Colin McNickle At Large

Saturday essay: The storm

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

MARBLEHEAD, Ohio

 
They arrive with choreographed precision here on this peninsular outpost on the North Coast of America.

 
The distant thunder enters first. The lightning, pulsating just over the horizon, soon assists. The wind rises and the seagulls join in a near-perfect harmony that belies the scramble of distress. And, quite suddenly, “they” are here.

 
Storms.

 
They whip up quickly on Lake Erie, the shallowest of the great bodies of fresh water. Their ferocious nature is legendary for those caught short of safe harbor, stung by the needle-piercing, gale-driven sideways rain or, worse, scuttled in the engulfing waves.
But for those on the shore — perhaps in sleep’s deepest throes, awakened by the first rumbles and compelled to crank in the cottage windows — these storms are brutish beauties.

 
“Sweeesh-crack,” goes the huge lightning bolt, the sight spectacular but its telltale “voice” delayed like some long-ago overdubbed Japanese horror flick.

 
The first artillery of thunder is an intimidatingly deep and soul-rattling “BOOMMMMM!” It’s attached to but, at the same time, separate and distinct from the bolt. Counting the time between tells you the action is safely 17 miles out over roiling water. At least that’s according to the formula by which a late grandfather swore.

 
Another broad and long flash of lightning illuminates a wall of driving rain spreading across the open lake; a Winslow Homer painting – “The Signal of Distress” comes to mind — has been brought to life.

 
And as quickly as it kicked up, the Gods of the Waters kick this storm out, the artillery moves on and the light show fades.

 
Calm. The cottage windows are rolled open. For now. For there’s fresh thunder to the Northwest.

 
Colin McNickle is a senior fellow and media specialist at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Colin McNickle
Colin McNickle

Colin received his B.G.S. from Ohio University. The 40-year journalism veteran joined the Institute in October 2016. That followed a 22-year career with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 18 as director of editorial pages for Trib Total Media. Prior that, Colin had a long and varied career in media — from radio, newspapers and magazines, to United Press International and The Associated Press.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

Weekly insights on the markets and financial planning.

Recent Posts