Thunderstorms

This morning I woke up to the sounds of thunder. There was a very light rain but there were loud and plenty of thunder crashes throughout the morning and it got me thinking... remembering.

I was never afraid of thunder and lightning as a kid but we were sort of taught to be very careful about getting caught in a thunderstorm. We were told not to take cover from the rain under a tree if there was lightning and thunder usually meant lightning. I spent a lot of time as a kid in our neighborhood city parks and especially Logan, Fern Hill, Happy Hollow and up in the Wissahickon. When we got caught in a thunderstorm we scrambled for shelter.  We liked climbing and hanging out in trees but not on those days.

Mom-mom used to tell us not to watch television during a thunderstorm because it was dangerous and of course grandmothers always know best. She was afraid the lightning might strike the TV antennae on the house roof and come down the wires into the television and of course we all sat to close to the TV. Apparently for some similar reason she did not like us to be on the phone during a thunderstorm either. Another thing I remember about thunderstorms as a kid was that because we couldn't watch TV we had the board games out and played Monopoly or one of the dozen or so games we had stacked up in a closet for rainy days.

I was always fascinated as a kid about what ancient people thought about thunder and lightning and I was interested in the folk lore and myths like Thor striking his hammer. Every culture had some folk stories about thunder and lightning.

One of my own other intense experiences of thunder and lightning was during storms at sea. There were a few times during my years in the Navy when we were in the middle of thunderstorms at night while sailing across the Atlantic, down in the Caribbean tropics or off the coast of North Africa in the Mediterranean Sea when the sky would light up and you could see across the sea to the horizon. There would be psychedelic flashes of light reflecting off the water that would rival the northern lights.

I have been to a lot of outdoor concerts over the years but only a few times was I ever caught in a thunderstorm during a show. Fortunately most of those were at the downtown Thursday in the Square concerts where it was easy to get shelter in one of the many nearby bars and restaurants. I was never caught in anything like Woodstock except for may that brief but violent storm during that show at Watkins Glen in 1973. The one big three day rock festival I attended at the Atlantic City Racetrack in August 1969 was perfect weather the entire weekend. No rain. No thunderstorms. No clouds. They even had a water tank truck in front of the stage spraying the crowd to keep them cool.

As kids we spent a lot of time at the Jersey shore but mostly south of Atlantic City. Sometimes we would rent a house in Wildwood, Ocean City, or one of the other towns along the coast. There always seemed to be at least one day when there was rain, thunder and lightning on the beach. There was always something special about walking down to the beach in raincoats and watching a storm from the beach. Then we would head to the boardwalk and find shelter in a game room.

I've never had a dog so I haven't had the experience of needing to comfort one during a thunderstorm. I've seen how frightened and traumatized they can get. Very similar to fireworks. I thought it interesting to have recently seen people getting something called a dog thunder jacket. Apparently it works and makes dogs feel more comfortable during loud thunderstorms.

Tonight we were out to dinner with friends on the waterfront and as we walked around after our meal we saw the thunderclouds coming in from over the lake. The sky was darkening and it looked like a storm was brewing. There were still many people all over Canalside and on the lake and river. The tour boats and rental craft were doing a good business.

We headed back to our cars and said goodnight.  That storm never happened. Well, at least not on the waterfront or in the city. The weather apps had been predicting a storm and rain for the city but as the storm actually approached it split into two cells one of which went north of the city and the other went south of the city leaving Buffalo with a windy, cloudy but dry rest of the evening.