Jul 28, 2011: We had a very unusual thunderstorm in the end of July. Here is what our usual thunderstorm looks like: the air becomes stuffy, stuffy, stuffy, then comes a strong wind, then comes a big dark cloud, then a half an hour of thunderbolts, kabooms and heavy rain, then the big dark cloud goes away, the sun goes out and everything is so clean and fresh and feeling that there is not enough water yet.

This time it was completely different. About 15 h soft rumble of thundering started in the skies. The air became not just stuffy: it was so oppressive that I fell to bed and could not raise my head until evening. First rain started about 18 h, thunders became stronger. I had to break my plans of going to St. Pete in the evening, as I had no wish to get into news headings (“Another victim of thunderstorm! This one had a wild idea of riding a steel bike during a heavy storm! Don`t try to make this trick yourself!”). Then the thunders quieted for some short time about 20 h, and then… it started! Pouring rain; strong wind, changing it`s direction now and then; lightnings — 5–10 per minute! And it lasted for hours! Here, forget all your health troubles and catch this rare chance: put the camera on a tripod, make minimum ISO and maximum exposure and press the button, again and again! I was sitting and “catching” thunderbolts until 2 h in the night (yes, I had enough sleep that day already). By the way, I also had a chance to save my hothouse and some of the cacti from drowning. So, I had no time to feel bored :). And I catched this big thunderbolt, + several minor ones, which did not get to the earth.

I was so glad that I had to stay! Instead, I went to St. Pete there in early morning, when the sky was clear, and soon after that heavy rains with thunders started above the same place again and lasted day and night. I believe this time we were lucky to get into the very center of the cyclone or something like that. It was a nice watering after the drought, we were happy! :)

Photo editing by Andrei Katrovskiy