Thunderstorms

We had some massive thunderstorms roll through Austin early this morning. Thunderstorms here in the hill country sneak through in the wee hours of the morning when all but the night owls are asleep. We wake to flashes of lightening and rumbling, rolling thunder. Hidden by darkness, the clouds can only be seen in the random flashing of lightening which gives a too brief tantalizing glimpse of the storm.

So different from the town where I was raised. Thunderstorms are the only things I miss from there. The area around the city was so flat that you could watch the storms build all day. In the spring, wisps of cloud in the distance would slowly puff up throughout the day until late afternoon when they would surge to new heights and flatten out in the stratosphere creating the classic anvil shape of massive thunderheads. As a kid, I would lie on my back in the park and watch the clouds … seeing shapes and then by the evening, the clouds would be mushrooms with flashing lightening highlighting the shapes.

In later years, my friends and I would gather in the coffee shop to talk, read or just be. Sooner or later someone would speculate as to how far away the thunderstorm was and the debate would be on. Many times this culminated with all of us piling into a car and driving off to see who was right … knowing full well that it would have moved from the time we started the discussion and left and finally got into the rain, but that didn’t matter. Storm chasing is not for the faint of heart, but it is for the foolhardy! I’ve experienced, first hand, hail stones the size of golf balls and been glad we weren’t in MY car. My heart has raced as I’ve seen the rotation of a cloud start to funnel down into a tornado skipping along the cotton fields. The awesome power of nature never ceases to amaze me.

At least twice, my husband and I, already packed for a planned weekend trip, changed our route and drove instead toward the storm, letting it lead us on an adventure down back roads until it played out. Then we stopped for the night and explored that area of the state for the next couple of days. Road trip - itinerary courtesy of Mother Nature. We did enjoy the journey.