Nature’s Light Show

The radio has been announcing storm watches and warnings all week across most western and central counties of Nebraska.

This, my last night in North Platte, brings my first severe weather of the trip. I woke up to lightning about twenty minutes ago, unplugged the 30amp power cord, and am now running the sparest of lights on 12 volt battery. It’s about 11:30pm, I’m in my jammies, in a mostly dark trailer, and staring awed through the windows at an electrical storm that’s riding in from the west.

Lightning flashes through skylights and glass, putting the rig into bright then dark, then grumbles away into thunder some distance off. The air is hot and thick and on edge. Shock after shock of multi-forked lightning crackles. The insides of clouds flash magnesium-white, as if the gods are taking family photos.

The storm moves directly toward our RV park. White-blue light splits thickly across the sky above the border of trees. The thunder rumbles so deeply, I can feel it vibrate through the floor.

I have never heard such singular claps of thunder before, never been directly beneath one. It is a rock-splitting sound that makes me jump. The Catskills Bowling League has come to town for a tournament, and the trailers here could be its next pins.

One crackling flash and its sonic boom are nearly simultaneous, nearly on top of us, and the lights go out in our campground and nearby hotels. They are back on very soon. A ridiculously small amount of rain patters as the storm passes over. The whole event, both spectacular and unnerving, rolls away in thirty minutes.