thunderstorms at the beach
June, July, and August – not my favorite times to be at the beach. Too hot, too humid, too crowded. But we come anyway, to get away from the day to day routine, to relax just a little bit. And I come for the thunderstorms. The summer weather down here almost guarantees late afternoon or evening thunderstorms - monsoon rain, lightning that fries your retinas, and thunder that shakes the walls. Oh yeah, and the wind too – 30 to 40 mile an hour gales of cool air providing a short respite from the oppressive tropical heat. As soon as the clouds pile up and the wind starts to stir I like to sit on the porch and just watch and listen. Tourists scatter, and until the thunder booms you can hear them clattering over the bridge off the island, clogging the road back to whereever they’re parked for the week. The birds disappear, the frogs go quiet, and the gators go deep into their ponds and creeks. The golfers look for shelter and the bottom drops out.
Waves of rain blow down the fairways, the trees sway dangerously close to toppling over, and your ears pop with every peal of thunder. Strobes of lightning freeze the scene, only to be replaced a few seconds later by a new one. Other people talk about nature’s fury, but for me there’s peace in the chaos of wind, rain, light and sound. The only thing better than an afternoon thunderstorm is a nighttime storm.
Because of where we live down here once the sun goes down, if we turn off the lights our porch is almost pitch black dark. You sit in the dark, only able to guess at what’s going on around you. Then the lightning bursts across the sky, and you’re surrounded by literally millions of tiny sparks as the raindrops reflect each bolt. It’s almost like looking into the night sky from the middle of the ocean, the only light coming from he raindrops and lightning. I can clear my mind and just listen and wait to for the next flash.
The storms are too short, usually less than 30 minutes. But each one is completely unique tiny vacation. There’s not a lot of reasons to come to the beach in the summer in my opinion, but 1 good storm can make the entire trip worthwhile.
OK, we live and work in NASCAR country, and we see firsthand the passion NASCAR fans have for their sport. And yes, NASCAR is not as interesting to me since Dale Earnhardt died in the Daytona 500. But damn, I’m not from here and I just don’t get this!!!
