Jeff Hoy, American

One of the things I like most about living on the Great Plains of Colorado is the seemingly endless views. On a clear, bright day you can see for dozens of miles in every direction. To the west there is the spectacular Rocky Mountains, from Pike’s Peak all the way south to the Spanish Peaks. I used to have a panoramic picture from my front porch of the view, but that has apparently been lost to the great bit bucket in the sky. There isn’t so much to see if you look to the north, east or south during the day. Night time, however, is a whole new ball game. I’m not exaggerating when I say you can see the entire night sky. It is almost a perfect site for any backyard astronomer. I don’t have the darkest skies over my head, but they’re definately darker than anything you’d find in a small town or city.

I’m saying this because tonight there was a severe thunderstorm about 80 miles to the north of home. From my vantage point I could see lightning occuring at the rate of five or six bolts every second, streaking from cloud to cloud. At times there was enough lightning to illuminate the entire cloud structure. It certainly was an impressive display. But it wasn’t the only one, east-northeast of me was another storm of almost equal intensity. I stood outside, leaning up against the propane tank for nearly 30 minutes watching the show. While I was being entertained, I can only imagine what it was like for the people in the direct path of the storm. According to the weather alert for the area, the storm to the north was capable of producing quarter sized hail. Quarter sized hail can be pretty damaging and dangerous.

If I lived in town, I would never see stuff like this.  I can’t say I really like it out here.  There’s pros and cons, but right now, I’m glad I’m here.  Here’s a related Google Earth placemark so you can see about where I live.