Big Storm

Last night we had one of the biggest thunderstorms since I've been here. It was very comparable to the one last summer that occurred while Tropical Storm Chris was passing nearby. Dave missed both of these, as he was in the states last August, and right now he's on Virgin Gorda playing tourist with his parents. But I know he had a good storm before I arrived on island two years ago.



The rain came in spurts starting just after I got home from work yesterday, around 6:30. But the real fun began around 11pm. The lightning was so bright it hurt my eyes even through the curtains. As I tried to doze, the bright light would wake me back up just before the earth-shattering thunder boomed. It felt like an earthquake the thunder was so loud. The storm must have been moving around the island, coming and going, because for about 10 minutes or so the thunder would be immediately after the lightning and super loud, then it would be about 10 seconds after the lightning and much fainter. Every hour or two, the storm would get very, very loud. Remember, we have a metal roof so that we can get the rain water into our cistern. So heavy rain is deafening. The power went off a few times but surprisingly was never out for more than thirty minutes or so. Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep! The photo here is the remnants of the storm lifted from the weather radar online just now, hours after the storm ended. I'm surprised the radar is working actually - it typically does not work when we actually have weather that warrants checking it out.