Last night a thunderstorm over Vancouver, the sky above Whitecliff flashed with blue between 10 and 11pm. Above us the moon veiled hung in the south, lightly illuminating the thunderheads to the east. There was no wind and I sat on the porch watching the storm and listening to the muted and distant thunder. Heavy showers passed over us all night, some of them as heavy as we ever get, rain pounding on the roof. But there was no wind and in this respect this was rain unique to mid spring - showers, warm air, sea fog in the morning clinging to the mountains 1000 feet above the water.

Every year the warmth of early spring gives way to a period of cool and wet weather for a few weeks before summer takes hold. It's different than the fall or winter, a different kind of transition; it is the decay of the low pressure systems off the coast and the building of a high, and so the storms come and go gently and gradually, take their time building in and leaving us, and the sun warms the land and water when it finally burns through the fog.

posted by Chris at 1:20 PM | |