Severe Vermont Storms Spark Damage, Confused People

A nasty squall line passed through Vermont yesterday, causing pockets of wicked tree damage and power failures while leaving most areas relatively untouched.

A strong thunderstorm looms over Lake Champlain off of
Burlington, Vt. Wednesday.

I like the drama of storms, so I was in my glory as the lightning crashed and the wind blew. Of course, I don't like it when things get too destructive. Like the church hall in Essex Junction that burned down after it was hit by lightning. 

I almost got hit by lightning, too, because I was stupid enough to stay outside during the storm. I was under a roof overhang at Burlington's waterfront. You know you're at least almost in trouble when you see a bright flash and a simultaneous, deafening CRACK!  BOOMMM!!!!!!

I'm still tingling from that one, and not in a good way.

I get too excited during storms. I tried to take video of the storm hitting Burlington, Vermont's lakefront, but in my agitated state, I kept fiddling with the camera and shaking, so the videos were so amateurish and blurry and hard to watch I'm not going to share them with you or anybody else. You get glimpses of storm-tossed trees and waves of rain coming through, but the videos have all the focus and steadiness of an ADHD patient on crack and meth.

So I'm not perfect during storms. And I take solace that a lot of people are worse. Why is that bad weather makes some people even more stupid than they already are.

Firefighters tangle with a fire at an Essex Junction, Vermont
church hallthat was struck by lightning Wednesday.

I was on my way back from covering the church hall fire for the Burlington Free Press, where I work, and encountered a busy intersection where the traffic signals weren't working because of a power failure.

Never fear, a town cop was doing a yeoman's job controlling and directing traffic. Things gummed up though, when the woman in front of me would not obey the cop's directions. He was trying to wave her through, his arms moving more and more frantically as she Just. Wouldn't. Budge.


I saw her raise her arms at the cop in a gesture of utter confusion. Traffic was backing up more and more and the cop finally went to the car to see what was the problem. After a conversation that got more and more animated, the woman finally crawled through the intersection at a slug's pace. She probably had the brains of a slug, too.

After a stormy day, a rainbow graces
the sky over Burlington, Vt. Wednesday

After a few more showers and storms, a big rainbow arced over Burlington and we all enjoyed a bright orange sunset.

Despite the dumb people out and about, there's nothing like a day of active weather to energize me.