It was horribly hot yesterday.. it intends on being the same today.
The ‘dog days of August’ are occurring as I type. That type of weather that is thick like cake batter.. juicy and reminiscent more of a plate of vomit than actual air. Cooling devices struggle.. people’s air passages juggle.. anything to stay cool is what humans seek at this time.
Last night, while driving home from a family member’s house (a family member with a pool), we drove directly into an impressive and beautiful thunderstorm. Parts of the sky were blue and turning darker as the sun was moving west.. other parts were dark red and orange, yellow and black.. Lightning was created a giant white flash as far as the eye could see every few seconds.. Enormous storm clouds gathered.. They looked menacing and foreboding..
All was fine and we arrived home safety, but I focused on the quick camera snap of the clouds that we took as we drove into harm’s way..
I thought deeply about the skies the ancients saw.. What sort of stories must have been told when storms occurred, when clouds gathered, and when thunder rolled. Even though we have come to understand that air masses collide, in a time before science and reason, the only logical conclusion would could have had was that a god of the sky was throwing anger at humans below..
Imagine a world before weather forecasting.
We have a 90 day outlook now available on Accuweather (I am going to start tracking some days and see how accurate the future is when predicted today) .. but centuries ago weather forecasting was pre infancy. It wasn’t even being thought of yet. At some point things got rolling.
Around 650 B.C., the Babylonians tried to predict short-term weather changes based on the appearance of clouds and optical phenomena such as haloes. By 300 B.C., Chinese astronomers developed a calendar that divided the year into 24 festivals, each festival associated with a different type of weather. In 340 B.C., the Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote Meteorologica, a philosophical treatise that also included theories about the formation of the basic elements of storms of all kinds.
And here we are today.. so much time has passed since, and we still see the impressive and often deadly weather events take precedent in our lives.
There have been several times in my life where I recall how frightening weather could be.. One instance involved a potential tornado rampaging through my town. It ended up only being straight line winds, but that was strong enough to rattle houses and hearts.. Another time was during Hurricane and Superstorm Sandy in 2012. My son Ayden was new on earth and my wife and I were freaked by power outages, and an enormous burst of wind and rain like we had never seen before..
But that type of weather aside, there is one very basic element of nature that actually scares me most: Wind.
Wind always did scare me.. Weather it’s winter wind or the summer brother, wind has a knack for rattling my soul. Making me feel not so grounded on this planet.. forcing me to ponder how damaging the planet can be to human life. How Mother Nature seems like she can recoil in rage…
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I can only imagine what sights and sounds of some early weather on the planet earth! Imagine what dinosaurs witnessed when giant asteroids smashed into the planet.. what ancient civilizations pondered when their nights were dark by default but lit up with raging lightning above.. what mariners at sea felt when ocean waters suddenly rocked their entire world into disarray.
And today, when that same sky opens up with a colorful collage of violence, beauty, and moisture, we are connected to those old folks of centuries back..
Yes we have science and rationale to now understand what is occurring.. but deep down we still wonder if gods above have suddenly decided to throw their wrath down on humans below.
