MM: Weather Drama

'Weather' could not have been a better mono Monday theme for me today (thanks, Nicki!)

Early in the day I took a photograph of some amazing clouds that were so layered that they looked like they were taken in 3D or HDR (first extra).  I was sure that was going to be my blip, especially since the skies cleared up a lot after that.

At 4:21, with the sun shining down upon us, the power went out.  Kaplooey.  In less than an hour, the house was so hot and stuffy that it was difficult for me to breathe.  I got mom into the car and headed to Dairy Queen.  Out of power.  Starbucks, Safeway...out of power.  Finally, we landed at an extremely  crowded Culver's.  We had some ice cream then we headed back home. I built up quite a sweat and mom was really uncomfortable (but uncomplaining), too.

The TEP website said that the 8500 homes in Green Valley and 880 further south without electricity would be back on line by 11:30 pm.  But yippee! At precisely 7:00 pm the lights popped on.   When that ended, the thunder and lightning started.

I didn't go outside this time.  I shot through our front window.  Since I was using a wide angle lens I couldn't seem to get the corner of the window blinds out of the shot.  When it got darker, I caught a single horizontal bolt (second extra).  This is the very first time I've photographed lightning twice in one monsoon season.  I was pretty excited.