In the past week here in Carson, lightening and thunder storms have become more frequent. It looks like an average sunny day. Hot, no clouds, and birds singing. Without much warning, a storm can come in and be on top of you within minutes. Dark angry looking clouds appear. The wind picks up and the birds disappear. A little bit of rain is scattered throughout.  Then the lightening and thunder starts. Sounds exciting but when you have a metal clipboard in hand or are carrying a metal optical device, it is a different story. There was a range specialist in our office that once told us “when it rains, there will be fire!” This is from the high number of lightening strikes that will hit ground within one storm.

Our crew was out on an average day doing AIM transects. Birds were singing and the sun was blazing! Within half an hour the clouds, wind, and droplets of rain had arrived. We heard some thunder still at a distance and decided to head to the trucks. As we all piled in, the storm was straight overhead. Long streaks of lightening and huge claps of thunder. We waited for over an hour before the storm passed. During that time, a large storm chasing firefighter truck passed us to go to a vantage point to look for fires started by lightening. Luckily that storm did not start any fires nearby. If that had been the case it could have been a dangerous situation for us.

I have experienced thunder storms before, but never this intense. Usually I am already inside and watching the storm safe and sound. Here in Nevada, with a field job, these storms can be dangerous if actions are not taken immediately. It is an experience new to me and one that I will never forget.