Storms

As a pilot, I suppose you could say I’ve got a bit of a love-hate relationship with thunderstorms. Storms can be quite dangerous for airplanes and have knocked down more than a few perfectly healthy machines over the years, so I spend many of my summer days here winding around towering storm clouds and giving them a respectful berth. If we get a call for an air ambulance flight and there are storms building around the country, I know that we very well may have to deviate and that the trip will probably take a bit longer. Storms can be especially troublesome at night, when all we can see of them are countless flashes of lightning that sometimes seem to come from all directions at once and we have to rely on our less-than-perfect weather radar to avoid them. On the other hand, when I have off days or days without any flights, watching the storms here is one of my favorite things to do. When we get a big storm (which has happened several times in the last few weeks) I often grab a book and sit out on our back porch, looking up once and again to marvel at the dark skies, the pounding rain, and the flashes of lighting and thunder. Every once in a while, we’ll get a few days in a row of overcast skies and some fairly steady rain. For the most part, though, the storms are isolated. Driving home from the airport the other day, the skies were clear except for a huge storm cloud that was towering over an area just west of our house. The base of the cloud was an angry, deep black, with roiling curls of grey cloud being pushed out the front of the storm by the downdrafts and a huge veil of heavy rain descending from the center. As I got closer, it was apparent that the storm was headed for the house, so as soon as I got home I fetched my book and settled down to watch the show. And what a show it was. I am continually amazed at the power unleashed under these beasts. Power to pound the soil with relentless rains, to fell trees and kill livestock with a bolt of lightning, to rip the wings from an airplane. And next to all their destructive power stands their power to bring refreshing, life-giving water to this parched desert country. It is this power that trumps all others in the end, and I’m slowly getting used to people telling me how wonderful the weather is on a damp, rainy, grey day. Prayers for rain have been spoken again and again over the past months, and the rain has come. I believe I mentioned that the rainy season started early this year, and after a relatively dry stretch for a few months, the rain has returned with a vengeance in the last weeks. All too soon, however, the rain will be over and the dry season will be upon us, so I’m enjoying the coolness and the storms while I can.