Yeah I agree @steveb4
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Nothing like seeing a thunderstorm in the Plains coming in at you. Nothing to slow them down, and they can be furious looking. I grew up in Oklahoma and lived in north Texas so I know about spring storms. I used to chase them as a hobby, but never saw a tornado.
Living in the hills, I’ve got pretty good at reading the skies and the surrounding environment especially during summer storms. We live an in heavily forested area, with our farm carved out of a hillside of hardwoods. So, the treeline starts about 100ft behind our house and goes up to the peak of a hill that’s about 300ft above the house.
Anyways there’s been many times during the summer when I’ve been outside and when the clouds start getting dark, I listen for the wind and then rain coming thru the trees from the west. When I hear that, I know I’ve got about a minute to get up to the house before it opens up on me. Thankfully we don’t really have issues with tornadoes in the hills.
While we live in a modern world, the weather still has a way to make you feel pretty insignificant and puny. It makes you respect those who came before us who endured such hardships.
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Kind of interesting to follow a storm from the backside of it as well. I followed Clark’s storm in the above photo home today. I had been up in Nebraska delivering trees. My wife called and said to keep an eye on the storm, but I knew then it was already ahead of me and I was just following along in its path. Just about had caught up to it when I pulled in the driveway.
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Yes you have a unique situation to observe the weather in that way. Being a very close neighbor you know the storms the same as i do. This area where we live is unique in many ways. The soil and other things are similar for you as they are for me. The area we live in NE Kansas is beautiful to me. Nebraska is big sky country as well so the area you were from made it as easy move to this area we live as they are similar in many ways. In New York City unfortunately they have never seen the sky in this way.
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These are not common clouds in Kansas. I believe they are called mammatus. They mean storms are coming. These were recent photos i took. @TurkeyCreekTrees you might have saw this one coming in on us since you live very close by now. Not a huge amount of water but back to back storms Storm season and Fruit trees
When in doubt look at your feet and the rollie pollies will move before the storm comes. They like moist places generally. 8 Facts About the Fascinating Roly-Poly .These moved long before the last storms got here.
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I dont think were in Kansas anymore!
I didnt see those clouds, but they are cool looking.
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Love that info about the rollypollies! Split my time between nor cal and Hutch and relish a good plains storm. Simply magical. Almost as wondrous as fireflies. First time seeing them DH said he thought they were disney fantasy, couldnt be a real thing lol. Weather is so completely different and truly do appreciate these insights.
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Lots of folks in your area without power after some big storms, over 170k without power in Kansas. Did you make it thru okay?
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A tornado or thunderstorm is beautiful but like looking at a car wreck before it comes sometimes. My mother and i stood on my porch once watching a huge tornado that turned towards us several times. It was throwing several 30 and 40 foot trees around over and over inside in the motion. It did huge damage everywhere it hit. Like the fireflys some things are so beautiful they dont seem real as you said.
Everything was fine today. Last time internet, power etc. Was out part of the time. Noticed a few large trees knocked down today.
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I remember a time, up until around 2014-15 in my area, that reading the sky for storms was as easy as observing the beautiful dark clouds roll in from the distance, and then after a brief thunderous storm, roll back out as quickly as they came; the blue sky reopening and warm, life-giving sun beaming down.
Since then, however, reading the sky means observing the prevalence of stratospheric aerosol injections released by -some- planes that criss cross the sky. Depending on prevalence, the releases spread out to form thin whispy “cloud” gradually dulling the blue sky, and dimming the suns warmth, or merge together to form unending sheets of formless blank white / light gray, dimming the suns light to such an extent that the day feels shortened, and bringing with it, depending on time of year, massive unseasonable 1-3 day temperature fluctuation that result in negative impact on local flora and fauna, unending high humidity, continuous rain, and and overall unpleasantness brought about by the unnatural formation of blank sheet “cloud” covering the sky.
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More airplanes everywhere and they are the biggest gas guzzlers. Most flights they say are not even needed. Maybe someday your sky will be back to normal. The last several times i travelled by air the hassle was not worth the vacation.
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The same aerosol injections happen at ground level in winter time when people walk around breathing. the colder it is, the more you can see it.
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Most of the time I get caught making a bee line to the barn with equipment so I dont take time to look at the clouds. I do recall when I was a kid it seemed like you would see those towering thunderheads building to the west and slowly marching your way. Plenty of time to take action. Now a days the storms seem to pop up out of nowhere or they just have a different look to them. We got 2.0 - 2.5" rain over the last couple of days depending on whether you were at our house or at the tree farm. No damage from wind this time around.
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We needed the rain and the last 2 weeks gave us some moisture. The cost was high in wind damage as you know since your place is very close by. We did not get 2" but it was close.
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I wish that I had taken some pictures of the clouds 4 weeks ago when a “straight line super cell” storm hit the large oak trees in my front yard. It came across a large open field from the west after blowing the roof off a barn about a quarter of a mile away from my house. I had just brought my German Shepard into the house. I really feared what I would see outside after it passed. Wind was said to be 70-90 MPH.
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No, what you’re referring to is condensation. The aerosol trails released by - some - aircraft are different. Condensation trails released by aircraft evaporate quickly, producing only a short disappearing trail; they do not linger in the sky for many miles and slowly disperse over the entire sky, staying their for hours or days. They are also not released by all planes in the same vicinity at the same time. When observing, you can see planes flying at all different altitudes and regions of the sky, but only some planes will release those long-staying trails, while others in the same regions / altitudes release only the normal condensation (dispelling the idea that it is condensation impacted by temperature).
Just a few of the articles put forth to acclimatize the world to the idea of this, while it has clearly ( to those that regularly pay attention) already been going on for a long time. ( and if the realization of it currently being done is denied, one can imagine how much worse the proposals will be… )
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