Now THAT Was Cool

I was blasted awake at 11 pm last night by the nearly simultaneous explosion of a million flashbulbs accompanied by a house shaking crack of thunder. This was immediately followed by the sound of pretty good sized hail falling on the roof and the outside vegetation. The temperature was a comfortable 78 degrees out, so most of the windows were open, and the light and sound show continued for another 15 minutes or so. Our rain gauge accumulated 0.06 inches within 5 minutes, a pretty good drenching, but way too brief to provide lasting relief from watering. Thankfully, the hail wasn't heavy enough to damage any of our plants.

As I've mentioned before, I love thunderstorms, and we don't get very many of them here. Maybe climate change will bring more summer thunderstorms into our area. Maybe I should be careful what I wish for...

Speaking of a possibly warming climate, this morning's low of 64 might have set a new record for the "highest low" for this date. The previous record was 63 in 1976.