The first storm I can remember was the 1949 category 4 hurricane that made landfall near West Palm Beach Florida. I was about 6 years at the time, but remember the tremendous and horrific winds. To this day, I don’t want to be out in the wind.

Then came the 6.6 magnitude Sylmar earthquake (while we lived in the San Fernando Valley), followed by the 1989 6.9 Bay Area quake. Things have been calm since we moved to Sacramento. While our rivers are prone to flooding, we are far enough away to be out of danger, and the area’s creeks are not allowed to overflow.

So that’s a brief stormy background of my life for Beth’s first challenge. She wants to know about various types of storms: stormy weather, stormy feelings or stormy situations.

I can tell you from experience that each leads into the other. Bad weather leads into frightful feelings which, in turn, lead into terrifying situations! Here are some bad weather situations I was able to capture with my cameras.

Let’s start with rain. While camping in Lassen National Park, it would rain every afternoon. Last month, while visiting our kids in Reno, a rain storm was heading our way. I’ve never been able to catch rain like that with my camera.

We’ve also seen some threatening clouds. These may have been taken during our Alaska cruise.

Last year, we experienced atmospheric rivers in Northern California. These are rains that drop about 4 to 6 inches of water in a short time. The American and Sacramento rivers did flood at Discovery Park (the confluence of both rivers).

Our local creek also crested during another storm. The water was channeled into the rivers.

We are too low in elevation to get snow, but California has mountains. On one trip down to Southern California, we ran into snow. This is on Highway 5.

Now for Highway 80 on a visit to Donner State Park.

Last but not least was our famous “getting snowed in” trip to my kids in Reno. A snow blower is helping to dig them out.

These are fond memories, but I’m glad they are just that. I was too young to capture pictures of the hurricane, but the snapshots of the aftermath are still alive in my memory. Fortunately, we didn’t have much damage from the earthquakes, but I do remember holding my son’s highchair down during the afterquakes.

Beth, I hope you’re having fun with the various responses you are getting. Thanks for taking me down memory lane and having me appreciate where I live–out of super storm’s reach. Please link to Beth’s post when you respond and use the Lens-Artists tag.

I’ll be challenging you next week, so stay tuned and look for my post. Until then, stay safe and live in gratitude.