The Storm as Background Effects

On the 21st of October, I was at a Reading Circle.  We were discussing Isaac's Storm,  by Erik Larson http://www.randomhouse.com/features/isaacsstorm/.  This is a story about the 1900 hurricane that devastated Galveston. We were in a large second story room, facing large picture windows that looked East.

As we talked, a storm blew in... Watching storms blow into West Texas is phenomenal:  You can see the front move in...You can see the lightning, unimpeded by hills.  You can see the clouds lower, the virga, the areas of downdrafts, the outflow boundaries, the anvil clouds, the towering cumulonimbus clouds.

This day, the storm moved in black as night...The clouds lowered, and eventually let loose with rain... Although various parts of town had hail, there was none where we were.

What a spectacular backdrop to a discussion about the deadliest hurricane in US history!