Thunderstorms...Exciting or Scary?

BOOM..Bang...C R A C K! I've heard a few doozies that sounded as though it was right above my rooftop. Those are the ones that make me flinch, no...that's not the right word...hmmm..ok.. let's just say that some people would need a new change of undies (I haven't gotten to that point yet thank goodness)

Ever seen storms like these Ones?

What comes to mind? Excitement? Fear? or other things?

It can be pretty unnerving for both kids and adults alike.

Did you know that there is a phobia name for the fear of thunder?

It's called: Brontophobia

Definition of Brontophobia:

Brontophobia: An abnormal and persistent fear of thunder that causes undue anxiety even though sufferers realize that thunder itself poses no threat to them. When outdoors during a thunderstorm, they may suffer excessive anxiety. When indoors, they may hide under beds or desks, behind sofas, or in closets.

"Brontophobia" is derived from the Greek "bronte" (thunder) and "phobos" (fear). This same Greek word has given us the English word "brontometer," an instrument for recording the activity of thunderstorms.

Look at the 1st 6 letters of Brontophobia. I could have sworn that the above definition was going to compare 'thunder' with a Brontosaurus? It sure does sound like a herd of dinos running around up there in the clouds.

Personally speaking, I'm not at all afraid of thunder and lightning. I respect them; it's part of nature. We're all aware of the damage that can happen with lightning strikes. Did you ever notice that the air has a nice clean quality about it after the storm passes. Got to love ozone.

A storm is actually passing over our area in southern Ontario as I type this. I checked with the tv, and apparently parts of Toronto are being somewhat flooded. Jane Street has over a metre of water.

Time to get the ark out yet?...nah..like all storms such as these, they pass.

We're in for a good one today.

I'm eyeing that blow-up dingy just in case.

I LOVE thunder storms. It's a free light show. And the downpour is invigorating. Yes, I actually go out in them. I've lived in damn near every area of this country and Ontario has the best ones.

I'm only 45 minutes from TO and the sky is pretty clear right now. You must be in Hamilton. God wants to strike that city anyways. With good reason I might add. Damn 1 way streets.

The only drawback is the power going out. I HATE that.

Originally posted by intrepid
I LOVE thunder storms. It's a free light show. And the downpour is invigorating. Yes, I actually go out in them. I've lived in damn near every area of this country and Ontario has the best ones.

i completly agree with you
i think they are great aswell,

Intrepid,

I'm in BORINGton...um sorry, Burlington. lol I really like storms alot too!

The storm came through west to east. Just got off the phone with my Mom (Grand River trailor park). She's a freakin hoot; fantastic sense of humor. We were joking and 'creating' a scene for the next flood/apocolypse movie.

Scene 1 Act 1

7am - Ducky lays in bed contemplating how much sleep she's lost due to the severe thunderstorm all throughout the night.
7:15am - A knocking sound at Duckys' bedroom window. She thinks "Um...yah right...I'm on the 4th floor apartment...the squirrels in the trees better have a hot coffee for me."
7:16am - Knocking is getting louder. Muffled voices? Ducky is VERY curious to find out what's going on now. She opens the curtain, and lo behold! The previous nights storm created so much water, it's at the same level as Duckys' 4th floor! Another amazing sight: There's Ducky's Mom in a blowup dingy holding a freshly brewed coffee for her loving daughter. What the?

Are you equating your mother with a squirrel? :shk:

You nut! lol

My Mom, the squirrel

Great makings for a book title. The little squirrel saves the day!

I'll bet his wee arse could blow thunderous cloud activities away.

All hail to the wee arse!!!

Originally posted by TheDuckster
You nut! lol

My Mom, the squirrel

Great makings for a book title. The little squirrel saves the day!

I'll bet his wee arse could blow thunderous cloud activities away.

All hail to the wee arse!!!

Ducky you are such a ham.
I hate storms.Been through a tornado and a massive wind storm July 17 last year.Literally brought my city to it's knees.It was like everything in the world stopped.Seriously scary.Definitely made me a person who prepares for such things.
And hey thank the wee arse for sending the storm up to me.I got a million errands to run today and the sky is about to open up any minute.Oh you just wait till winter, I'll send you 5 feet a'snow! Just kidding.

[edit on 20-7-2007 by AccessDenied]

Access,

I'm either very lucky or in a very safe zone where I live. You've heard people say the term: 'Lake effect'? It seems that when major weather systems like thunderstorms go through our area, these systems seem to discipate somewhat where I reside.

For example, in the wintertime, a snowstorm coming from west to east will by-pass us north and south. Poor ol' Buffallo will get hit and blame us, and up north in Collingwood or Barrie and Muskoka region will get dumped on. Mind you, we're not totally immune down here in Burlington. We had a nice little dumpage of snow this past winter.

Tornadoes....thats' another thing. One actually hit Burlington 5 -10 years back and took out 'Hidden Forest' trailor park around the escarpment.

These systems are nasty. There are no words to describe when tornadoes level entire towns.

[edit on 20-7-2007 by TheDuckster]

I see we have an Ontario thread running here.....

We're over in Hamilton, and yeah, we've had some wopper thunder storms roll through here.
Personally I love a good storm, and I'll stand by a window or look out the door so I get a good view of the free show.

The only down side is having to plug a bunch of stuff back in when it's over, and re-set clocks on VCRs, microwave, tv's, etc.....
We've had a few things fried in the past, so now we unplug the electronic stuff during a storm thinking it's better safe than sorry.

Storms scary? No way. Go out on the porch and watch it.

I love thunder storms!!! I think they are exciting, and I could watch one every night. I used to live in Arizona, and during the monsoon season we could likely see one of those several times a week. I love sitting outside under the patio cover watching a good storm

It sounds like everyone here, for the most part, enjoys a good cloud clashing once in awhile! That's the spirit!

I have to ask you all something. Have you ever had a storm hit so BAD, that lightning struck VERY close to you? Even to the point of hitting your home or car?

Any close calls?

I like to count how far off a strike is from my home, and the nearest I counted was within a mile.....that was a little freaky, but I stayed outside the entire time anyhow!

Once when I was 3 years old...(I still remember) there was a thunder storm over my house that went on for hours and it sounded like Huge Boulders falling from the sky. That one scared me, but I was only three.

Jen,

I'm trying to remember the method for counting 'how far off' the storm is.

I thought it was like this:

Once we see the lightning, we immediatly start counting, "One thousand and one, one thousand and two, until we hear the thunder. For every second that we count is how many miles away the storm is.

Doppler-Radar affect.

Is that how it goes?

Originally posted by TheDuckster
Have you ever had a storm hit so BAD, that lightning struck VERY close to you? Even to the point of hitting your home or car?

Any close calls?

For sure I've had an amazing close call.
I lived on the 33rd floor of a building, the very top floor. We were sitting on the sofa near a balcony door when lightning hit the metal rail a few feet away.

The crack was almost deafening and the entire room lit up like we had set off a 1,000 flash bulbs at the same time. It scared the crap out of us, and also gave us a new respect for the sheer power of nature.

I like thunder/lightning storms myself as well.


Unfortunately they are few and in between around here, oh yeah we have rain,
lots and lots of rain, in fact it's raining right now, but thunderstorms are rare.
In fact they occur less than once a year here, though there was one a week or so ago,
I was half asleep though, so I did'nt get to see the lightning.



Stupid convergence zone..

i love storms man...if it starts cracking, i go sit on the porch and scope it out...was doing it last night as a matter of fact.

one time i did get freaked out. i thought it was like end of days or something. it was dead of winter, snowing like a mofo and the thunder and lightning started....i had never seen that before so i started looking it up and i found that is is a weather phenomina called 'thunder snow'...was pretty rad man

I LOVE storms! I've seen some doozies too. Had a funnel cloud form right above our house once - that was very scary. Had a couple of huge oak trees ripped right out of the ground just feet away from the house (thank God they fell the opposite way and didn't damage anything.)

Once I was driving through a storm and right across the street there was green lightning against a very dark sky. That was way cool!

My husband and I experienced a strange sensation once. We were sitting in our living room talking when a bolt of lightning must have hit our apartment. We could feel the electricity go right through our bodies. Our hair stood on end and we just looked at each other and said, "Wow!! Did you feel that?! That was cool!"

I love thunderstorms. The power of nature on full display, and a really cool light show to boot...the best shows are indeed free.

A big lightning bolt hit a wheat field, freshly plowed thankfully so no fire, about sixty feet from my car at 50 mph. Scared the whey outta me . Pulled over and watched the rest of the show, didn't get out though...

Originally posted by seagull


A big lightning bolt hit a wheat field, freshly plowed thankfully so no fire, about sixty feet from my car at 50 mph. Scared the whey outta me

. Pulled over and watched the rest of the show, didn't get out though...

Yup, similar happened to me. You don't know the REAL power of lightning until it strikes VERY close.