A thunderstorm produces heavy rain and it accompanied by thunder and lightning. At times it also produces hail and heavy, damaging winds. They are a force of nature, and when conditions are right, they unleash their fury. Unstable air or air that is heavy with water (wind will pick up water from the ground or a body of water) rises into the sky. Sometimes another blast of wind pushes this air high up into the sky. Other times this wind blows into a mountain, and the mountain pushes the wind up. Are you beginning to see how this can be used in your writing?
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The rumble of thunder in the sky could be used as a warning that something bad is about to happen. Even if the day is sunny and clear, a rumble of thunder speaks of an approaching storm. Not only would it speak of an approaching storm, but it could also speak of a coming storm in the life of your characters. In a story I just wrote, thunder on a bright winter’s day was used as a sign that something not quite right is going on.
As soon as I climbed into our red Buick, the sky turned dark, and I could hear the rumbling of thunder in the distance. A few drops of rain splattered on the windshield. Daddy grunted in frustration as he buckled himself into the car. “That’s all we need today. Rain.” Then he started the car, and we took off.
A flash of lightning used to light up a dark night when someone is being chased through the woods by a killer should allow just enough light so the one being chased can see who is after him. Maybe it shows a way of escape. Or it could show the eerie surroundings. Or the surroundings could be perfectly innocent looking and the evil hidden. This would give a false sense of security.
It would get old always saying thunderstorm, so this is where the thesaurus comes in handy. You could also call a thunderstorm a thundershower, thunder squall, thunder-boomer, cloudburst, electrical storm, or snunderstorm. You won't find snunderstorm in any dictionary or thesaurus. This is a thunderstorm that occurs when it is snowing. Why won't you find it in a dictionary? My son is the one who came up with that name when we witnessed a snunderstorm at our house.
The cumulonimbus cloud that produces a thundershower is also called a thunderhead.
There are different types of lightning. Ball lightning is a rare form of lightning. It is a ball of lightning that moves rapidly from object to object or it simply floats in the air. It is also called globe lightning. Chain lightning moves quickly in wavy or zigzag lines. The intensity varies along the lines of bead lightning or pearl lightning, so it may resemble a string of beads or pearls. Heat lightning usually occurs on hot summer nights. It may or may not be a sign that a storm may be approaching, but if one is, the lightning is so far ahead of the storm that the thunder cannot be heard.
The North American Indians thought that a thunderstorm was caused by a thunderbird, an enormous winged bird. Its voice was believed to be the thunder and its eyes were said to be responsible for flashes of lightning. There are many different Indian legends surrounding this humongous bird.
You don’t want to always use thunderstorms as a sign of impending doom, but once in a while they are great to use. Thunderstorms are only one of the many ways to signal something bad is going to happen.
It isn’t necessary that you use a literal thunderstorm in your writing. The events in your story could also burst into a thunderstorm. Rumors and lies could be the moisture that fills the clouds. Unstable situations that are growing in intensity could meet stable masses of truth that will not be moved, or these unstable situations could run into another set of unstable situations. This causes the unstable situations to grow only more unstable until the lies and rumors are found out and everything explodes.
Write a story that has a thunderstorm in it. How it is used is totally up to you. You could use the storm as foreshadowing a horrendous event, or you could have a humorous story where a violent thunderstorm break loose during an outdoor summer wedding.
