Day 89 - Jay and I arrived on the 15th of December. There'd been no substantial rainfall since we arrived. So, we were almost two months without precipitation. As this is the Northeast-Monsoon Season in Sri Lanka, the dryness we had been experiencing is not unexpected. This coastal side of the island is generally sunny with cooler evenings at this time of year. The sun is nice. Still, we were really looking forward to a thunder shower and last evening one finally arrived with plenty of warning.
I've said it a hundred times before, but I love tropical thunderstorms. For years, we spent rainy winters in the lower mainland of British Columbia. It pours there a whole lot, sometimes non-stop for weeks, but there's seldom a show. I may have only seen lightning once or twice and seldom welcomed thunder. My time in tropical areas has created a real, personal fascination with thunder and lightning storms. Rain in the tropics might be a tad scary at times but it is hardly ever boring.
Several hours before it started pouring here, we could tell it was coming.
It got very dark for the late afternoon and far-off rumblings started. Kilometers of atmosphere erupted into a slowly approaching wall of noise. A bit of cool breeze rustled nearby treetops indicating torrents of water were being released from clouds, although perhaps still half the island away. The progression slowly increased in intensity.
Sometimes, these storms can skitter to the left or right and skip one altogether. When that happens, it feels like a letdown, like an ending without a climax. Yesterday evening, however, seemed satisfying as buckets of welcomed rain finally arrived to soak the dry earth.