Here comes the rain again

This past week was a beautiful:  the sun was shining, the temperature was in the mid 70's, and all seemed right with the world.  This morning, it's raining.

Yes it does rain in California.

And when it does rain, it tends not to mess around.  The forecast shows rain this morning, this afternoon, this evening, and tomorrow.  There's even a flash flood alert on top of that for areas of L.A. County that have been recently burned.

I do love watching the rain though.  Maybe it goes back to childhood memories of Corvallis where it seemed like it rained every day, or maybe it's just the randomness of the drops, the way it throws light in all directions.  Especially on a Saturday, where I don't have anywhere to go and can just relax and watch the water pouring down through my window.

Nothing like ionized air

It's summer in North Carolina, which means that the thunderstorms are blowing through daily.

Tonight I found myself outside the Southpoint Cinemas as a few light sprinkles were coming down. Little did I know that it would move from "sprinkles" to "solid sheets of rain" in about thirty seconds. I've never been down there while it was storming this badly before. The wind was more than strong enough to bend the jets of the fountain about fifteen feet, adding that extra bit of splash to what was already a downpour. Between that and the lightening that could be seen to the south, it was quite a show.

It only lasted about half an hour. Later on the radio said that the storm was blowing through at about 45 miles per hour, so no surprise that it was over so fast. Hurricane winds start at 75 mph and go up to over 150 mph. I think I could live a full life without ever going through that.