Spring Showers

Wednesday morning, while driving to my son's home, I could see in the distance very dark, ominous clouds in wait of my approach. I was driving South on US 84 and by the time I reached Goldsboro, the skies opened up with strong winds, hail, and rains so fierce I slowed to less than 30mph. I wanted to pull over and wait for the storm to pass but couldn't see well enough to find a semi-paved stretch along the roadside to do so. I was afraid that if I pulled off and onto the grass, I might get my car stuck and ultimately, be stranded in the middle of the storm, as well as in the middle of no where.

I slowly crawled along through the storm for 10-15 minutes until it finally let up (or I should say, I finally got out from under it). Regaining my composure and settling back into regular driving mode, I looked out my driver's side window to see a most fascinating site - what I had just driven part way through! I don't remember seeing clouds looking like those nor can I remember seeing the skies taking on such a stark contrast of light and dark clouds. I grabbed my Blackberry and shot some photos:










I didn't spend too long at my son's home and started back about an hour later. I was hoping the storm had blown through and I wouldn't have to worry about it on my way home. However, I could see the dark clouds in the distance and knew I was probably going back through it whether I wanted to or not. As I neared the darkness, I noticed the outlying clouds were swirling and I snapped a photo before entering the storm:









It wasn't as bad going back through - the rain wasn't as fierce and no new hail was falling this time, although I could still see spots of hail on the roadside from earlier. As I progressed through the storm, I could see ahead of me the most beautiful white, fluffy clouds floating in the sunshine ahead. What a contrast to the deep, dark ominous clouds of the storm!