We have some gorgeous May showers happening and, right now, a wonderful thunderstorm. What do you like to do when it's storming?

I am hearing that rain and thunder as I type. I also have candles lit.
The supper dishes are done, and my kids and I are just settling in to watch a movie.

Many things actually. For some reason, on occasion, I like to drive around in the rain. When at home, I like to open doors and windows because I love the smell that comes with the rain here in the desert in Phoenix, Arizona. Sometimes I like to just stare out the windows and watch lightning flashes because I think they’re a beautiful (and sometimes scary) display of nature’s power. And lastly, I like to curl up close with the one I love and just enjoy the time together during the storm.

And since we get very little rain here in Arizona anyway, we always respect and appreciate any and all of it that we can get and we enjoy it thoroughly for the fleeting times it seems to grace us with it’s presence.

Of course we’ve been having unseasonable snowstorms accompanied by dangerously high winds and power outages.

I love seasonal snowfalls with great big snowflakes.

I love impressive thunderstorms with dramatic lightning and wonderful crashes of thunder that are not accompanied by dangerous tornadoes or damaging hail.

Am I being too picky?

Pray that my house, a big sore thumb in an open field on a hilltop, will not be struck by lightening. Pray that the huge nearby trees will fall in the woods and not on top of us. Pray that Milo’s heart will not give out.

I see dozens of large trees tumps when I walk in my woods. They are charcoal now. I could use bits and pieces to sketch on a pad.

Ah, Gail, but, isn’t the sound of the rain wonderful? And the way that the lightening lights up the sky?

@jimah; The storms are spectacular and have a unique beauty, I agree. But they are scary because I have seen, on a regular basis, the damage they do around here. After the last huge wind storm this spring, my sis now needs to put on a new roof ($12,000).

And since the living room here is 80% glass (Including skylights), it is dramatic; but when the thunder follows immediately and the house shakes, I do feel some anxiety.

Get scared and get off the computer. D:

@gailcalled Oh, I understand now…

Sleep. Cuddle up with my dog (who’s afraid of thunder) and read. Hang out on my porch & watch the light show if it’s not so windy the rain is being blown onto the porch.

Sometimes I like to go on a walk and watch. Other times sit on my porch and watch. And yet other times I will open my windows to watch and put on a good movie.

I love storms (so long as no one gets hurt).

I usually hide under the bed until it goes away.

I’m not afraid of the thunder, but I am terrified of lightning. I’m always afraid if I’m near a window, I’ll get electrocuted, if I’m on the computer, I’ll get electrocuted, etc.

I love the feeling of being inside all cozy while a storm is going on. We all tend to get in bed (the dogs too) and cuddle up while listening to the sound of rain on the windows.

I like to stand on the front stoop, under the eaves and watch it and listen to it a feel it. And then when one of those monstrous, terrifying bolts of lightning strikes and scares the shit out me, I go back inside. We have pretty good thunderstorms here. But I experienced some awesome ones when I lived in Texas.

I love to smell the rain…hear it beating down on the skylights…the wind in the tops of the trees…clouds royaling over the ocean. Then, after the rain, when all is quiet and clean…everything alive is swollen from having been drenched in that which brings us life . . .

I absolutely hate rain. But I love lightning & the sound of the wind. Thunder hurts my ears.

I love the minutes or so right before the storm, before the rain starts. The wind in my hair, the lightning off in the distance….If it is raining, I’ll stay on my porch where it can’t get me. Or I’ll look out the window.

@jjmah I’m so envious of you. You’re right where I’d love to be. I’d be out on a covered porch with a nice hot cup of coffee and a good book. I’d be ignoring the book for the most part and watching the storm.

I love storms, too. We were camping once in a trailer. It was so great because the raindrops hit the metal roof with such fury and noise! I pray for a smacking good hailstorm so I can have a new roof but more I don’t want one because of all my plant babies. I love thunder at night, love laying there listening.

I love @Draconess25 s answer. I enjoy the sheer violence of a good storm. My house is underground, but sometimes I worry a bit about the wind turbines and solar panels.

@stranger_in_a_strange_land….You live underground? Seriously? Sweet!

@Draconess25 Meg and I designed it. 3600 square feet, built into a granite hillside. We’re also over 80% energy self-sufficient (will be 95% with the third wind turbine installed). Most months we sell electricity to the co-op.

Two words: AWESOME!!!!!!

When there’s severe wind, I curl up in bed to listen to it, hope that none of the trees come through my roof, and try to regulate my heart rate.

When there’s severe lightning, I unplug all my electronics and hope that we don’t get hit again.

When there’s severe thunder, I resign myself to being a jumpy wreck until it passes.

If none of it is “severe,” though, I like to sit at the window and watch.

@gailcalled
I think I’d like to live in your house. Apart from the storm fears it sounds delightful.

I run outside and play barefoot in the grass.
The more violent the storm, the more I like it.

I love the feeling of wind gusting against my body and hair whipping in my face. Feeling that kind of power is an experience that in my lifetime will be in limited supply. I only get so many days where the earth shows me exactly what it can do, I don’t want to miss any.

@faye I love that sound too! We had a trailer/mobile home down at the shore and I love the sound of the rain hitting the metal roof.

Stormy weather is my favorite for staying inside with a fire going, something tasty in the oven and a few windows cracked to let in the fresh smelling breezes. If I’m alone then it’s great weather for watching movies, soaking in the bathtub with a nap to follow or doing a bunch of cooking. If with my partner then the ultimate is the idea of the fireplace, snuggles, making love, napping, nibbling and then doing it all over again.

@Neizvestnaya You’ve got my fantasy nailed!

Listen to music with the rain in the background and drink beer. I used to love to play piano when it stormed, which I heard once is supposed to be bad luck. It really set the mood for pieces like Moonlight Sonata and Norwegian Concerto.

My perfect stormy day is sitting on the porch & watching the lightning.

Watch a movie while curded up. Or standing outside with the storm. Actually, I probably do both.

@TheOnlyNeffie & @tranquilsea
I used to love to be outdoors during a storm, didn’t care if I got soaked or not and would even lie down on the ground during them until I saw lightning strike a tree in the backyard which burned, cracked it and made the ground shake under me as well as scaring the hell out of me. Sitting in a plastic chair is no protection from lightning, silly me.

Oh, I am having a bad day for spelling! I meant curled up.

@Neizvestnaya I realize the dangers of being outside during a storm. I make sure the thunder and lightening are miles away and I’m back inside before it gets too close. But I do like the feeling of pounding rain on my body.

@Neizvestnaya I wish I could say that I’ve learned my lesson… but it hasn’t happened yet. I’m not usually much of an adrenaline junkie, but when it comes to a good storm… I’m all for it. Hopefully I get my wake up call without risking my life.

and on that note, I’m going to go enjoy this beautiful lightning.

@jjmah What a wonderful picture! That really made me smile!

@SeventhSense: My house and 20 acres are wonderful. The storms are magnificent but terrifying, and the only other flaw (a major one) is the tick issue

I have played my quickest games of golf in that kind of weather…;)

When there is a lot of rain all at once, I check my pool frequently to make sure I don’t have to pump out some water before it overflows. If there’s a lot of wind, which we have had lately, I hope the tree next door doesn’t shed any more of it’s branches onto my property.

I love the last full moon, which came out shortly after a gentle rain storm cleaned the air enough to make it look like daylight outside.

~Can we come to your house @jjmah?

I love storms. I like to watch and listen as nature vents.

I like to cuddle up on the couch with a blanket and my teddy bear. So far, there has only been one thunderstorm, this year where I live, and the tornado sirens came on. And last year wasn’t much better.
But other than that, I like to keep my distance from the windows, because two years ago, I was standing by the window, and I was staring at a beautiful ball, and I didn’t know what it was. It hit the window, and made the loudest boom I had ever heard, and blew out the window. Moral of the story, ball lightning fights with a fury.

@shego Did you know that it can go through walls? It happened when I was 9 or so. It chased me around a bit, then flew in an outlet. It was scary!

@Draconess25 After that incident, I did some research, and I found out that it can go through wall, and there have been some reports about them hanging out in airplanes during flight. So yeah, I know it’s scary very scary.

@shego I think it was chasing me because I produced static electricity on the carpet when I ran from it. Or it just liked me!

@Draconess25 I guess so, I just hope I never encounter one in my house, or in a plane when I am flying.

@shego That would be bad.