stormlight

Thunder Bay is named as such for a reason - the sky blackening, earth shuddering, ear splitting storms that build up across Lake Superior and unleash their water masses on the bayshore.  I once lived in an upstairs apartment perched at the top of the hill on Academy Dr. that had a stunning view from Mt McKay on one end to the base of the Sibley Peninsula on the other.  I witnessed many types of precipitation: from the gentlest spring mists to the wildest winter drafts but the torrential thunder storms put on the best visual displays.

Its actually the moment before the storm that I find most captivating.  When the pressure builds and the air is filled with static electricity you can smell the rain coming.  Lake Superior and the sky above it turn a matte black that eats up the light, but the way these storms build there always seem to be a small margin of golden light, luminous as if streaming through a wheat ale, or dappled trees.  The clouds, pregnant with rain, pause - in these storms, the eye comes first.  Only the light reflects itself, multiplying exponentially.  Then they open and its as if every lake and river and stream are suddenly released from above and all the light is gone.