Heat Lightning

I have always been a fan of thunderstorms, well perhaps fan is too strong of a word but I do enjoy being able to watch the rain fall from under a roof. In the south, before the storm there is often something that I call heat lightning. This is one of the most beautiful things that I have ever observed. If you aren't familiar with this beauty it is before the rain when the huge thunderheads are rolling in and the lightning arcs between the clouds. This lightning lights up the clouds like the fourth of July.

The other night on my way home from shopping with my Aunts I was driving down a little highway (there are lots of these even in the city) and when I came over the hill I had a chance to watch the lightning. I took a few pics but it is so hard to time the pictures just right I will give you the best one that I have. When I got home I realized that the trees are so high around the house that you couldn't see the lightning anymore.

One of my favorite memories of watching the heat lightning is on a family trip somewhere, I was laying in the coveted backseat and I could watch the lightning play across the fields. I remember asking my dad if it was going to rain and he said it was just heat lightning. He also said that there wouldn't be any rain with the storm but that the lightning would be neat to watch as it flew from cloud to cloud. I think I watched the lightning for hours that night and from then I tend to take time to watch it when I have a chance. MY favorite places to watch the heat lighting are over a lake or the ocean or over a ranch.

Some heat lightning on the horizon

I know that my picture doesn't really do it justice and on the off chance that you have never seen it I grabbed a pic from the web that you can see here. I am looking forward to seeing more of this over year.