When It Rains, It Pours

The rainy season has well and truly started. Although the days dawn bright and sunny, by around 2:30 in the afternoon the sky darkens to a sullen grey and thunderheads starts to form over the island. The humidity rises so high that it forms a layer of moisture on your skin even more cloying than the sweat which has by now coated your body if you are standing outside. Before long the palm trees start to sway as the first breeze stirs the hot damp air, offering the promise of a reprieve.
Suddenly there is an ear-splitting CRACK as the first lightening streaks across the leaden clouds and the thunder builds from a deep ominous roll which vibrates through your feet to a window-rattling bombardment within a few minutes. The rain comes with a sudden force which is always breathtaking - from a few fat drops which steam on the hot pavement to sheets of water which fall so hard they bounce back up into the air, rendering umbrellas useless and drenching anyone caught exposed within a couple of seconds.
Most thunderstorms are over within half an hour but they are ferocious and breathtaking and utterly spell-binding to watch. I love nothing more than watching from the relative dry of the balcony or an open window as lightening forks down to the ground and the earth shakes with pent up energy when the island seems to be trying to shake off the oppressive heat of the day with a defiant display of raw energy.
Then it's all over. The growl of thunder recedes into the distance, lightening flashes high in the thinning clouds but no longer reaches the ground, and the rain lightens then ceases altogether. For a few minutes the palms continue to sway, shaking off their heavy coats of rain while every living thing draws in a deep breath of unusually cool air. Then the sun breaks through the dissipating clouds, the temperature begins to rise again and the tropical heat returns. Until tomorrow's reprieve.