Interesting or strange weather pics (Warning lots of images!)

[Ninjara]

   Geez, for sure, where does one go?  You're driving and and you want to get to where you're going.....you really don't want to back track.  And with a divided highway that option isn't always available to you the minute you want it.

    My misadventure took place in the latter half of July, 1996.
 (Someone has jogged my memory for me.) 
  So don't worry about the memory bank, Aig.  The events of my life seem like a big blur and I can't remember the time slots they go in most of the time.

   Too much stuff, over so long a time.....man, if I live as long as I've been told...... I should start forgetting now and get it over with.

[Aignatius]

Well, Ninjara, it happens to computers. The hard drive gets full, and slows everything down a bit. Yet, you don't really want to delete any files, because you might delete important ones... and yet somebody comes along and does a memory dump,and then... you lose...

... what was I talking about?

Oh, yes. Memory.

Of what, I uhm... can't remember. 

[Danceingfae]

Hmm, think you need to upgrade your mental memory Aig Not sure who's selling that though so just keep an eye out.

That strange weather over here has not reoccurred. Just one day of sun then it's been cold and miserable. *Sigh* I usually like it overcast but some sun is nice too.

[Mindy]

@Aig: Whoa, nelly!! That's more than just up close and personal and way too much for my liking. Indeed, he is lucky to be breathing at this very moment.

@Fae: beautiful pictures! I love seeing the sky before a storm.

Hey, Kazari! You need to post up the video that your brother filmed of the tornado 10 miles from your front porch 

A tornado hit our area in early May and here are some of the pictures: http://www.slide.com/r/9Gs6r8Ux4T8OA7o4dkxMrUdZ_tMl0w-I?previous_view=lt_embedded_url

This is the first tornado to do some damage since 1936, and the tornado was down the street from my job that morning. Eep!

[HUN]

Brings back terrifying memories of my college days in Springfield, MO.
crouched in a basement waiting for the noise to stop, but it never does!
At least, it feels like that! 

We were fortunate that our house didn't leave the ground, nor suffered much damage, but the local mall was totaled!
No more video game arcade! That was a bad year! 

[Aignatius]

Those were some impressive storm pics, Mindy. Sure is an active season this year...

[moronqueen]

Aahh...childhood memories of KY. Quite a few rip-roarers there...same with upstate NY. And...y'know...here.

There was a tornado north of here by a little bit...about a 20-30 minute drive. Here's the slideshow one of the news stations put up. A little boy was found dead outside his house in the pond nearby, his older sister just got out of the hospital not long ago, and there were something like six other injuries. Tornados are crazy scary...scarier than most storms, I think, because they're so unpredictable.

Also...a video I took of the hail storm last week. It took place in full sunlight.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=mGkzGv6-Y0M

MN is WEIRD. It'll snow while the sun's shining, too.

[HUN]

Definitely NOT a good day to be caught outside!
I thought I heard the yowl of a terrified cat near the end of that.
It did look terrifying, but the sunlight was pretty!

Just like love sometimes; pretty, yet painful! 

[moronqueen]

LOL She was only terrified because I was paying attention to the weather outside and not her. It was pretty, though...yes a lot like amore..

[HUN]

Careful, Queenie! Hell hath no fury like a spurned kitty! 

[Mindy]

@Aig: Yep, this year's wild activity reminds of 1994. Our area had a massive ice storm in Feb. 94 and then the following 94 summer was the hottest that I can remember; tornadoes came out of everywhere that year, too. 2006 was also a hot summer.

@moronqueen: Tornadoes can also hit during sunlight, too. 

[Aignatius]

Video clip of a lightning strike about 3 or 4 miles northwest of us. Mostly dry storms, so I'm hoping the lightning didn't hit anything too combustible. Which, just about everything is, in this weather, but still, one can hope. It's about 20 or so seconds into the clip, and then the thunder comes toward the end. And my arms were tired, because I'd taken so many shots, to catch some lightning....

Trying to get this to embed is like trying to catch ground squirrels with a ping pong paddle... like you get that nagging feeling that you're wasting your time.

So, I'll just put up a direct link.

http://s44.photobucket.com/albums/f8/Aignatius/?action=view&current=MVI_3190.flv

Edit: Never mind, it embedded anyway. Sheesh...

[Mindy]

Lightning storms are so beautiful! You oughta see the strikes here o__o;

Thanks for showing us the video, Aig.

[Aignatius]

Yeah, they would definitely be more numerous back east.
Thing is, here, they are so rare, it's a big deal when one comes through.
Especially if they are dry ones, because, well, you know what happens.
The inevitable fires.
There's been something like 500 small fires started since Saturday, and at least a dozen big ones, from the lightning strikes.

If you look here, you'll see ze significance!
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/

Fortunately it's a large state, and most of it wilderlands, but some unfortunates have had to vacate their homes. Some had no homes to return to, but not to the degree of problems that So. CA had.

Just south of here, about 20 miles, is one of the biggest the state has seen in a very long time, the Indian fire inland in Big Sur. It has been spreading and has grown into this huge mass of smoke that is easily seen form satellite. And a new one, which has closed the highway along coastal Big Sur, and another that closed the highway north of here for a while, from yet another fire. 

I dare say, living among sand dunes has a number of positives here, for us badgers.