NationStates Jolt Archive

Well, there I was, yesterday, minding my own business, sitting outside since my Uni library closes at 22:00, ignoring the frequent blasts of lightning thinking that I was safe under the bus stop shelter that I sought refuge under. I thought it was only dry lightning and that the little amount of rain that had already fallen would be it. Boy was I mistaken!
Being utterly captivated by the lingerie thread, I failed to escape to the one place that has a roof, is open after 22:00, and is still within range of the University Wireless Network. When it started raining, it came down in torrents, as though it wanted to make up for the heat of the day. Needless to say, without a rain jacket or even a plastic bag, I couldn't get my laptop to safety without it getting seriously wet. So I decided to stay put, and that was a good idea, since it started hailing marble sized hailstones. Then the wind picked up and started blowing the rain in, so my laptop got wet! Hail and rain didn't matter anymore, so I made a mad dash for safety, only to realise that my keyboard wouldn't be working until my laptop was dry again... :(

I had a dream last night where my family was going to drive somewhere, but there were these seriously freaky clouds, but they decided to go anyway, even though I didn't want to, and then we all died in a thunderstorm.

I had a dream last night where my family was going to drive somewhere, but there were these seriously freaky clouds, but they decided to go anyway, even though I didn't want to, and then we all died in a thunderstorm.You shoulda seen the sky here. Before the rain obscured everything, it lit up bright purple every few seconds.

You shoulda seen the sky here. Before the rain obscured everything, it lit up bright purple every few seconds.

My dream wasn't much less freaky. There were white and black clouds swirling really low at the same time.

My dream wasn't much less freaky. There were white and black clouds swirling really low at the same time.The freakiest part about this storm was when the hail started hitting the roof and the glass of the bus stop shelter... I thought someone had thrown a bottle at me or something when I heard the first one...

The freakiest part about this storm was when the hail started hitting the roof and the glass of the bus stop shelter... I thought someone had thrown a bottle at me or something when I heard the first one...

Must have been worse for you because it was real.

Must have been worse for you because it was real.
I didn't die, so I spose not. But I got completely soaked running across the street to safety. The ironic thing was, all the while I was smirking at people who were hurrying home because of the lightning, hoping to out run the rain I thought was already gone.
The scariest storm I was in was in summer camp when we had one right above the camping grounds. I still have some wood that I took from a tree that got hit by lightning.

i think hail stones are better than a bottle though, they really hurt...

i think hail stones are better than a bottle though, they really hurt...I didn't get hit by any, it was just freaky not knowing where the sound came from.

Laerod, you're lucky there wasn't a tornado...

I remember some years back when I was setting off for work and it went really dark very quickly.. Everything went sort of yellow, and I looked up at the second-weirdest sky I've ever seen. Was totally overcast, clouds were quite high, but it was like the sky was boiling, clouds actually bubbling right over my head while I watched - and bizarre colours... Yellow, brown, green, purple... and down on the ground everything totally still. Not the slightest breeze.. Silent - no birdsong, no nothing. If I'd been inclined to look for UFO explanations before meteorological ones, I'd have been convinced it was the 'Oz Factor' that gets talked about in flying saucer books. To this day I don't know what it was. But the best theory I've heard is that it was a thunderstorm forming directly above me - although I don't remember any actual thunder or lightning that evening...

But first weirdest sky was some years before that. Walked out of my office late one winter afternoon, and there were people standing around in the street gazing upwards and pointing. Normally I'd be suspicious at this - I've heard of too many people getting caught out by that trick in bus queues. But if this was a gag they'd gone to a lot of trouble, so I looked up and saw the most amazingly colourful clouds, very very high.. Like waves of rainbows. Apparently they're called 'nacreous clouds' and appear periodically when water vapour crystallises in the stratosphere and causes high clouds that reflect sunlight down long after it's set at ground level. There're lots of picture on the Google image archive, although I've never seen the same thing since.

Sorry. Went off on one, there. :D