly before I left California last month and moved to Oklahoma, California had a record 9 confirmed tornadoes and the funniest part was that it took the weather forecasters sometimes several days to figure out that it was indeed a tornado! Swirling masses of funnel clouds that touch ground and leave destruction along their path could have given them some clue, but I think they just hated to admit that real tornadoes can hit California.

Oklahoma now on the other hand.....Yeowza baybee!! A storm the other night felt like the paparazzi was outside with the endless and overlapping flash after flash after flash. The air crackled and sizzled and the booms shook my whole place! It was exhilarating!! The possibility of tornadoes on the other hand DO frighten me a lot. My younger years in Iowa never had Doppler Radar or sirens to forewarn. Now, instead of just waiting for dad to tell us when it was time to head for the basement, we can watch it all coming on both the computer and the news.

Save a dance or ten for me, Set. I'll come out and play!

Lady J, I remember that about California! It was so weird. We'd see on the news that there was damage due to "strong winds" and I think something about funnel clouds -- definitely everything pointing to a tornado -- but they just wouldn't say it was a tornado. Really weird. We wondered if it was some tourist thing, like "No, no, no tornadoes here! (Pay no attention to the funnel cloud behind the curtain...)"

I am admittedly a pure wimp - cause I am afraid of storms.

I have read all of your posts and I envy you guys. I would love to enjoy storms the way you do.


The funny thing is - I must not totally hate em'. I have a screened in gazebo on my back deck. I have been known to go out in that when a storm is rolling in and watch the lightning. I do think it's beautiful. I love the smell of rain in an approaching storm. BUT....................

I haul ass when they get right on top of me.

*is not one of the COOL people*

Here, put on this face paint and grab a spear. You can stay inside and guard the food--we'll make you an honorary heathen.

Now that's a true friend.

Setanta

Hahaha! Or maybe it is one of those many California "laws" on the books. No tornadoes (or illegal immigrants OOPS!) here! I'm off to see the wizard...

Au contraire! You're too sweet to be UNcool in any way!