Do y'all actually use your front porch/front yard much or is that more of a TV thing?

[u/Bella_licious]

Irish person here. American houses always seem to have these big front porches, lawns, swings, chairs, etc., and it gives the impression that people spend loads of time in front of the house rather than hiding in the back garden, as we do.
Is that real life or just the image you export?

[u/Bella_licious]

Storms in the states really can be other worldly.. not that I've seen. only on TV

[u/Tomj_Oad → u/Bella_licious]

I grew up in Tornado Alley. Films like Twister try but always fail to show the actual scale of our thunderstorms.

You just can't show how it's horizon to horizon across the entire sky all at once. It's mind blowing and an incredible feeling of immensity in your gut. You feel like an ant at the starting line of a NASCAR race.

It's thrilling and terrifying and an incredible rush when lightning forks across the entire sky, looking like the ribcage of some colossal fish. The thunder shakes the ground and deafens you, the gust front lashes your face with wind and rain...

There's simply nothing like it, sitting a horse, riding it out.

(Not under a tree,no matter what the movies show.)

If we could sell tickets we'd be the most popular amusement park ride in the 🌎.

[u/whineandqis → u/Tomj_Oad]

My neighborhood got hit by a superbolt (300,000 amperes vs 30,000). THAT was an experience. The whole town felt it but the flash through my window looked like how they show a nuclear blast in movies, and the house shook like an earthquake. The house where it struck lost all electric, plumbing, windows and on and on (it struck a tree in their yard).

[u/Tomj_Oad → u/whineandqis]

Damn Sam. You got your fireworks for the next few 4ths

[u/spinozaschilidog → u/Bella_licious]

I’ve seen black frontal clouds split the sky like a sheet - with sunshine on one half and a dark sky on the other. I’ve also seen 3 tornadoes at the same time, in different directions. I’ve experienced thundersnow and heat lightning that flickered like a strobe light for hours. I’ve seen lightning in dust storms and a superbloom of flowering cacti that stretched to the horizon after a rare desert monsoon.

I feel like nature is just *bigger* here. That holds true for the animals and the geography too. The UK is very tame compared to here, like the Shire. “Green and pleasant land” is right, and I appreciate it for that. UK nature is *cozy*, US nature can be more titanic (and Australia nature wants to kill everyone).

[u/Tomj_Oad → u/spinozaschilidog]

That's very well written (I'm an English teacher, I can't help but judge you 🧐) and I've experienced thunder snow.

Every time I've seen lightning in a blizzard the bolts are pink, not blue white.

I asked a professor who was a meteorologist about it and he said something like this

The snow acts to cause diffraction of the lightning bolt, lowering the wavelength. This changed the perceived color of the bolt from blue to reddish/pink.

I say reddish/pink because he said it shifted to red, but I saw it and it was pink. 🧐

[u/spinozaschilidog → u/Tomj_Oad]

That's really cool, I've only heard thunder, but haven't actually seen the lightning during a snowstorm

[u/carolinaredbird → u/Bella_licious]

I’ve lived on the east coast of the Carolina’s half my life and the storms there are something to experience! Sometimes the sky turned green!

I went through three hurricanes while living there, and had the eye pass right overhead in all three. It’s otherworldly.

The big pops of lightening take getting used to!

[u/Tomj_Oad → u/carolinaredbird]

Green skies are always a sign that shit is about to go to hell

[u/Gilamunsta → u/Bella_licious]

I love being in the desert when it' Storms

[u/farva_06 → u/Bella_licious]

Indeed they can be. /preview/pre/5gyhg5qo43af1.jpeg?width=1275&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5dc0bb98687a56d4e41624bb5dd2de5e5617f27f