Snow and Lightning

Vanina and I just got back from an Caribbean cruise this past weekend. The week before the cruise we checked the weather and rain threatened at all three ports of call. That information turned out to be wrong, thank goodness. All three ports, Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Jamaica had good weather during our day in port. It was cloudy in Cozumel and for part of the time in Jamaica, but the sun shone and we both got tans (and burns) for our time in the sun. The day we returned to Salt Lake City it was raining. A few hours later that rain turned into snow. After spending a week in the tropics, snow was the last thing I wanted to see. The only good to come out of it is that it reminded me of something I have been meaning to blog about since February. Around the 1st or 2nd week of February it snowed here in Salt Lake. That is nothing out of the ordinary for this valley during winter, however during this snowstorm I heard thunder. I had never heard thunder during a snowstorm before so I immediately went to the window to check it out. As I was looking outside, sure enough I spotted flashes of lightning lighting up the sky. I couldn't believe it. Lightning during a snowstorm! It was pretty amazing to behold. All of the snowstorms back home (in D.C.) are full of wind and ice, but never lightning. Thunderstorms are common occurrences during the spring, summer, and fall, but all of the storms in the winter are sans lightning and thunder. The main reason I wanted to document this experience is that I'm now into my fourth decade of life on this planet and I thought I had experienced all the types of weather that I was going to experience. Lightning in a snowstorm was totally, unexpectedly new. Its nice to know there's still something new under the sun for me to experience every now and again. Here's to the new!