It was supposed to be a day of lightning without rain, of clouds without rain.
At least that’s what the forecasters predicted, alerting us last Thursday of yet another “Red Flag” weather day, meaning there was a high probability of fire starts from lightning and gusty winds, with little hope of rain to mitigate the danger.
Except this time, the forecasters were wrong.
Well. They were right about the lightning. There was plenty of that.
I was in bed, trying to sleep, when the first flashes arrived.
It’s hard to sleep in fire season in these parts when there is lightning around. My neighbor across the way has a bright orange light by her driveway that looks a little like fire if I glance at it wrong, especially since it casts a glowing reflection on my open windows. I thought for a moment last night, when the lightning first started and I peered outside, that a small fire had already broken out right across the creek, and my heartrate spiked for a minute, before I realized my mistake.
Thankfully, though, this lightning did not come by itself, like the forecasters feared. Continue Reading…
