THUNDER and LIGHTNING

While we were waiting for the weather to abate so that we could go down on the funicular we reflected on some of the storms and electrical storms that we have seen since being in Europe. They sure know how to turn them on. Within a few short hours today the weather turned from blue sky in heavy rain, large hail stones, high wind, thunder and lightning. The thunder varied between huge rolling thunder, rolling down the valley from mountain top to mountain top, sounding like it was ready to demolish anything that happened to be in its path, to the type of thunder that just explodes right above you like some heavenly being cracking a very large whip. The lightning, rather than being like a flash from some unseen camera, and rather than being a fork that flashes through the sky, is like a bolt, like a column of energy arcing from heaven to earth in slow motion. It gives the impression of pent up, latent energy that is just waiting to exert its revenge. The lightning shows that we have experienced so far, make what we get at home seem like 12 volt as compared to 250,000 volt. They really are impressive, and I love them.