The World According to Nils » Thunderstorm

Unusual Weather

Nils — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 06:08:44 +0000

I guess after that [tornado](/2007/06/25/tornado-in-frankfurt/), no strange weather should surprise me anymore. Yesterday morning, all seemed well, and I went to the Chinese consulate to apply for my visa. On the way back, went shopping, and after I got home the heavy rain set in. And I do mean heavy rain. When I looked out I couldn’t believe my eyes.

It was a hailstorm.

Yes, you read that right: Little pieces of ice were falling down, hitting my balcony, and bouncing back up 20-30cm into the air. Lasted about ten minutes. And then the thunderstorm set in.

And in the evening we had more heavy rains. Don’t know how much water fell on Frankfurt, but it must have been a _lot_. Temperatures, meanwhile, hover around 13Â°C. I am not complaining about this, I vastly prefer such a colder weather to temperatures in the 30s, but I must observe that it seems highly unusual considering it is now July.

End of the Heatwave

Nils — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 12:38:57 +0000

After it was [very hot for many weeks](/2007/05/25/too-hot-again/), and especially unpleasant last week, the weather completely changed: The thunderstorms they’d been announcing for weeks finally arrived in force. Very loud. Very impressive. And with a huge amount of rain. Today it is cloudy and dark and stormy and still very rainy. I love it. Because not only it’s fun weather, it also means I do not have to sit in a puddle of my own sweat at work.

If it was up to me, I’d keep this weather all summer until we’ll eventually hit the autumn storms.

US Church Struck By Lightning

Nils — Sat, 05 Jul 2003 10:34:04 +0000

The BBC reports that a US church was hit by a lightning strike. That in itself would not be remarkable were it not for the bizarre circumstances:

> A congregation in the United States was left stunned when lightning struck a church moments after a visiting preacher asked God for a sign.
>
> Church members in the town of Forest in the state of Ohio said the preacher had been emphasizing the importance of penance when, in the course of his prayers, he called on the heavens above.
>
>The lightning struck the steeple, then hit the preacher himself when it traveled through electrical wiring to his microphone.

Now, I am not a religious man; but the humor of the situation is so great that I have tears in my eyes from the laughter. If God really existed, this kind of thing ought to happen a whole lot more often.