I love damaging winds! :)

SKY WATCH FRIDAY time! Thanks to Dot and Tom, never forgotten founders of this great event. Come on, come fly with us!

Thanks to hosts: Klaus Sandy Sylvia Wren Louise Fishing Guy

I got the funniest email from a good storm chaser friend and member of the Southern Weather Brigade that literally cracked me up. We are a strange group of folks, very interested in weather and the spectacular power and surrounding beauty of God. We are blown away by it, so to speak. It can be a little disturbing to some... Anyways, the email came from Storm Chasing Mikey, in response to a “Lucky Dog” message I sent to him regarding a severe thunderstorm watch he had just been issued. I have to show you, because in all my geekiness, I could lose you describing it.
Incidentally, I love damaging winds too, so today, I decided to share with you pictures of my FAVORITE damaging winds experience. This was a shelf cloud near Murdo, SD, on June 6, 2007. This storm produced one tornado and blew over a tractor trailer traveling down the interstate. A shelf cloud is an arcus cloud that is associated with and attached to a thunderstorm, and it is where outflow winds (straight line winds) are generated within a thunderstorm, called a gust front. (See? Geekiness) In this case, the outflow winds raged around 65-75mph or greater. The shelf cloud was the most ominous one I have ever seen, and the wind was… AWESOME! It was a total grey out with the sand that was carried in it. In fact, I snapped a shot at the worst of it. See? This was a wonderfully memorable day for me, even if we missed the ONLY tornado generated during this High Risk day. I’m not bitter.

Have a day that blows you away!
~Dewdrop