Forecast for the 4th and the Perfect Design of a Thunderhead…Nature’s Beauty and Power of Design

We watched a HUGE thunderhead form dwarfing our magnificent Sandia mountain at noon yesterday on the 4th of July. It was a spectacular example of nature’s beauty and power of design – and a sure sign that we were going to get the rain that had been forecast foiling late afternoon plans and fireworks festivities.The magnificent cloud grew and grew. It erupted over the crest of the mountain growing from this perfect anvil shape in glowing white against the brilliant blue to a menacing grey morphing into a massive area of sky without definition colliding with another  wall of weather that was moving in from the north. We watched it with resignation that our backyard BBQ party would be forced inside…however, as the afternoon progressed…not a drop of rain nor a wisp of wind. The wanna be storm came and went passing quietly with subtle rumbles of thunder as though frustrated that it couldn’t perform to ruin the day. The evening was perfect for gathering outside with a soft, white, high cloud-cover that kept the temperature just right and the air soft and comfortable. It was a perfect evening for a summer party and at dusk the bottle rockets started zinging through the air too early to see and continued into the darkness when they blazed bright and hot through the night.  Several neighbors had magnificent illegals that shot up with loud mortar booms spraying the blackness with brilliant explosions of chrysanthemum bouquet sparkles dispersing and falling in sprinkles of starry lights. It was a most satisfactory Independence Day after all.