freaky weather night

The last couple of days have been quite dusty--again, good for the heat, but not so much for the lungs. Tonight, in addition to the dust, there was lightning!! Around 1815, I am sitting at my desk working a little e-mail magic, when the announcement is made that there is a lightening warning--or perhaps an advisory, I am not sure the difference--starting at 1830 until "further notice". A couple hours later it is time to walk home--in the dark... and the dust... and the lightning...

The dust is eerie enough--vision is decreased dramatically, most things you cannot see, those that you can see look "fuzzy". At night, it is even a bit more eery... But now the lightning is going off. I cannot quite tell how close it is because of the dust; I cannot even see a building 100 meters to the south, so when the entire south lights up with a flash of light I cannot see the jagged rods of light, but a nice dust-diffused lighting effect--very cool. There was no thunder either.... perhaps the dust diffused not only the light but the sound too. I suppose someone smart out there knows the answer, but they probably aren't reading this blog!

Not only was it dusty and lightning-y, there was rain... on the way back to the CHU every 10-20 steps a single rain drop would strike somewhere on my body--talk abut humidity! No wonder the base is starting to advertise about a water shortage--we are in a freaking desert and when it rains you can measure the rainfall in drops per acre.