Here in NZ we just had the worst drought we've had in a generation (IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT, climate change etc.) and tonight it rained properly for the first time in months here. Where I'm from we only had 18 days of water left. And this is somewhere as synonymous with rain as Glasgow is[citation needed]. Of course the night I pick to drive back home is the night this country decides to shit itself. I somehow missed the weather warnings and was genuinely surprised at the complete lack of traffic, and just put it down to being a Monday night. I've never been in such intense rain, it was actually pushing my car at times (the trip took hours more than it should have, I pulled over a lot to catch my breath / wait for weather to calm down.)

There's this road called the gorge that's known for being pretty notorious here as one of the dodgiest roads in the North Island as far as corners and landslips go. Cliff wall on one side and sheer cliff into river on the other basically a metre each side of the road and you're fucked. Of course this part of the journey also happened to be where the rain was heaviest and I couldn't see more than a metre ahead of me. This isn't an exaggeration. I couldn't see where to turn until the very last possible minute. It was horrifying. I also couldn't stop because if there was any traffic coming from behind they would hit me. They wouldn't have time to slowdown before hitting me. I felt like I was driving to me death (i know how ridiculously melodramatic that sounds but seriously). The only source of light for miles were my headlights.

Anyway, I'd drive around this road at around ~40kms and every now and then there'd be an intense flash of lightning, the source of which only being a few hundred metres away from me. It was the most incredible thing though. For hours I'd felt like the loneliest thing on the planet. Shrouded in darkness except for the light from headlights reflecting on things ahead of me. Then this lightning would temporarily blind me, and light up the mountains and valleys around me, reminding me that yes, they still exist, I just can't see them. Seeing the forks travel through the clouds ahead was incredible.

What's the most incredible weather-centric thing you've ever experienced?

+100 if you didn't cringe at that thread title
+150 "doing your mum." 

TL;DR i need a dairy

i'm going to wake up tomorrow and feel like a right nob for posting all this