The Bookless Club: What are your experiences with extreme weather?

Advertisement 1 This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Breadcrumb Trail Links HomeNewsLocal NewsOpinionColumnists The Bookless Club: What are your experiences with extreme weather? That was quite the electrical storm, wasn’t it? Author of the article: By Jane Macdougall Published Aug 30, 2026 Last updated 1 hour ago 5 minute read Join the conversation A direct hit over Vancouver. PHOTO BY ENTER NAME /SUN Article content That was quite the electrical storm, wasn’t it? Article content The epic storm of last Saturday, Aug. 22, is going down in the archive as the biggest electrical storm ever recorded in Vancouver. Unlike our usually tame summer sound and light shows, this one went on and on, with about 1,800 lightning strikes recorded in the Lower Mainland. The rest of the province was lashed with approximately 7,000 hits, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service. Some folks claimed they watched the sky light up for more than four hours. At YVR, flights sat on the tarmac for up to five hours, unable to depart in the midst of the storm. To say the storm was arresting is an understatement. Article content Article content Article content What was also astonishing was the activity of the people in the street while the storm raged overhead. I watched a young man dashing from tree to tree, his path illuminated by welding-arc white light as he sought cover from what can only be described as torrential rain. A few others came outside to look up into the furious sky. I ventured out onto my sundeck to snap some shots. Article content Sunrise Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. Sign Up By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Article content Idiots. All of us. And me especially, as I’ve lived in Florida, which, along with Oklahoma, is the lightning-strike capital of North America. Here are just a few of the lessons I had forgotten since living in the danger zone. Article content If you think there’s an electrical storm brewing, don’t wait to be proved right. In Florida, sirens sound to clear the playing fields and golf courses when dangerous conditions mount. The saying is, “When thunder roars, go indoors”. “A bolt from the blue” references the fact that lightning can strike from as far as 40 kilometres from what is called the “parent storm”. Ideally, you don’t venture out until a half-hour after the last…