Contrasts

Yesterday started off beautiful. The sun shone, in was warm enough that we at our lunch on the deck. After lunch, while the kids played at being gardeners, I sat in the sun and read. For a while there I was almost too hot. Sweat prickled my neck.

So we decided it was a good time to go to the park with the really long slide.

As we drove over, we noticed a band of cloud on the horizon. We joked about how we were heading in the wrong direction. But the sun still shone, and it was remarkably windless.

At the park, which was mobbed with families who'd had the same idea, the kids hurled themselves down the slide with abandon. After a few minutes though, the sun started fading. Dark clouds scurried across the sky. The sea that had been flat moments before, whipped into a frenzy of dueling white caps. Freezing wind rattled the leaves in the trees and bit through my sweater (I hadn't brought a coat because it was so warm).

A few minutes later it started to rain. And hail.

Looking up at the sky, I could see the line where the front began. Behind it was the roiling black cloud; in front, the clear blue sky. It was an awesome example of what a cold front really is. The contrast between the two types of weather was jarring, unsettling, and I couldn't help but think about how such a dramatic exchange of climatic conditions could be used in a story.

Have you ever seen anything like that? Have you used it in your work?