15 Comments on “You Don’t Need a Weatherman to Know Which Way the Wind Blows”

1. The one thing I missed after leaving Ohio was the thunderstorms, that and the lightning bugs. Neither of which have I seen in Denver in anthing close to the intensity or frequency of Ohio. No humidity is nice though…

2. Maybe I’m just insane, but one of the things I miss most in Northern California are the thunderstorms we had in upstate New York. There’s something electrifying (figuratively, one hopes) about the darkening sky, the drop in temperature, and the light show. And no air is as fresh as what you breath immediately after the storm.

   We do get a thunderstorm here in the Bay Area every year or two, but they sound like someone’s kicking large cardboard boxes across the sky. Kind of pathetic.

3. I guess God finally read one of your books.

4. Huh?

5. God, I love the Midwest. We got two of these bad boys yesterday. Maybe another one later today. Mmmm, thunderstormy goodness.

6. I lived in northern Illinois for 5 years as a teenager and remember watching those giant thunderstorms roll in.

   Lordy, so much of the scenery up there was the sky itself. Beautiful sunsets! (otherwise, the weather, while providing the aforementioned scenery, absolutely SUCKED – give me winter in the Rockies anytime vs. the Midwest ;)

7. @Timmy: Doesn’t god know and see all? In fact, one can argue that god knew about Scalzi’s book _before it was ever written_. Perhaps before the universe was created.

   Perhaps every moment in time and all creation is here just so Scalzi can write the Perfect Book. Perhaps the thunderstorms are a way to keep Scalzi entertained so he continues to write clever stories. Who knows? Maybe god was on a sugar rush for the past few aeons.

   Hmmm. Seems to be too many what-ifs here. Best we don’t try to determine the will of god quite so specifically.

   And yes, some of those midwest storms are awesome (and I use that word in one of its more classic definitions). I used to live in Winnipeg, and seeing one of those big supercells coming at you from Saskatchewan was truly awe-inspiring.

8. God is my favorite Simpsons character.

9. We had a hell of a boomer up here in central Ohio, too. Luckily, all the trees in our yard made it relatively unscathed, and even more luckily, I procrastinated putting the recycling out, so now I don’t have to go pick our Cheerios boxes and pop cans out of all the neighbors’ yards (again).

10. Yeah, parts of it came through here (southern Mo) about 6-ish. Pushed a big whopping tree over onto the neighbors house. Ironically, it was a tree scheduled to be cut down because it was rickety. Well, now it’s down, so there’s that. (everyone’s okay – I checked)

11. Soni,

    You’d think it would be impossible for a tree to be rickety what with all that exposure to sunlight.

    (Ba dump dump)

    I agree that thunderstorms can be some of the most dramatic demonstrations of the power of nature. So far this summer the big boys and girls seem to be passing south of MN – but the summer is still young!

    (Do I need the disclaimer that I’m not rooting for damage to either people or property? I hope that goes without saying.)

12. David,

    I lived in northern Illinois for 5 years as a teenager and remember watching those giant thunderstorms roll in.

    I grew up in a NW suburb of Chicago. Where were you?

13. Tripp,

    We lived out in the country near Cabery, IL – about 30 mi SW of Kankakee. Yes, it was out in the corn and bean fields ;)

    This was 1975-1980, after which I moved to the Four Corners area of Colorado (in and around Durango, CO).

14. David,

    Wow, I was pretty much driving through that area on my way to/from the U of I at Champaign-Urbana during those years.

    Were you the guy with the dark hair?

15. One of the things I miss most about Indiana is real thunderstorms. Los Angeles is almost storm-free. We get rain in varying amounts, but it’s almost never accompanied by the light show.

    I also miss views like the one in that first photo. Where do you live, John? Can I come visit?