Sunday, June 29, 2014

Nebraska Weather, or Not...

On Saturday evening we settled down to a game of Mexican Train on the dinette table.  The mini blinds were half closed because the sun had been shining in during dinner.  As we started to play, I noticed there were some neat clouds coming up and opened the blinds all the way.

One look and we were outside taking pictures of some really wild  cloud formations.


Southwestern Sky


Northwestern Sky

Within minutes, the wind came up and large drops of rain started to splash around us. We took shelter in the Alfa, got out the weather radio and made a few quick evacuation preparations. Things like making sure I had my purse and keys, and Craig had his wallet and keys.  When we arrived on Friday, we were given a flyer showing where to go in case of a weather emergency and a list of radio stations to tune into to.  

Craig found the radar scan on the internet that showed some red areas coming our way, and there was one severe thunderstorm warning on the radio that included the county we were in. We did not like the sound of "ping pong ball sized hail possible". 

Craig lamented: "we've just gotten the Alfa into the shape we want, and now she might be blown away!"

The actual heavy rain didn't last very long, and it seemed like the lightning and thunder were farther off. 




The sun came out again and we were treated to a rainbow. 












As the evening progressed we saw more really neat clouds. 



Although we both grew up in the Midwest, we agreed neither of us remembered this type of cloud formation.  It was a bit eerie.

The whole storm lasted less than an hour. I had put a glass out as a rain gauge and it  collected less than 1/4 inch of rain.

We went back to our game and checked the weather forecast before going to bed. Nothing severe expected.

I thought a lot about the storms in the Midwest as we headed this way. But having lived here I was not afraid. Storms happen just like earthquakes, forest fires, and floods. We will never be 100% safe anywhere.  With that in mind, I found this storm exciting.

A stitched-together panorama image of the initial "wall cloud" including our neighbors' fifth wheel:



13 comments:

  1. Those are some amazing cloud photos. I would have been excited too.

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  2. I totally agree re weather fears. I mentioned that in my blog responses the other day. It's just one of those things.

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  3. Those are Mammatus clouds most often associated with the anvil cloud and with severe thunderstorms. You got a rather breathtaking photo of that amazing formation. Wow! Read about them on Wikipedia. It is really interesting.

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  4. Those clouds are awesome, but scary for sure.

    We have seen the mammatus clouds before, usually at the end of a severe storm.

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  5. Great cloud photos & I would have found that exciting as well.

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  6. What amazing photos! Love it!

    Maura

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  7. Glad you are OK and the photos were beautiful.
    Mother Nature at her best.

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  8. some pretty chilling cloud photos!

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  9. Lived in the Midwest for many decades and never seen clouds like that.

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  10. I've never seen clouds like that, very interesting and beautiful. The last cloud photo, not the panorama but the weird clouds, really were a little scarey looking. Thanks for posting those. And I'm glad everything turned out okay. We sure don' want ping pong ball sized hail hitting our rigs, that's for sure! :)

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  11. Amazing photos of some really strange looking clouds. I can see why you were excited.

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  12. Wow, what an amazing show you were treated to. Glad it didn't give you a big storm too.

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