Having lived in and traveled to a lot of places, I've seen a lot of storm clouds and experienced their wrath as they pounded at everything beneath them. Some of the most dramatic lumbered across vast prairies and high plains, occasionally dropping twisters to stir up trouble. Along the gulf coast, water spouts were frequently spawned by squalls raking the waves, beaches and coastal plains. Arriving in the tiny north Texas town of Windthorst on the first day of last month just as a supercell released its fury, I was forced to pull over, stop and wait for it to pass. I couldn't see ten feet ahead of me. Lightning struck several times close by as I sat in the truck encased in rain on the shoulder watching it unfold. A hell of a nice storm.
I enjoy them all, but my favorite thunderstorms are these here in the mountains. So far, none have spawned tornadoes although there have been tornado alerts issued for this area. But they do just about everything else a thunderstorm will do including fierce high winds, hail and lightning creating rolling thunder that echoes from slope to slope in beautifully long, drawn-out fashion in this natural reverb chamber of a canyon–a uniquely cool kind of storm.
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