Do you like thunderstorms?

[phoenix_night]

Originally posted by gael
Anyway, hot climates have the best thunderstroms.

Yeah, last year while in Florida, I was sitting by a window watching one all evening. Made for great viewing. Had a storm here last night, kept me awake and everything, but it's just rain and not much else; we rarely get thunder or anything spectacular.

I voted for the first option, by the way.

 

[Superevie]

I HATE thunderstorms. They scare the crap out of me and are annoying. If the power goes out, that sucks. (unless I have a "special friend" with me ) My basset hound has panic attacks when it thunders, so that's annoying and sad looking too.

 

[JonathanValjean]

No, I'm not a big fan of them.

 

[cgannon64]

Originally posted by Superevie
I HATE thunderstorms. They scare the crap out of me and are annoying. If the power goes out, that sucks. (unless I have a "special friend" with me ) My basset hound has panic attacks when it thunders, so that's annoying and sad looking too.

My choclate lab hides under the table, its funny as hell.

 

[Loaf Warden]

Can't really say I have experience with thunderstorms. We don't really get them much around here. It's pretty rare to hear thunder here, and the only lightning I've ever seen here was sheet lightning. I know people who have seen streak lightning here in Anchorage, but somehow I always miss it.

The only time in my life I've seen streak lightning in person (as opposed to on television) was when I was in Switzerland. We were at the top of Mount Pilatus, and we were about to get into the big metal cablecars to take us back down to the bottom. That made us a little nervous. . . .

 

[Syterion]

I've spent time in hot weather in other countries and have wished for rain as a relief, but believe me man, when its raining all the time its misery.

I know what you are talking about. I've been to India during monsoon season. I'm talking about 12 inches of rain AN HOUR. (Actually happened, but average is of course less) They don't really have lightning, though. It's an instant flood in an area 2000 feet above sea level. I like it though. It's great fun. Canoeing around in streets is an experience you have to have before you die.

I kind of like constant rain. It's terrible for your clothes, but it makes everyone happy (In India at least) and you can have fun with anybody you meet. It's easy to find a bunch of kids spraying each other with water guns. Kind of pointless, but it is still fun, and it is easy to fill them up from the gushing water. When it gets really hard, you have to go inside, because it will simply sweep your feet out from under you and you will hit your head HARD.

 

[Perfection]

No, It makes a goddamned mess! Blowing lawn furniture into swimming pools destroying trees, slowing traffic, flooding basements, and guess who has to clean it up? ME!

 

[Shadylookin]

I'm indifferent to them. they have the ability to look cool, but every year one spawns a tornado 5 miles away from town. Our luck is bound to run out one day. There was a cool one this year with golf ball size hail and our civil defense guys must have been sleeping because a tornado was only 4 miles away. theres also the problem with having to unplug my computer, stuck inside, and damage from it.

 

[SoCalian]

Considering the city I live in has the 2nd worst air quality in the nation(U.S.), any rain is good. I do enjoy thunderstorms, just so long as they don't kill me. this has only happed twice though, so don't have much against them. I'm with you Pontus, rain in Cali is rare, so when it comes it is a relief. BTW which part do you live in, I live in Bakersfield myself.

 

[Drewcifer]

I love thunderstorms. One of the best things about living in the Midwest is that you can be assured of a few spectacular storms every summer. The problem is that sometimes they are a bit too spectacular. When they start talking about tornados or 100 mile per hour straight line winds heading our way my love of storms changes into a different emotion. I have never been directly in a tornado but my neighborhood got hit with 93 mph straight line winds about five years ago. It scared the crap out of me. I saw 40 foot (13 meter?) trees pulled out of the ground by their roots like they were weeds. Lamp posts were blown over. My neighbors had their picture window blown out. Their garage ended up about a block away. It felt like armageddon was coming. I could feel the building shake and vibrate even in the basement. About 20 houses in the neighborhood next to mine had to be torn down because of the damage. When the sky turns green or purple and the sirens go off, run for cover.

Edit: Although when the storms are that fierce they are also very beautiful if you get through them unscathed. They can produce intense cloud formations that you never see otherwise. Like machines in the sky, made up of little cotton balls (Mamatos clouds). The dirty green or dirty purple clouds also give the light a strange and surreal quality. The Wizard of Oz didn't come from nothing.

 

[Pontiuth Pilate]

On the Peninsula. What's even worse is we get no snow either. I've seen snow maybe five separate times in my life All in the Sierras. Man, I want to live there

 

[onejayhawk]

Hearing the tornado alert sirens is a reminder to go out on the porch and look for the funnel cloud.

J

 

[Loaf Warden]

Originally posted by Pontiuth Pilate
What's even worse is we get no snow either. I've seen snow maybe five separate times in my life

The novelty wears off very quickly. Trust me on this one. I know someone who just moved up here from New Orleans this winter, and she was so excited to see snow because she never had before. I talked to her again a week later, and she was sick of the stuff and wanted it all to go away.

 

[CIVPhilzilla]

No, I hate Thunder Storms. I am not scared by them or anything, but there are too big reasons I hate them:

1. I have a paper route and its a pain in the butt to deliver whan the ground is soaking wet.

2. Power goes out = nothing fun to do in my house.

Because of that I hate thunderstorms.

 

[Eastern Knight]

It doesn't matter as long as they aren't harmful.

Wait, I can't open the computer during a thunderstorm, (that's 1), I can't open the TV during a thunderstorm (that's 2), and I can't get to sleep during a thunderstorm.
And that makes it 3.

 

[Yaniv]

Gotta love'm. I'm a big fan of cold weather, as opposed to boiling in hot weather.
Besides, it's fun when nearby girls jump and grab you whenever there is a loud thunder. It's not like we can do anything to stop the thunder.

 

[Martacus]

I've got mixed feelings when it comes to thunderstorms. It's great to be able to sit in a recliner with a blanket draped over yourself in front of a lit hearth, curled up with a good book while the sounds of the wind and rain rage about you, unable to reach you in the secure confines of your home. Cozy, safe, secure.

On the other hand, I hate to be out in storms, especially if I have to drive. It's sheer drudgery. And then my golden retriever also always tucks her tail between her legs and finds some dark corner in which to hide, the pathetic mutt.

 

[schmiddi]

As we don't have tornadoes over here, storms are just entertaining.(and I want more)

 

[Turner]

I love them.

We get our fair share here in Kansas. Usually March to August, but we've had some doozies outside that date range.

I recall one time I was walking to the uni to check on my admissions status, and got caught in one. I took cover under an awning, and was just looking out, watching the storm. Suddenly there was lightning very close to where I was. I started counting "One-thousand-one, One-thousand" BOOM! And the lightning was purple. I also saw the 'pearl effect'. . .it was pretty cool.

That's the closest I've ever seen. That works out to about what, 1500 feet maybe? Closest I've ever been, has been about 150 feet. I was inside, and an apartment across the parking lot got hit. I didn't see it, but I sure heard it. Knocked the screen door off of the apartment. My wife and kids were outside watching the storm, and had their back to it. They said that fire shot up the breezeway and just missed them, but I'm thinking it was more the refection of the lightning off of the red bricks in our breezeway.

The only thing I don't like about t-storms in driving in them. I tend to watch for lightning more than the road.