Spectacular cloud photos

[altivo]

A member of the McHenry County Amateur Radio Emergency Services team caught some superb photographs of a shelf cloud on the leading edge of the storm described in my previous entry. In some of the shots, it appears that there were both a shelf (the lower portion with the ragged bottom) and a roll (the upper portion that looks like a detached, curving cylinder) which would be a pretty rare combination. This type of cloud appears on the leading edge of supercell storms, and is frequently associated with tornado activity, though none was verified here last night.

Photos here. Well worth scrolling through the entire set of a dozen or so.

Comments

[brunbera.livejournal.com]

Those are some mighty impressive photos, indeed. We don't see clouds like that around here (and that's probably a good thing).

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Since moving out into more open country ten years ago, where we actually get occasional long vistas of stuff like this, I've become quite fascinated with cloud formations. I really should take the weather spotter class that is regularly offered by the ARES and NOAA folks. They teach you the names for all this stuff and how to recognize it.

[lobowolf.livejournal.com]

Whoa...that's some serious looking weather. Can you imagine what freaked-out settlers would have thought about something like that? It looks like revelation is on the 2-minute countdown clock @.@

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yes, you got it. These things are sometimes seen in Europe, but almost never in Britain or Ireland. Nowhere over there are they as frequent as out here on the plains. (We're only on the edge. I imagine folks in Kansas and Oklahoma think it's just ho-hum by now.)

I remember my father describing the reaction of his neighbors to a brilliant display of aurora borealis back in the 1920s (Michigan, where a good strong display only happens once in several decades) and you're right. They think it's the end of the world right now.

[hrrunka]

Wow! That's cloud with attitude!

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it really is. I think generally you need to be on the interior of a substantial continent mass to see these particular effects. There's probably other stuff visible in your area that we never see here.

Those long, curving, almost vertical walls are right under the leading edge (moving to southwest in this case) of the long red-orange front on the weather radar that I posted last night. It was a strong cold front thunderstorm, which is what produces the air movements that generate those particular clouds. They can be much more dramatic (and violent) but fortunately this one wasn't. I have once or twice seen hailstones the size of golf balls fall from the leading edge of one of these storms. That can really do a lot of widespread damage, and you don't want to be standing out in it for sure.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oops. It was moving southEAST, not southwest.

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[bladehorse.livejournal.com]

Runs and hides in the barn. Im glad i havnt seen anything like that in real life:(

Re: EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Actually, I wish I had seen it. You have to be in just the right place to get such clear views of that stuff. I've been right under the edge of one before, where all you see is a dark overcast sky with an odd "crack" running through it where you can look up and see blue sky. Usually at that point you are hearing a lot of thunder but not seeing the lightning, and there is a gusty, cold wind blowing. That's the leading edge of a big thunderstorm, just before the heavy rain hits. The trailing edge is where the nasty tornado can appear.

When these photos were being snapped, I was under the dark part with pounding rain falling and a lot of thunder and lightning. I was listening over the 2 meter repeater as the photographer described what he was seeing to the weatherspotters.

Impressive

[doug-taron.livejournal.com]

Impressive, wasn't it? I also got a photo of the shelf cloud. I was not in really open country like the photographers that you linked to (very good stuff). Plus, I was driving so I was only able to snap a quick single shot while stopped at a red light. You can see it here. I was interested in the earlier comment about being two minutes from Revelation, because I titled my post The Apocalypse begins in 2 Minutes.

Re: Impressive

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I only wish I'd seen it live, but I was at home where the tree cover obscures any long views like that. Had I known it would be that clear, I'd have jumped in the car and driven a mile down the road to get a better view. (Also, had I known that Gary's camera was at hand, just in an abnormal location, I'd have had more incentive.)