When It Rains, It Pours

No title has been more true than in the last few weeks here in Missouri. I knew when I moved out here to the Midwest that there would be some more extreme weather than what I’ve been used to. Washington doesn’t have destructive tornadoes, rarely has true blizzards or ice storms, and despite Seattle’s famous rain reputation, the rain in Seattle is more like a mist. Sometimes, Seattle has been known to get a lone clap of thunder or lightening strike, however there is not usually more than one or two. I do remember one thunderstorm from when I was little, and there was a lot more rain and lightening, but that was a rare occurrence.

In contrast to all that, the summer (or I suppose more accurately August) here in Missouri has been full of genuine, loud, flashy thunderstorms. Most of them have occurred at night, which is honestly pretty neat as the lightening strikes are very visible in the dark of the house. Just a week ago, I was sitting in the living room facing one window with another to my left, so I could see how the lightening lit up the space. The thunder claps on the other hand are a little more scary. A few of them have rattled our dining room chandelier because the clap happened almost directly above our house. I think that’s the only time it seems scary, because it is so close and can just startle you especially if the storms are moving pretty fast and you didn’t expect it to be as close as it is.

Now, of course with the thunder and lightening comes the rain. This rain is also a bit terrifying. See it can start out just as a trickle, or you can look out and see it gently raining. Then, all of the sudden you can hear the rain as if it is hailing on your roof, except that’s just how hard the rain is coming down. If you’re lucky, you’ll still be able to see for the next five feet or so, but I’ve noticed that during peak downpour, you really can’t see at all. Honestly, I think it’s pretty neat, but then I’ve been safely indoors every time it’s rained like that so far. Ask me again when I’ve been caught out in it and I’ll let you know if my opinion has changed. 😀

One final thing on the thunderstorms: I really like them, surprisingly enough! Everyone keeps saying that this weather is abnormal for this time of the year, and I think we’re on track to beat the rainfall record either for the year or for the month. However, I’m glad we’ve been having these storms if only so that I can see them and comment every ten minutes to Matthew on how cool thunderstorms are. I think he finds my fascination with them funny considering he’s been exposed to this his whole life. But until I ‘get used to storms,’ I will continue to think they are cool!