big... boom?

[rivendellrose]

So, everybody in Seattle knows that it snowed last night. Not a ton, but enough that everything was beautiful and white-dusted when I got up, and the ground was very icy and crackly on the way to campus. It was fun.

But here's where I'm confused - I woke up at some point very early this morning to a very big boom of thunder. Kitty was awake at my feet, surprised as well. But... thunder on a night when it's snowing? Isn't that kind of weird? Maybe it was the sasquatch. I probably owe him quite a lot of tea and cookies, with all the completely random snow we've gotten this year....

Also, randomly - I can't seem to find the right selection of lyrics to "Silent Night," which sounds stupid but is actually reasonably important to me right now. No, I haven't gone nuts, I'm just working on a writing meme, and "Silent Night" came up on my playlist... but it's a weird version with some extraneous lyrics that I can't seem to pin down.

Comments

[pandorasbox.livejournal.com]

I got no snow here in Ballard

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Really? Wow. It always amazes me how much difference there is in such small distances!

[pandorasbox.livejournal.com]

there might have been snow, but when I got up at 8am there was none

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Huh. We left the house about 7:40, but our street is pretty well shaded in the mornings, so it's possible yours had just melted. Weird.

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

Nope, snow with thunder isn't all that weird. We get it out here all the time. Yay snow!

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Huh. I've never seen it here in Seattle... but I guess it's pretty weird for Seattle to get snow this late in the year, anyway, so I shouldn't be surprised it'd come along with other totally weird crap.

Poor Theo was just as confused as me. Right as I woke up I felt him shifting around and trying to figure out where the big noise was coming from.

Yay snow!!!

[theladyfeylene.livejournal.com]

I've run into it in a couple of places - Montana, Utah, down here. It's definitely not as common in the winter, but this time of year would make sense for it.

I bet! Poor kitty.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Makes sense it'd be more in areas like that. Hell, even just plain thunder is fairly rare here, compared to New England.

It's funny, I don't remember any of my cats growing up really reacting to storms. But since our dog was a total freak and barked his lungs out at thunder and lightning, maybe we just never noticed.

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

Like Fey said, thunder comes with snow sometimes. Snow's just frozen form of rain, after all. Not freezing rain, though, that's different. =D

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I know what it is, I just... I don't know, we had all kinds of storms growing up, but I always associate thunder with warm weather, or at least with a warm front hitting a cold front.

Shows what I know, clearly. *g*

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

Thunder is actually the sound that comes from the lightning ripping the air apart. Cause light and sound travel at different speeds. There are other ways thunder happens, I know, but I'm fuzzier on those.

Neh, we had this whole exhibit on weather back at the Minneapolis science museum. T'was very nifty. You people just don't know what weather really is.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Like I said, I'm aware of the mechanics. I just associate it with warm damp temperatures, 'cause that's usually the only time we get it around here. Or, for that matter, most of how I saw it back east or in Hawaii.

No, not really. 'Tis the facts of living in a coastal environment. On the other hand, I'd venture I guess that I've been out on boats in weather (and waves) that'd make your hair stand on end. It's a heck of a thing to see nothing but sky as you're cresting a swell, then nothing but water as you're coming back down it. ;)

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

*shrug*

Lakes. Big fuckin' lakes. Lake Superior. I do actually love being on boats. I like them cause if they crash you can swim. Not like in cars or airplanes where its mostly hard ground coming up to meet you. And then you go 'splat' and they're combing through dental records.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Nice try, but I don't care how big a lake is, it can't get swells like open ocean. Just not possible. XD

I like boats, too. We used to go out all the time when I was growing up.

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

True, but Superior runs really damn close. Actually it's claimed a good number of ships. I'd have to go check to make sure. Damn, now I'm curious.

Lucky bastard. XP

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I imagine it would, with all the foul weather out there.

Yup. We mostly ran the sound and the islands, but I've had some good open-ocean runs, both in Hawaii and down the coast a ways south in Washington, looking for whales. Both included some veeeeeeeery big swells. Lots of fun. :D

[zinjadu.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I looked some stuff up and in one year alone 19 ships were lost. O_O Bad lake.

Ooooo... whales! I want a whale. =D

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Very bad lake. No cookie.

I want to see orcas, damn it. I've been trying for most of my life, and you'd think that 23 years of being on and off the water in this area would be enough. I've seen gray whales, two kinds of dolphins, porpoises, tons of seals and otters... but I've only seen orcas in the old aquarium in Vancouver, BC. *Grumbles*

[nekokoban]

"Silent Night" as in, the Christmas song? I know a reasonable number of verses, in that case, though I don't know what version you have and cannot help too much there. XD;

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's the one... Maybe you can help me make out the lyrics on my copy, if it comes to that. It's one of the songs that came up on my fic meme, and I'm not getting much of worth out of the three traditional verses that I'm finding listed everywhere. I vaguely recall some of the verses we sang in Unleashed being really awesome, but damned if I can remember them, and I'm not sure I still have my sheet music.

[barn-swallow.livejournal.com]

We had thunder & lightning in the big snow storm we just had. It does seem weird even if it's fairly common. It was a little scary too, esp with all the transformers blowing =P I mean I'm normally not scared of storms but it was a little weird. And I saw War of the Worlds recently, maybe that was the problem haha.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, transformers. We used to have a big one right across the valley from where I grew up, and during one particularly bad windstorm I saw the explosion as it blew. Kind of scary for a little kid, but I mostly remember being thrilled - I loved power outages. ;)

Lol. I vaguely recall wondering if it was something bad, then settling back in with a mental image of Serenity Valley in my mind. It's a wonder I didn't have nightmares, with that added to the fic I'd been reading before bed....

[diea.livejournal.com]

We had 'thundersnow' here...last week I think it was. Thunder, snow, and lots of freezing rain. Shut nearly everything down in town.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Woah. Nothing that bad here, just a bit of very cold and crunchy snow and a bit of ice, both probably all melted off by now. And the thunder, which by all that other people noticed it might just as well've been a figment of my imagination. I hope my brain isn't so boring that I'd dream I heard thunder and then fell right back to sleep.

[miss-arel.livejournal.com]

I was still upstairs playing Shadow Hearts when it happened. Scared the hell out of me until i realized what was actually happening. XD I love thunder and lightning. ♥

Here's the lyrics to Silent Night as I've always known them. Hope it helps!

Silent night, holy night
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

Silent night, holy night
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glory streams from Heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing 'Alleluja'
Christ the savior is born
Christ the savior is born

Silent night, holy night
Son of God loves pure light
Radient beams from thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus, Lord at thy birth
Jesus, Lord at thy birth

[miss-arel.livejournal.com]

edit: I can spell "radiant". Really.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Turns out they'd overlaid a hymn called "Night of Silence" as the soprano solo - I'll have to play the copy for you at some point, it highlights the absolute best soprano we ever had in that group, and it's a gorgeous arrangement to boot.

The lyrics I was looking for are:

Cold are the people, winter of life.
We tremble in shadows this cold endless night.
Frozen in the snow, lie roses sleeping,
Flowers that will echo the sunrise.
Fire of hope is our only warmth,
Weary, its flame will be dying soon.

Voice in the distance, call in the night,
On wind you enfold us, you speak of the light.
Gentle on the ear, you whisper softly,
Rumors of a dawn so embracing.
Breathless love awaits darkened souls,
Soon will we know of the morning.

Spirit among us, shine like the star.
Your light that guides shepherds and kings from afar.
Shimmer in the sky so empty, lonely,
Rising in the warmth of your son's love.
Star unknowing of night and day,
Spirit we wait for your loving son.

*Squees*

[shinann.livejournal.com]

I heard it too, which is what made me go outside to find that it was snowing. :P

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Awwww, you got to see the snow when it was still coming down? I'm jealous!

[shinann.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but I couldn't find my camera to get a shot of it, and when I woke up this morning afternoon it was all gone! :(

It was REALLY coming down too, just a wall of white. I could barely see my car out in front. I live near Greenlake, and we got about an inch or so. I think what happened was a FIERCE storm came through, and just dumped all over us. About an hour later, the sky was completely clear, it was wierd. :P

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

...Wow, we live really near each other. I live by Greenlake, too! And now I feel all sad that I missed the amazing piles of snow falling down - I love seeing it actually fall.

[shinann.livejournal.com]

Really? I'm at 86th and 5th, in the Maple Leaf neighborhood on the...uhh...East (I think) side of the freeway. :)

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Oh, you're on the other side of the lake from me! I'm on 55th, near Wallingford!

[shinann.livejournal.com]

LOL! We should meet up for coffee sometime at Peets! My friend Tasha works there. :P

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

We should! Peets down by the lake? I think I've passed by there on my walks a few times. I used to go down there quite a bit during the summer. *g*

[shinann.livejournal.com]

Yeah, right next to Spud's Fish & Chips. :P

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Are they any good? I kept looking in on them last summer, but I'm kind of wary of new fish places... I'm spoiled on good fish and chips, growing up around here. ;)

[shinann.livejournal.com]

OMG they're SO GOOD, if you like greasy, beer battered fish and chips that is. :P I love them, they're a guilty pleasure. Almost as good as Ivar's. :)

[ratzeo.livejournal.com]

The lightning strike happened around three or so. I was awake for it; it was really close. It might have even hit the school.