Angry Storms

 It's April, of course, and that's the month when spring storms do their damage. This past week has been incredibly wet. We've had 2.17" in just the past four days (our normal rainfall for the entire month is 3.93").

 For the past two days we've had rounds of storms. It seems every six hours or so we'd get battered. Last evening I watched a small storms travel northeast from Kentucky. I could see that it was generally in line with us. Mom was going to bed at 6:30 pm as I stepped out the back door with my camera. I walked to the field behind us as I knew the storm wasn't many miles away.

 This was my first view looking west. A small opening in the clouds was sliding quickly towards the north, hiding the late-day sun. Angry clouds swirled overhead and darkened by the minute.

 This is about the same shot, a mere minute or so later as the clouds moved northward (right in this shot).

 Looking overhead and slightly southeast, this is what I saw. It was actually a frightening sky.

 To the southwest the storm was approaching quickly. Lightning flashed almost continually and thunder rolled. I copied this frame out of a video I was shooting. Here's a sequence that includes this same strike:

 These six frames are 0.033s apart. The entire strike, from beginning to end, lasted just 1/3s.

 As I stood there admiring the storm, I began hearing an odd roar nearby and on the ground. It didn't sound exactly like heavy rain but I knew I'd better head for the house. As I got there I was being pelted by pea-sized hail and within a second or two a torrential rain began to fall.
 I reached into my pocket for my keys and tried to protect the camera as best I could. I swung t he back door open and held on to it so the wind wouldn't rip it from my  hand. I pushed myself inside. It was instantly as though I was standing beneath a waterfall. Though the rain lasted no longer than five minutes, I don't think I've ever seen a heavier rain.