Ice Lolly Weather

You're supposed to lick it!

It's easy to understand the consternation. We've not seen the like in years. It was stinking hot here today, the temperature pushing 30 degrees. That is ridiculously hot for Yorkshire, and double what it's been averaging for much of the summer so far. A combination of things meant that everything was in slow motion for me today. I don't ever recall walking around Shipley so slowly. 

Conditions in the office didn't help much. I had to go and invest in three fans this morning in order to help fight the muggy hot air. We were all flagging yesterday and today was worse. The fans did help a bit. 

Towards the end of the evening the sky started to be lit up by lightning and there subsequently followed the most amazing light show. It's many years since I've witnessed such a spectacular electrical storm. It must have gone on for about an hour and I wasn't able to pull myself away, simply not wanting to miss the next great flash. Suddenly, though, I started to hear some weird sounds, a bit like sniper bullets picking off targets. I was confused for a few seconds before I realised it must be the sound of giant hailstones impacting on nearby roofs and cars. I decided to head for cover! It was only a few seconds later that rain just dropped from the sky in a short and incredibly intense deluge. It was awesome.