We Had Thunderstorms Today
As usual, this is Tuesday’s blog. I was helping someone move.
Item: A bunch of us were at supper some time back when I mentioned that we would have a thunderstorm very soon. One of the people looked out toward the East and said it was clear with blue skies and didn’t look like rain. I said the rain comes from the southwest. He pooh-poohed it until the sky opened up a few minutes later.
Item: You count to five between the lightning and thunder to judge how far away the storm is. Unless it’s right on top of you. I was walking past our radio station’s tower when I heard this loud spitting noise and no thunder. “Uh-oh, close one,” I thought. “Time to get inside.” It was close, indeed; possibly no more than twenty feet lateral and two hundred feet vertical.
Item: The song, “Pennies From Heaven,” has it right: “So when it starts to thunder / don’t run under / a tree…” Trees are great lightning rods and their roots spread the electricity out in a path roughly the same as their branches. When it starts to thunder, just get wet and live to get wet another day. If you hair stands up on end (and you are not Bello Nock the circus clown), fall down on the ground; if you don’t know how to pray, learn fast.
Item: Lightning will not hit cell phones, pagers, portable radios, cordless phones or anything else not plugged in. Forget the stories; just because they are made of metal or you can talk over them does not make them targets.
Item: A bunch of us were at supper some time back when I mentioned that we would have a thunderstorm very soon. One of the people looked out toward the East and said it was clear with blue skies and didn’t look like rain. I said the rain comes from the southwest. He pooh-poohed it until the sky opened up a few minutes later.
Item: You count to five between the lightning and thunder to judge how far away the storm is. Unless it’s right on top of you. I was walking past our radio station’s tower when I heard this loud spitting noise and no thunder. “Uh-oh, close one,” I thought. “Time to get inside.” It was close, indeed; possibly no more than twenty feet lateral and two hundred feet vertical.
Item: The song, “Pennies From Heaven,” has it right: “So when it starts to thunder / don’t run under / a tree…” Trees are great lightning rods and their roots spread the electricity out in a path roughly the same as their branches. When it starts to thunder, just get wet and live to get wet another day. If you hair stands up on end (and you are not Bello Nock the circus clown), fall down on the ground; if you don’t know how to pray, learn fast.
Item: Lightning will not hit cell phones, pagers, portable radios, cordless phones or anything else not plugged in. Forget the stories; just because they are made of metal or you can talk over them does not make them targets.
posted by Tom Carten at 12:51 AM
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