Hailstorm

Summer was a rainy affair, with the the month right before school breaking the state record for number of consecutive rainy days - 32 days of precipitation! And then of course, on the first day of school, the entire state awoke to beautiful blue skies, nary a cloud in sight. And for the next week, sun, sun, sun. Then today! It was hot enough for a thunderstorm! I do love thunderstorms, and this was a fantastic one. First the clouds rolled in, black and menacing. Then the lightning started to flash, followed quickly by bone shaking thunder. The rain was pouring down around a mile away in a thick, grey veil. As the lightning and thunder got closer and closer together and to us, the rain swept over by the house, and lo and behold! It was hail! Some of the stones were an inch in diameter before rapidly melting on the warm ground. I went outside for a moment but was quickly pelted on the head with a few good sized stones and so retreated just as fast back to the house. Instead I got this photo through the closed glass door - hail bounced in when we opened it. Shoe for reference size, and this is after the big ones finished coming down.

Nature is so very impressive. I think she likes to remind us of how powerless we are.