Here in the Midwest we are used to weather changes at the drop of a dime. In fact the old saying goes "If you don't like the weather in Southern Illinois, wait 10 minutes..." it's always changing. Yesterday started out as a beautiful sunny morning, but weather forecasters were warning us that the afternoon and evening would be producing storms of catastrophic proportions. The radar was clear, not a speck of rain to be seen for hundreds of miles, but with cold air from Canada and hot air from the Gulf always clashing in this area no radar was needed to predict how the day would end up.
I took the kids strawberry picking in the morning and we enjoyed the sun and the breeze, but by late afternoon this is how the sky began to look. I knew the storm was traveling to the north of us, and these pictures are from my front porch, facing the north, but I got some wicked shots of the sky as it belched out it's protest of summer heat waves....
Watching these tails hang down I was quite certain this storm was producing tornadoes somewhere beyond our tree line...the wind was calm and quiet at our house, which is always and eerie feeling when the sky looks like this.
Reports have yet to come on in if any twisters actually touched down, but I snapped this rotating mass...it was traveling away from us as it formed. The trees hid the 'cone' and the picture doesn't do it justice, but it was an awesome and frightening sight.
And the sky grows dark.....
This swirling hole in the sky rotated just above us....It was a bit like looking through the eye of a hurricane.
Eventually the strong winds did reach us from a different storm later in the night. Our hay fields and wheat have just layed over. They look very sad and dejected today. It's as if the giant feet of God tromped right through them smashing them into the earth.
My husband captured a twister with his cell phone on his way home from work, and if we can ever find the cord to upload the pics, this will be the first place I start. It is amazing....wicked...terrifying.
Summer in Southern Illinois has arrived.
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5 comments:
Wow, what a massive cloud formation! Do you get these kinds of storms every year? It looks absolutely terrifying, and if say the pics don't do them justice I'm happy I live in place where we don't get to experience too much of the nature's violent side..
Yes we see these often. We are located in "Tornado Alley" which stretches from Texas to Southern Indiana. The are only terrifying when they are headed for you! LOL! These were headed away from us, so I felt safe outside snapping pics...
I'm with 3rd Lady on this one - glad I don't live in an area as tornado-prone as you.
A few summers ago we were driving home from school and got caught in a storm. Later we found out it was what the weatherman called a 'mini' tornado weather system. I wouldn't want to experience a 'major' one!
Twisters! Yikes! In the entire history of my town (back to 1670) there has been one tornado. My mother-in-law spent some time in a Curves bathroom was a few "friends" last week for a tornado in her town... I'll keep my fingers crossed that none come your way!
Scary! I believe we have only had one tornado here, too! Don't quote me on that. At least one in my lifetime! The weather is very unpredictable, though! Especially in the springtime!
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