True confession: I like a good thunderstorm. Open up a
window. The patter of rain and lazy grumble of distant thunder. Nature’s white noise.
I can live without shrieking tornadoes and watermelon-size hail, but thunderstorms produce most of our rain during the warm season. No storms? There would be no sweet corn adorning roadside stands.
Speaking of farming, lightning is a natural fertilizer. It creates nitrogen oxides, which dissolve in rainwater and fall to the ground as nitrates. Up to 10% of natural nitrogen fixation on Earth comes from lightning. Good news for anyone who likes to eat.
Remember all this later Tuesday when sirens sound as conditions ripen for strong to severe thunderstorms, especially north/west of the metro. Thundery rains spill into Wednesday and early Thursday, with some drying Friday and Saturday. Teetering on the northern edge of a massive “heat dome,” the pattern looks stormy into early August.
It should be “hot enough for ya” with mid-80s to low 90s the next two weeks.
