Extreme+weather+reports

Spiky Hiking
My sister-in-law belongs to a hiking club and they usually go trekking in the mountains at the weekend. As the hiking trips are organized in advance, it´s not very frequent to change the route if the weather it´s not so good. In that case, they proceed as if it didn´t matter, unless a hurricane or heavy flood comes up.Once, two years ago, they went to a high mountain in the Northern part of Madrid and when they were on the top, they could see how the sky turned into a grey mass of clouds and the wind started to blow.Suddenly, they saw a flash of very bright light in the sky caused by electricity .They ran to hide under a big boulder, and they waited there. The storm lasted for about 20 minutes and when it left the mountain, everybody noticed that their hair was standing on end, and also the guys´ hair over the chest was rather spiky too.It was funny and everybody burst out laughing. **(Elisa Cezón, I2)**

**Unpredictable Weather**
Over the last few weeks, extreme weather and catastrophic events have been the focus of the news around the world. We still hadn’t absorbed the awful effects of the Haiti’s earthquake when we have been surprised by another earthquake of greater intensity in Chile. Floods in Andalusia and Galicia caused the overflow of major rivers such as Guadalquivir or Pisuerga and many streams, completely dry for decades, saw their flow increase dramatically in a few hours. Water flooded houses, garages, shops, farmlands and everything on its path. The weather forecast says that weather will continue with this unpredictable behavior and everyone must be prepared for more news about extreme weather. Fortunately, I never lived any similar experience except heavy rains in tropical or subtropical countries or an unpleasant trip across the pampas Argentinas through a terrible thunderstorm. Lightning struck so close to our car that I could feel its heat. The sky was as light as day. My husband drove for some kilometers under a pouring rain and over a muddy soil, unable to find a place to stop. Days later he recognized that he’d also felt the heat of the thunderbolt.
 * (Alcira Andrés, I2)**

One nightmare I remember took place two months ago. It was a Sunday afternoon and my husband and I had two tickets for the Real Madrid match. It had started to snow but we decided to drive to //Pelayos de la Presa// in order to check the road conditions. When we arrived in the town we kept on driving to //Navas// then to //Chapineria...// in order to have a look at the weather conditions. Finally, we reached the Real Madrid Stadium. The match was totally awesome: the team played a great match as everybody watched the falling snow in amazement. When the match finished and we got out everything was covered in snow and looked wonderful. But it was a problem: the temperatures was -2ºC and the snow was freezing. We managed to drive to //Chapineria// trailing behind a snowplough. At that moment the pass of mountain was closed and we had to wait for hours. We arrived home at 4 a.m. Then, we promised each other we'd never drive again in the snow unless it was strictly needed.
 * NIGHTMARE WEATHER **
 * (Marina Jiménez, I2)**