Voice Story — Jenny

Hi, my name is Jenny and I would like to talk about a time in my life that I was very much so afraid of certain types of weather. As a child back in the 60s, we knew even as children, we knew when it was going to rain or storm. We even had a sense of what the storm, would it be severe or just a light summer rain. When the skies would become very dark and it covered a wider area, you could expect a very longer thunderstorm. The storm would come first with dark clouds, thunder rolling and clapping and very little lightning before the downpour. I remembered my family, my adult parents would get up and cover the mirror. When they covered the mirror, I would say, why are you covering the mirror? And they would say we're covering the mirror because it would keep reflections away. Because we have metals in the house like metal pots and metal pans and different types of metal, we don't want that to reflect. So they would cover the mirrors and they stated that also we are to sit still someplace in the home, read a book, take a nap and be quiet. Because movement causes heat and heat could be a problem. Looking back also, I remember a family member that was killed by the thunderstorm. He was taking a shower. Did he know it was a storm making up outside? Or did he not know and took a risk? But he was a young man around the age of 15 or 16 when he was killed. We've heard of other people out and about, but basically outside thinking that they were under a tree or in a ditch and they had certain metals on them. And that's the metal reflected from the lightning strike and killed them. And when we were told as little children how they were killed, it frightened us. We definitely take heed to those storms when we see them coming up. A lighter area, which we call it summer rain, the area wouldn't be as dark as the severe thunderstorms. That area produced nothing but rain and thunder. You rarely see lightning. But the severe storm, you saw lightning before it got to your area. It's off a distance and you know it was coming. It gives you a chance or time to prepare to get ready to get out of the elements while the storms take place. Also, as I lived in South Carolina at the time, I've also lived with my grandparents in Maryland. I was able to note or understand the different patterns of the storms in Maryland compared to the storms in South Carolina. In South Carolina, severe thunderstorms could last for hours. And generally, we will fall asleep. And when we wake up, the thunder will have either ceased or declined to a much lesser presentation than at first. In the North, in Maryland, where my grandparents live, the storm can come up quickly. It may make a rumble roar from the thunder, but you mostly get rain. If you do get lightning, it's not the type of lightning with the bolts and the frizzles and the turns and all these different arrays of color like it is in the South. Also, the North was just not near the storms, was not near as bad as the southern storms. But as an adult now, and living in the North longer, I've noticed there's a change that we are now having in Maryland. Longer thunderstorms, harder or would you say much more forceful collapse of thunder, pouring down of rain and wind, something that I don't remember a lot of with thunderstorms as a child. So I definitely could see the difference in the pattern of climate change and severe storms now. In the 60s, you didn't hear about houses being destroyed, so much flooding in the North. As you did in the South. So again, there's definitely a difference. And I'm being told by others that that is true. Climate is changing and that we are getting more severe wind and heavy downpours of rain. So this is what I wanted to share about climate change and extreme weather. In the South, we also had hurricanes. I've never remembered in South Carolina any tornadoes. But tornadoes is considered heavy winds from my understanding, even if it does not come with thunder and lightning. Here in Maryland, we are getting heavy winds, but we also are getting lightning and thunder. And generally there are damages. The last of the lightning, you have a much harder thunder roll here in the North. But in the South, it remains the same from the onset of the weather, of the thunderstorm until the end. I remember going outside as a young 10, 11 year old after the rain storm, after the thunderstorm and looking in the sky and seeing lightnings headed further away. It would either be going North or it would be going South or West. But you could still see the lightnings in the sky with all the beautiful array of colors. But no, you don't have thunder. And I have noticed the same here. I try to think of how to explain the different patterns from the South to the North and how it's changing. It's now becoming the same to me when there is a severe thunderstorm that is approaching. It does give you a chance here as well in the North to prepare, get out of the elements. I've heard of people being killed sitting in cars, though they say that is one of the safest places you could be during a thunderstorm. What happened when those individuals were killed in the car? Did they have the wind down? Did they have noise or heat that caused the lightning to come in their direction? I don't know. But I do know. I had a friend, she's deceased now, and she told me that she lost a daughter as well as a son-in-law from the lightning here in Maryland. And she told me that when she went to identify the body that they had holes all from their head all the way down. They had holes in their body. And she said that they were with an umbrella, I believe they had an umbrella, and this metal on the umbrella, they believe is what caused the lightning to attract them, to attack them or to hit them. So this is what I wanted to share. I know today as an adult I fear lightning. I understand that some of our clothing have metal zippers. Some of our clothing have certain types of metal and ornaments and we don't know what they're made of. And you just can't be risky. You can't take a chance. And I know that a lot of people feel as though their homes are grounded and they can leave the TV on or watch TV during a thunderstorm, listen to the radio and do whatever. But I still say don't take a chance. Everything is changing, especially our climate, and lightning does attract certain things, heat, certain metals, and so on. I hope you understand what I'm saying and sharing. Thank you.