There’s a thunderstorm outside!Â
It started to Fall-rain today. Something I have gotten used to here in NYC is the rain that happens during the fall. Weather patterns are something that can be so defined and in a region, but I hardly ever notice changes in them until the expected weather pattern HASN’T happened. Like one summer when it rained all the time up in Albany. Maybe I thought it was raining so much because I was kind of depressed, baby-sitting in a weird one-parent-staying-home situation for the summer, or maybe the weather patterns were skewed. I really do think it rained a lot that summer. I remember Albany being extra lush and green, and I remember the shade of green that reflected from the full trees to the low gray clouds and back down to unmowed grass.
In NYC, it’s supposed to rain in the fall, be cool for December and January, get really cold in February, with not much precipitation during the winter. Then for spring it will warm up a bit and rain at night only. Summer time has thunderstorms with hard driving rain and hot muggy temperatures, sometimes oppressive. Everyone walks around sweaty. The sun is clear and orangey-red, and it hits your shoulders in a heavy way.
Today, I was surprised to hear it start to thunderstorm. I don’t really know where thunderstorms come from, I’m used to blaming them on the summer, or the humidity, or the heat. I’m used to sitting at my grandmothers’ in Tennessee during August and watching the thunderstorm clouds roll around her hill, until they’ve gone nearly all around us before suddenly bursting open and dropping a quick hard rain that briefly shoulders the heat and humidity out of the way before the sun breaks through the clouds and heats the wet streets until they’re like a long sauna, surrounding everything.Â
But I’m not used to these fall thunderstorms. In the fall the rain will come at night, and in the early morning. It will rain softly in the morning but so steadily that you can’t leave the house without an umbrella. The oil and dirt on the pavement will start to wash away, but won’t disappear as quickly as you wish they would. The oil will start to spread its sheen and will pick up the little light afforded by the gray sky. Last night it rained like this. It started after work, and rained on and off all night long. The rain was cold, but not too cold. The clouds kept us warm like a wet wool blanket. The weather report for today said it would rain on and off, turning colder overnight until we hit real November temperatures for the weekend.
Instead, today it started to rain in earnest. The sky got prematurely dark during the day until we remarked at 3 PM that it was practically nighttime. But we didn’t blame the weather, we blamed daylight savings time. And then I heard the rain slapping the window as it fell. And one loud boom of thunder surprised me while I was on the phone. That was all – the thunderstorm moved on through, and an entirely appropriate fall rain stayed in its place. It wasn’t too hard, but fell softly into puddles. It got people wet. It was a proper fall rain.
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Last night I went to a birthday party for a friend of mine from school. It was lots of fun. I was able to isolate myself from my classmates for the first 2 ½ years at college, and then the few semesters I started being better friends with them. I’m so glad I did, because I really enjoy spending time with them. They’re a classy bunch of people, full of smarts, sass, and fun. And after all of my tireds from yesterday I managed to stay up very late, and get home very late, and not get enough sleep. That’s ok, though, because it’s the weekend tomorrow…
