Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Rolling Round the Sky (Weird Weather)
It's late Tuesday night here and we've just been in the middle of the biggest thunder-and-lightning show you ever saw! It's been hot all day, up to 25oC, blue skies and sun all morning and then some light clouds which came and went in the afternoon. At 7pm, there was some hot, light rain that just appeared out of a clear sky. Then at 8pm the TV stations started broadcasting a Severe Weather Warning for thunderstorms... The storm came out of the west, from the Rockies and rattled around for 10 or 15 minutes a mile or two away, with the usual lightning and distant thunder we've come to expect. When the interval between the lightning and the thunder got small (1-2 seconds), the house started to shake with the noise and we unplugged the computer just to be on the safe side. After another few minutes, the storm seemed to pass and all was quiet - the blue sky returned and the evening sun came out again. A couple of minutes later, we heard a few thumps on the roof and jumped up in time to find that we were in the middle of an intense, heavy shower of hailstones, each about 2cm across bouncing off the deck and turning it white like snow! I tried to go out to see what it was like, but it was actually too heavy for me to get out the door without getting hit by the hail! The house was roaring and rattling with the noise of hail hitting it... and then 2 minutes later, it stopped as suddenly as it had started, the sun came out again the hail melted like it had never been.
A couple of hours later, just at sunset, the storm returned again with a sudden increase in the temperature and even more impressive lightning, lighting up the neighbourhood like it was daylight. And this time, the lightning was firing constantly from the clouds, striking the ground every few seconds and flickering horizontally around the clouds. It kept on like that for maybe 30 minutes, rattling around just above us before drifting off to the north. Assuming that it's maybe coming back again during the night, the computer is still unplugged, so I'm blogging wirelessly from the laptop and we haven't been able to upload any of our pictures of the hail. We also took a few short video clips of the lightning, so we'll take a
look at them tomorrow and see what we got. Apparently this sort of weather is normal for July in Calgary. Photos tomorrow, anyway.
And in other news...
P got her work permit approval today, so we won't have to starve on my pay after all. No doubt she'll tell you more about her adventures with Immigration Canada, but we've been told she may have to leave the country to get her work permit issued. She's going to see the immigration people tomorrow morning for more info, so watch this space...
Our sofas arrived, so our furniture is just about complete (although we still need a rug or two)! They're huge, and really comfy. More photos tomorrow...
Work proceeds apace, still in Rad Onc for another 3 weeks. Starting to get into the swing of things now... First night on call (Sunday) will still be an big learning experience, but it's all grist for the mill, and I have been doing this surgery thing for a long time now - how different can it be here? (famous last words)
Anyway, off to bed for now - got to be up at 05:15 tomorrow for a 07:00 round.
Oh, and then the day after tomorrow is the big Birthday day! Watch this space...
A couple of hours later, just at sunset, the storm returned again with a sudden increase in the temperature and even more impressive lightning, lighting up the neighbourhood like it was daylight. And this time, the lightning was firing constantly from the clouds, striking the ground every few seconds and flickering horizontally around the clouds. It kept on like that for maybe 30 minutes, rattling around just above us before drifting off to the north. Assuming that it's maybe coming back again during the night, the computer is still unplugged, so I'm blogging wirelessly from the laptop and we haven't been able to upload any of our pictures of the hail. We also took a few short video clips of the lightning, so we'll take a
look at them tomorrow and see what we got. Apparently this sort of weather is normal for July in Calgary. Photos tomorrow, anyway.
And in other news...
P got her work permit approval today, so we won't have to starve on my pay after all. No doubt she'll tell you more about her adventures with Immigration Canada, but we've been told she may have to leave the country to get her work permit issued. She's going to see the immigration people tomorrow morning for more info, so watch this space...
Our sofas arrived, so our furniture is just about complete (although we still need a rug or two)! They're huge, and really comfy. More photos tomorrow...
Work proceeds apace, still in Rad Onc for another 3 weeks. Starting to get into the swing of things now... First night on call (Sunday) will still be an big learning experience, but it's all grist for the mill, and I have been doing this surgery thing for a long time now - how different can it be here? (famous last words)
Anyway, off to bed for now - got to be up at 05:15 tomorrow for a 07:00 round.
Oh, and then the day after tomorrow is the big Birthday day! Watch this space...
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