system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What is happening when power flickers like its going to shut off when a storms approaching?

Wife and I just noticed a flash of lightning outside and a couple seconds later heard thunder and our lights flickered like we were going to lose power. What is happening here?
gpt
Basically there is a voltage drop. Voltage drops if there is a short in the system (or when more power is used than produced, but that isn't the case here). A short is when the high voltage line gets connected to the neutral line (or ground) without proper resistance. Imagine you stick a paper clip in a plug so you connect both sides. Sparks, and current. Your house has a breaker that will trip if you do that, but for a breif second the voltage will drop and high current will flow through the wires. 

In the case of a storm, kind of the same thing happens, at a bigger scale.. like some wires crossed and there was a short causing the voltage to drop. Could be a branch pushing wires together, or a pole falling and ripping wires down. Like the breakers in your house, the power company has breakers that will prevent the short taking out the whole grid. But for a second the short effected your power by reducing the voltage to the point your lights didn't work.