I just had a thought, and well, I'm throwing it out there in a stream of consciousness kinda vibe... I've noticed, whenever you get a sudden rain shower, or hail storm, or similar occurrence, even though these are natural events that happen regularly, people stop, stare, comment, talk to strangers....and I thought, even though it's just a natural event that occurs often, and even though they can happen out of nothing, in a social context, it becomes noteworthy, bringing people together who may not otherwise have anything in common. And that just made me think I should put it out there...maybe it will prompt someone. I'm sure I'm going to throw a hailstorm in somewhere now, where the characters comment on the size of the ice, how it's global warming, etc.
I 'm planning a bit of socializing about how it isn't snowing, so yup, weather-talk-plot-thingie makes sense. Also, it's been raining like crazy over here for the past three days, and people are rushing to the bridges to take pictures of the overflowing river, and helping set up anti-flood devices. I hope someday Hollywood will notice how there's so much more about rain than just funerals
I quite like stories where people are forced together by being stuck somewhere. Weather is quite often a good way of setting that up.
I suppose that's the consequence. A flash rainfall forcing strangers to huddle under cover together for a few minutes. What's weird is that in those instances, strangers usually chat. But in a lift, no way!
I think it's a great tool, I've witnessed it used to good effect. So often though, to the point I've been conditioned, I've seen the weather (freakish or not) utilised quite regularly as a metaphor for the protagonist's mood or being a driver in his/her state of mind. I think there's an expectation for there to be some inherent symbolism nowadays. If you do choose to use, you may want incorporate it quite tightly into your scheme. The characters that you bring together last longer than the scene and the event is more than just a vehicle to drive the author's view about global warming (my conjecture sorry). This (to my humble self) I'd see as a superfluous indulgence. In Magnolia (screenplay not novel) there's a scene where it rains frogs... out of nowhere it seems. I stuck with it and realised only later that it was part of a running theme of bible references. On a second reading I was much more with it and nodded with a few 'ahhh yesses' as I went along.
Yeah, Magnolia had a lot of really extreme ideas, so there must have been a theme (and I really must watch it again looking out for the Biblical references, thanks for the reminder ) I recall in Twelve Angry Men, Spoiler the anticipated rainstorm comes just as they are tied 6/6, if I remember That was symbolic of so many things.
Earthquakes are also dandy for sparking conversations, because there are always immediate questions: Where's the epicenter? Is there a lot of damage there? What was it on the Richter scale?
I've never experienced one. Funnily enough, chatting to my ex from Colombia the other day, she was surprised that I couldn't believe she'd been in many. For us in the UK it's an almost non existent phenomena. Not complaining, though....
I used to live in the San Francisco Bay Area, so I've experienced many, but they usually aren't worse than a train rumbling along near the building you're in. By the time we got to the ground floor to go outside with nothing to fall on us, they were over. Then we'd go enter a record in the USGS "Did you feel it" website and spend the rest of the night with our housekeys in our pockets in case another bigger one came along. Even Loma Prieta was a non-event for me while it was happening; I was just starting my car in a large parking lot, and by the time I realized that all that rumbling wasn't just my car running REALLY REALLY ROUGH, it was almost over. I only knew it had been big when I realized that all the traffic lights were out and civilians were directing traffic. See how earthquakes get people talking?
I remember the 2008 Earthquake in Lincolnshire, which was a 5.2. Although it happened at about half one in the morning, so didn't really have any opportunity to talk to people about it.
