ramble zone ahead...
a bit ago, i was sitting here minding my own business, when there were some lights flashing in the sky. once in a great while you will have thunder and lightning during a snow squall... it must have been all of 12F outside.
my first exposure to snow storm thunder was about 15 years ago. i was coming home after working (i was doing 2 jobs at the time and the 2nd one ended whenever i got things done for the evening which could be anywhere from 1am to 6am) and stepped outside the door and heard this rumble. clouds and snow everywhere, but also some flickers of light and the following rumbles.
when i lived in the greater white north, i've seen snow as early as September 1st and had ice thawing on the lake shore July 4th. cannot remember the latest snow, but sometime in May for sure.
one year up there i also made the mistake of trying to go swimming during and early hot spell (in the canal) and found that about 30 seconds was long enough to cool off to a nice shade of blue shivering wreck.
ok, i also admit that once i've done the sauna and then rolled around in the snow and also jumped in the water through chopped hole in the ice. that wasn't very scary as the time when i went through the ice as a kid, but that was also very interesting when it happened...
i was out walking on the ice in early spring and didn't notice the ice was sinking and water was coming on top. i was in the middle of the pond when i did notice that the area i was walking on was sagging and the water on top of the ice was getting deeper. then it collapsed and i was in water up to my chest, but managed to crawl on the ice and get to shore. was soaked and cold, but the day was warm enough and the walk home wasn't too far that i suffered permanent damage other than my pride.
i haven't thought about that event in many years...
