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| Mother Nature Serenades Atlanta... Again |
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| Written by Alex Hildred |
| Tuesday, 27 July 2010 21:10 |
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Congratulations, Atlanta! If you enjoyed the little "sprinkle" we got yesterday afternoon, you were probably ecstatic about today's afternoon drive time, because it looks like a repeat of yesterday's deluge. Commuters have the not-so-rare opportunity to observe rivers where streets used to be, and for those who are fans of light shows, yesterday's staccato lightning strikes (over 1,000 in a single 15-minute period, according to Channel 2 Chief Meteorologist Glenn Burns), similar festivities are likely to occur this afternoon and into the evening. The entertainment factor notwithstanding, the excitement sparked (pun intended) by yesterday's lightning also had a pretty significant downside in the form of at least a dozen lightning-started fires in Gwinnett and Cobb counties. To make matters worse, it wasn't your run-of-the-mill cloud to cloud lightning; it was the infinitely more powerful cloud to ground variety, which generates over a billion volts per strike, and strikes fear in even the most avid golfer's heart. The best advice one can offer when this type of storm approaches is, of course, to stay indoors, away from flooded streets and spontaneous "recharging stations." If you have to drive, use common sense. Unless you're driving a vehicle that is more suited to a safari than to urban commutes, don't plunge into flooded streets, because as much fun as it is to create your own urban tsunami, you're likely to drown your own vehicle, as well as other people's. And there are probably few places you'd rather avoid than a hot and flooded Atlanta thoroughfare where you've just caused someone else's car to stall, followed by your own vehicle sputtering and dying. Imagine breaking your leg as you kick over a line of Harleys at a biker bar, and you'll get the picture. As to you golfers, to each his (or her) own. But be sure to hold that steel-shaft driver high in the air when the light show begins. After all, the people back in the clubhouse deserve some entertainment, too. Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites |
