After entering the Northwest Territories, we encountered very high temperatures (certainly for this area in mid-August) and then a huge rain storm with pancake-size raindrops, sustained fork lightning and high winds. It was quite a display.
I tried to get a picture of a lightening fork, but missed on all my attempts.
My understanding is that the prairies and southern Northwest Territories are going to get a series of hot days followed by these intense storms, some of which may contain hail or may become tornadoes. Fingers crossed, we skip those.
In the Net! - Pictures and Stories of Life 
Glad there was no hail on your trip Lynette. Strange weather indeed. Hope we get some rain without side effects. Allan
Yes, me too, but we drove through three of these big storms, two in Alberta and one in NWT. I agree, I hope there are few to no side effects (great term, by the way)!
I think we’re all hoping for “rain without side effects” as Allan rightly calls it. The weather can sure be entertaining, but we don’t want the thrills to be too much.
I totally agree. As I said to Allan, we drove through three of these once we entered Alberta. The one on Saturday night near Hinton was the worst. It was getting dark and the rain, wind and lightning were extreme. We stopped for night. The next day we saw lots of trees down, but there didn’t seem to be anything worse.
A bad time to be driving when trees are coming down. Good that you stopped.
Yes, we were, too. It was a good thing to be off the road during that one.
It’s interesting that the most violent weather is that which also entertains us most. We’re an odd bunch, us humans!
So true, Stuart! I tried to video it a bit, but the rain hitting the windshield was much too intense. It entertained us for short time, but as it got a little scary, we drove out of it!
Yes, scary to be out under such power. As a child of 5-6, I lived by the sea. Whenever a thunder storm struck I’d run out of our home and stand on the edge of the cliff to watch the lightning and the curtains of rain over the sea, the waves crashing against the cliff below. Until, that was, my mother came out and brought me back inside. No sense of danger at that age!
Standing on a cliff at the edge of the sea during a lightning storm is not very safe. 😉 Wonderful to watch the storm, of course, but you must have scared your mother!
Mum was an artist, understood the draw of the drama, so she was gentle in her insistence I get back inside.
She sounds like she was wonderful, Stuart.
Amazing. I’m so used to easy going weather out here in California, I forget there are lots of places that isn’t true. The worst storm I ever drove through was was in the Midwest, driving cross country.
These storms can hit the prairies really hard when there have been very high temperatures, so I’m not surprised that your experience of this was in the mid-west. We encountered three of these intense storms in less than 24 hours after we entered the prairies, which was something we hadn’t experienced before, either!
Easy going with wild fires, drought and mud slides?!?
Almost sounds like those Florida days when I lived there. Hot/humid days brought on daily storms. It was a welcome relief from the hot sun, but afterward, steam rose from the ground like a sauna. Stay safe from those “forks.”
Yes, we saw that yesterday, as well. Loads of pretty mist afterward. It’s definitely a reprieve from the heat, but as in Florida, these storms can potentially be quite damaging and/or dangerous. Thanks, I will be careful around those forks!
Such beautiful captures and country!
Thank you very much, Cindy. 🙂 The Northwest Territories is huge and beautiful! Cheers.
Lovely capture of the gloomy sky. Hopefully the storm wasn’t too treacherous to drive through. It’s crazy how some of this severe weather would happen once in a decade. Now it seems to happen a lot more regularly.
Thank you, Linda. We drove through three of these in less than a 24-hour period, right after we entered Alberta! The first one was really bad, so we stopped for the night. The next day, we saw that trees had been blown down (luckily nothing worse). You’re right; this type of weather seems to be happening so much more frequently now.
That’s crazy! Good call on stopping for the night. Driving through a storm in general can be dodgy, but it’s even worse at night.
Thanks, Linda. I was happy to drop that stress!
Great blog here about the storms. I can say you are quite an Observer. I like how you used the metaphor: “Rain storm like a pancake size raindrops”. Very good writing here👏
Thank you very much. Thanks for visiting and commenting. 🙂