Bring on the Thunderstorms!!

I woke up twice this week to thunderstorms. It was great!! It seems like we haven’t had many good thunderstorms this summer, but then I wonder if I could ever have enough of them!!

I think people either love them or hate them. I’ve always loved them. Even after being in a tornado when I was eighteen, I still love it when the sky gets dark and rumbly and the wind picks up, just enough that you know a front’s moving through.

I can’t really explain why I love thunderstorms so much. But I don’t think it’s uncommon. I did a little research and found this great article – 10 Signs You Love Thunderstorms – which I’m going to use as my starting point and then elaborate on.

When a storm is predicted, you constantly check the radar to see how close it’s getting.

This is definitely me!! I want to know where it is and where it’s heading. I’m always a little disappointed when I see it’s going to miss us or if it looks like it’s going to break up before it gets here.

I’ve found I like the radar on the Weather Channel the best. It loads quickly, it’s clear and the past view isn’t so far in the past that it takes forever to get to the current time.

When it finally starts to rain, you hope for thunder.

I like lots of thunder. There’s just something about that rumble, and even the loud cracks, that make me happy. Most good thunderstorms seem to begin with thunder that’s off in the distance, so far away that you don’t even see the lightning yet.

Unlike some, however, I like rainy days in general. After so many sunny days in a row, I need a good, cozy rainy day. As long as it’s warm. Cold, rainy days aren’t so great, especially if it’s windy too. Unless you can watch it from the inside. 😉

You’re disappointed if a storm lasts shorter than five minutes.

This is definitely a bummer. Why get me all excited and then fizzle?

This usually happens if you’re on the edge of the storm, meaning you don’t get the full brunt of it. I’d prefer to be right in the middle of it!!

You resist the urge to splash around in the puddles during and after a thunderstorm — but then you give in anyway.

Now, this I can’t say about myself. Splashing in puddles isn’t my thing. I don’t want to ruin my shoes!! In fact, I’ll even choose the shoes I wear based on whether it looks like rain.

Maybe if I went for a walk after a good storm, I’d enjoy this. I think maybe I’ve been splashed too many times standing on the sidewalk when a car goes by!!!

You sit outside and/or keep the windows open during a thunderstorm.

This I love. If I know a storm is coming, I will try to sit outside and watch it form. You can feel a change in the air – cooler and maybe a little windier and the clouds slowly move your way.

Spring and fall thunderstorms are the best for keeping the windows open. Our sliding glass doors go out to the covered portion of our deck, so I can usually keep them open even after it’s started raining. There’s just something soothing about that sound.

You think the best thunderstorms are the ones with really strong winds and really loud thunder.

Have I already mentioned I like the loud cracks of thunder?? You know, the ones so loud they make you jump? And the flashes of lightning? I like to watch for the lightning streaks in the sky. My kind of storm.

Strong winds are fine as long as they don’t do damage. Our trees are still young so they bend with the wind. But we’ve had winds so strong that they’ve blown the cover off our grill and we couldn’t find it!! Fun to watch but not so fun to clean up after it.

You count the seconds after lightning until the thunder to see how close you are to the storm.

I’ve done this before but it’s not something I do every time. I can tell without counting if a storm is getting closer. I do remember doing this as a kid.

The smell of rain outside is almost like a high for you.

Can you smell when rain is coming? Not always, but there are times when you just know it’s going to rain because of the smell.

I can’t say the smell of rain is a high for me, but I do like the smell after it rains. It’s fresh and reminds you that nature has its way of cleaning up.

You often prefer dark stormy clouds to blistering sunshine.

As I’ve said before, I do look forward to rainy days, especially if they include thunder and lightning. The best is when you have a whole day of it. Not constant but the storms come and go. This doesn’t happen often but it’s great when it does.

I love taking pictures of storm clouds and get excited if I see thunderheads forming in the distance. Clouds can be fascinating!!

I love the sunny days but sometimes it’s more calming to have cloudy skies. For instance, driving is nicer without the sun in your face.

If the storm is at night, the thunder and rain against the window lull you to sleep.

My problem with this is, I want to listen to it, not fall asleep. But I do find it very relaxing. I actually like being woken up by a thunderstorm, not really fully awake but enough to know it’s there and then fall back asleep.

And because I have a bad ear, if I’m laying on the wrong side, I can’t hear it. If it’s storming when we go to bed, I always lay on my bad ear so I can listen to the storm before I fall asleep.

The only negative?

One of the things I like to do when it’s storming, besides watch it, is to watch TV. This is especially true if we’re trying to find out about any storm warnings. Rainy days are also a great time to snuggle up with a movie.

But we have a satellite dish for our TV and it seems no matter how much rain we get, it goes out. If we’re downstairs and not paying attention, sometimes this is how we find out there’s a storm outside!! Which is also a bummer because that means we’re missing it. A really good storm is when we can hear the thunder and the rain when we’re downstairs!!

What about you? Take a second and answer my poll (it will only be out there for a week). I’m curious to know if I’m the only crazy thunderstorm lover. I have a feeling I’m not. 😜

Let’s hope we still have some great thunderstorms in our future. I can never get enough! 🌩⛈🌩⛈🌩