More Weather - Does Mother Nature Hate Me?

I got up this morning at 5am, brimming with confidence. I was ready to prove to the check airman that I'm such a good instrument pilot that a check ride is a complete waste of his time.

Oh...wait...that was a dream. My alarm went off and I didn't hear it this morning. I woke up at 6 for a 7am flight. Not a great start. Must hurry. I look out the window and see a hint of gray to the east towards KIWA. Hmmm. I'll do a quick check of the radar. There are some slight echoes to the south and west, nothing really threatening. However, I forget that before bed last night the lifted/k was 38/-6. It's an excellent predictor of thunderstorm activity. The higher the top/and larger the negative on the bottom the better the chances for rain. 100% is like 40/-6.

Sure enough, before I can get to the airport, it begins to pour. The winds were relatively calm, but cloud to ground lightning strikes were intense. I was actually shocked to see people in small aircraft departing in that weather. PIC's that make those kinds of decisions remind me of one of my favorite posters from Despair Inc., a company that lampoons the Successories/motivational puke posters that permeate the corporate world like stink on ... well you know. Here it is:

I scrubbed the flight and we went to breakfast. Laziness and procrastination got the better of us and we decided to put off the remaining ground portion until Saturday afternoon following the flight. I'm glad, actually. I can really use the extra preparation time. The good news is that he's not making me re-do the flight plan.

Anyway, the storm was huge. I dumped from 2-3.5" of rain all over the east parts of the Phoenix metro area. I actually saw a brand new Volvo floating down a wash near Paradise Valley. Poor ADM (Automotive Decision Making) was a factor, I'm sure. The lightning was so intense that it started several structure fires and burned one home to the ground.