For the second afternoon in a row, a temporale (thunderstorm) has broken out. In the morning, the sky is clear and blue even though the air is hot and muggy. By lunchtime, a few white clouds arrive and we think the temperatures will decrease with the sun being covered up just a little bit. At around 3PM, we can see the dark clouds loom above and then the temporale arrives with thunder, lightning, and heavy rains that fall in every direction.
Luckily, we've been home when the temporale arrives so we haven't gotten went; however, we found out that all of our windows, but two, leak and part of our roof as well. We have set out pots and bowls under a few windows and on the stovetop. We can hear the water chime as it falls slowly into the pans.
We realized that there is no weather strip around the windows and no awning either, so the water glides down the window and comes in through the cracks at the bottom of the window. The previous rains, albeit heavy at times, were never a problem. We now think that maybe it's because the rain during these summer temporali is dense and the rain comes down every which way.
The temperatures after the temporale, which seems to only last an hour or so, cool down a little bit, but it's still muggy outside.
My brother and his family were out yesterday during the temporale and said that they were inside of the Santa Croce church. They said there were a few spots where the roof leaked and water came trickling inside.
The weather in Florence this summer has been odd with extremely high temperatures without a tregua (respite) and now temporali. Dave and I are considering getting out of Florence for a day, just to get some fresh air. I see why almost all of the Florentines have already left town. Who wouldn't with weather as crazy as what we've been having?
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