Storm

I was sitting at my desk, feeling guilty about not posting to the blog yet today (it's almost 4:00). Suddenly there was a crack of thunder and it got dark. The lights all went out. [Thank goodness for the backup generators; they were back on within a minute.]

I grabbed my camera and headed to the balcony outside our office. Just before I took this shot, there was a beautiful fork of lightning close to the TV tower. But I am not the kind of photographer who has the patience or skill to capture that. The TV tower was built during the 1970s when we were here on staff. As it was built, the rubble was just tossed down the nearest nullah -- the crease formed between outcrops on the mountain. Much below the construction site, the nullah passed right outside our house. And in the monsoon of 1977 the rocks and mud overflowed into the back side of Palisades, where we lived. It was quite a mess. We were moved out into Stone Ledge for the next couple of months until they could clear up the rocks and remove the mud and water from our house.

The new gym is shown prominently in this photo.


Another shot heading more to the east. The sky was very heavy and gray.


On the opposite balcony several other people were watching the storm just outside the Quad Library. (Formerly the young girls' Long Dorm.)


Soon it got very loud -- there is nothing quite like the sound of hail on a tin roof! It is hard to get a good shot, but this one of the inner corner of the roof above our office shows a few of the hailstones.