My family and friends on the East Coast might be surprised by this post, but we don't get thunderstorms here very often, so last night was a big deal. The newspapers (Press Democrat, SF Chronicle) reported 400-500 lightning strikes in the North Bay area.
I had a funny experience with the thunder associated with this lightning. For years I have been hoping to make an audio recording of thunder. So when I awoke to hear the thunder early this morning, I thought to myself, "Now is your opportunity. If the thunder comes closer, you should try to record it." But my recorder was in the car. Do I get out of bed and shuffle to the car in the dark to get the recorder or not?
Well, thunder is rare enough here that I decided to go for it. I got dressed, opened the door, took two steps outside, and the sky absolutely lit up as if it was daylight and the thunder crackled and roared like nothing I'd heard in years. Okay, I said, the thunder is close enough to record! And it's worth getting the recorder!
So here are a few recordings of thunder in our yard in Sebastopol at ~2:30 a.m. on 10 June 2013. You may need to turn up your volume, as some of the rumblings are very low in pitch. And remember to keep listening through the quieter moments. One of the most dramatic things about thunder is not knowing when different sounds are going to form! (If you have headphones available, I recommend listening with them.)
thunder1 by nhbh
thunder2 by nhbh
thunder3 by nhbh
P.S. I read that in Norse mythology Thor is associated with thunder, hence the title of this post.
I love that you crawled out of a nice warm bed to record this Jackie! I thought about going out on the deck to attempt to capture photos of lightning over the Bodega Bay Harbor but never budged.
ReplyDeleteYou're a trooper! Thank you!
I really like the inclusion of audio files in your blog.
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