The storm that moved into town last Wednesday night was the first Monsoon season storm to bring measureable rain with it.

And boy, did it have a vivid lightning display! Channel 12 reported that there were over 350 bolts of lightning recorded that night in Fountain Hills.

I believe it. At the height of the storm it seemed almost like daylight outside because the lightning bolts were so numerous.

There wasn’t much wind and that was the reason that there wasn’t much damage.

The rainfall that night was our first measureable amount recorded since April 29, when we got .02 inches.

The hottest day of the month was June 19 when the thermometer read 118 degrees. The low temperature for the month was 67 degrees on June 14.

Incidentally, that storm that blew into town on Wednesday made me recall the worst storm in Fountain Hills’ history.

And it wasn’t the Monsoon season when it hit.

The storm hit on a Friday night in the middle of January in 1980.

Some 32 homes were damaged and four were completely destroyed.

The storm mainly impacted the northwest corner of the community between Golden Eagle Boulevard, Boulder Drive and McDowell Mountain Park. Several former Midwesterners claimed to have seen a double tornado. However, the U.S. Weather Service designated the storm to be the result of a “downburst thunderstorm.”

Winds were determined to have topped 100 miles per hour in that region of the community.

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Sharon Morgan is home recovering from a serious two-vehicle accident on Shea and Via Linda in Scottsdale. She is the special Events Director for the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce. And she was our town’s first woman mayor.

“It happened so fast, I really don’t remember the impact,” she said. “I was heading west on Shea on my way to see my husband, Jim, who was in a rehab facility near the hospital recovering from pneumonia.”

The car that hit Sharon was traveling north on Via Linda and apparently ran through a red light. She suffered seven broken ribs and a punctured .lung.

“I’d like you to put something in your column to thank everyone for all the concern they showed for me. I got all kinds of calls, cards and prayers. I’ve always liked living in a small town and Fountain Hills is one of those special places.”

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On a sad note, I heard this past Monday about the passing of Dan Foster.

He was a volunteer extraordinaire.in the community. At the time of his induction into the Lower Verde Valley Hall of Fame in 2009, he had logged more than 11.000 hours of volunteer service in the community. After moving here with his wife Jean, in 1973, he got involved with the Fountain Hills Sheriff’s Posse.

Then as he put it, “Things just snowballed from there.”

He was my co-chairman on the Fountain Hills Sister Cities Committee when we were getting that going. He and Jean hosted three groups of Kasterlee residents and officials at their home.

He will be missed.