OK, thunderstorm lovers, this one's for you. This is just like listening to the real thing. I grew up in the Northeast, in a place where thunderstorms don't tend to signal floods or tornadoes, so I do love the sound of them myself. When I get some home alone time and I just want to read and have some background sound going without words to interrupt this is one of my favorite CD's to listen to. It's actually managed to confuse my neighbors too. Once, my upstairs neighbor came outside with an umbrella, very confused to to see a clear, moonlit night when she swore she'd heard rain and thunder. There are some very loud thunderbursts, making this CD hard to go to sleep to. If that's what you want it for then I'd recommend their Tropical Rain Forest CD which is much gentler.