Cale School Garden

Flowers, fruit and vegetables grown by the students at Paul H. Cale Elementary School.

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

An Explanation

This morning was weird. . . weather wise, that is.  I awoke to a thunderstorm and drove to school in the rain.  Three weather forecasts that I checked out said it would be raining for most of the day.  So, of course, I cancelled Garden Club for today.

I wasn't totally surprised to see the sun come out about an hour later.  After it was still sunny at 2:00, however, I seriously considered recalling all the club folks and having a go at the fence again this afternoon.  Driving home, though, I'm glad I didn't.  The thunderheads are, as I type, rolling back into view.  One of the things I've learned in the Master Naturalist class I've been taking for the last few months is that if there are thunderheads in the sky, lightening is possible.  All in all, standing out in a wide open space with the possibility of lightening still seems like a bad idea.  Here are some interesting lightening facts for you.  And, here's a picture of some Louisa County (I think) lightening my friend Wes took last year.

"Lightning is a giant discharge of electricityaccompanied by a brilliant flash of light and a loud crack of thunder. The spark can reach over five miles (eight kilometers) in length, raise the temperature of the air by as much as 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit (27,700 degrees Celsius), and contain a hundred million electrical volts."
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0623_040623_lightningfacts.html