"LATE AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSHOWERS . . . "

       
             At 6 p.m. today, I had an appointment, via FaceTime, to provide supervision for a woman working on her LPC license.  At 5:30,she texted a request to delay due to thunderstorms in her area. Soon the weather issue was resolved and our session completed.

     Reading her text, I remembered a common 'weather forecast' heard over the years here in the American South, predicting "late afternoon and evening thundershowers." Old-timers could survey the sky and warn, "It's comin' up a cloud", meaning a thunderstorm was imminent. And, as my dog knows, there can be no thunder without lightning.

    Last Winter I promised that I would not complain of Summer heat. I must acknowledge that the pledge has been severely tested as we have had many days with 90+* temperatures, often many of them in succession. Add high humidity readings and there is a recipe for discomfort.  A long ago neighbor, a native of England, said of the local weather conditions, "It's damned de-bil-i-ta-ting !"  The heat and humidity sometimes seem to conspire to produce the storms.

    According to a long-circulated story, Ben Franklin flew a kite with a key during a storm and confirmed some kind of theory about electricity.  It was fortunate for Ben and his experiment that he was not my mom's son because she would not have allowed him outside during the storm. As a matter of fact, my brothers and I remember
being allowed little activity during those events.  And, for goodness sake, stay away from windows and doors and unplug all electrical appliances, and do not go near a telephone. 

    While mom may have been a tad over-cautious,common sense indicates the high risk that lightning poses.  In just the past three days, two persons in our state have experienced lightning strikes and a church several miles away totally burned after being hit by a bolt. 

    Only when my siblings and I became adults did we learn the origins of our mother's fear: as a barefoot young girl, she had been standing on wet ground when an unexpected lightning strike nearby provided more than a tingle.

    As a teen, my now mid-40's daughter was  speaking on the telephone as an ominous cloud formed. As a precaution, I had her end the call and within a couple of minutes, a tree near the corner of our house took a hit from top to bottom.  The voltage continued down the embankment just outside her window.  The furrow was deep, wide and long enough that I could have planted a small vegetable garden.  

   Well, what do you know, maybe there are occasions to take mom's counsel.

    Take care . . . you never know when it will be 'raining cats and dogs'.

     Satchel