Here comes the rain again !

This is the time of the year when we expect statements like " the state is a tinderbox" ... when daily maximum temperatures are over 30C for weeks at a time, and my garden languishes, then bakes and scorches

January 2009 was the driest on record for this area - precisely 0.00mm of rain -
so the 20 something mm [ bit less than an inch ] that we received in the first 30 days of January 2010 may well have been piddling, but it was a whole lot better than last year.

Lunchtime yesterday rolled around and it had already reached and exceeded the expected max in the mid 30s, the sky was a clear cornflower blue that almost reconciled me to the outside temperature.
Almost
but not quite
and I have to say that I was a little sceptical about the 'possible thunderstorm' forecast

Oh ye of little faith!
... how could I have doubted the Bureau of Meteorology?

Even with the curtains drawn, by mid afternoon, I could tell that it was clouding over


then the wind picked up and the temp dropped 10 degrees in as many minutes
so I took camera [ and dog ] in hand, and went out to sit on the verandah to enjoy the man upstairs' light-and-sound show


Thunder and lightening a plenty for a while [ which I tried to photograph without any real hope of success ]
and then, as quickly as it had rolled in, the rain was gone


leaving as much in the rain gauge as had fallen for the whole rest of the month
a happier garden
less dust
four sodden and complaining goats
and this:
which is a pretty spectacular way to say good bye to January in my book