The lightning show
I left work about 7:15 last night. Our main room renter has been out sick for a week now, meaning I was able to get out relatively on time. Believe me, during the busy season, I want to be there as little as possible. It's been unusually hot, with highs in the upper 90s and the heat index even higher on Monday and Tuesday. A cold front was to come through yesterday, and when I left I knew it was near. The sky was yellow. That is not a typical color. To the east and south it looked dark; to the west, it looked like rain could be coming. I did hit some rain on the way home, but it trailed off as I went west.
What picked up, though, was the cloud-to-cloud lightning. I first noticed it near Fabyan and 38, just a bit here and there, to where at first I wondered if I'd really seen it, but shortly after it was clear there was lightning. Once I got home, I was kind of concerned, but realized it was all up in the clouds. When I got inside, I stood at the window for a few minutes watching it. Already it was pretty active. I talked to my dad in the family room for a bit, and when I started to go up for the night, he went to get a drink from the kitchen and I said, you should check this out; it was still going. When he got to the window, he went, wow! I should get my camera! And even went out into the garage to watch it. There was this one cloud that made me think of a cinnamon roll, and when the lightning would go behind the cloud and illuminate it, it was pretty cool. Dad didn't have much luck taking pictures, but no matter; it was really neat, and unusual that it was so active for so long. Several of my coworkers mentioned it today as well.
We were on the back end of it; there was severe weather to the south that pretty much missed us. Even to the north, some was so bad that I woke up to find a tree had landed on the music building at Northwestern. That's so wild that the weather could be that bad within 50 miles but we didn't have to deal with that. I mean, we've dealt with plenty this year, so I don't feel deprived, but still. Given that my temp gauge in my car read 85, 84 around 38 and Joliet, then 77 at Fabyan and 38--astonishing to drop that much so soon--the severe weather wasn't that big of a surprise. My car also read in the low 90s when I got in it to leave work, too, so it lost about 15 degrees in 30 minutes' time. I should be glad there weren't any tornadoes, you know?
What picked up, though, was the cloud-to-cloud lightning. I first noticed it near Fabyan and 38, just a bit here and there, to where at first I wondered if I'd really seen it, but shortly after it was clear there was lightning. Once I got home, I was kind of concerned, but realized it was all up in the clouds. When I got inside, I stood at the window for a few minutes watching it. Already it was pretty active. I talked to my dad in the family room for a bit, and when I started to go up for the night, he went to get a drink from the kitchen and I said, you should check this out; it was still going. When he got to the window, he went, wow! I should get my camera! And even went out into the garage to watch it. There was this one cloud that made me think of a cinnamon roll, and when the lightning would go behind the cloud and illuminate it, it was pretty cool. Dad didn't have much luck taking pictures, but no matter; it was really neat, and unusual that it was so active for so long. Several of my coworkers mentioned it today as well.
We were on the back end of it; there was severe weather to the south that pretty much missed us. Even to the north, some was so bad that I woke up to find a tree had landed on the music building at Northwestern. That's so wild that the weather could be that bad within 50 miles but we didn't have to deal with that. I mean, we've dealt with plenty this year, so I don't feel deprived, but still. Given that my temp gauge in my car read 85, 84 around 38 and Joliet, then 77 at Fabyan and 38--astonishing to drop that much so soon--the severe weather wasn't that big of a surprise. My car also read in the low 90s when I got in it to leave work, too, so it lost about 15 degrees in 30 minutes' time. I should be glad there weren't any tornadoes, you know?