After last year’s difficult drought that resulted in so many devastating wildfires last fall, we are quite happy with our much more normal rainfall this year. Yesterday afternoon was no exception as a thunderstorm crested the Cataloochee Divide – the ridge marking the eastern border of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park behind our house. The storm was quite strong with torrential rains – an inch and a half of rain in an hour – the first inch falling in the only 20 minutes.

So what do I do in such a downpour? Go outside and take photographs, of course.

To be totally fair, I first stepped outside to clear some debris from a flood control ditch. It had clogged and water was overflowing its banks. Once I had it unclogged, I was already wet enough to just stay outside and get a few photographs.

NOTE – Click on any of the photographs to enlarge and start a slide show. Depending on your viewing device, use the arrows below the photographs to scroll on a non-touch screen OR just swipe on a touchscreen.