at first glance/impending storm - 7:15pm:
well it has been one long hot and humid month it seems, yet this morning after it is very nice and cool. last night around 7:30pm a storm rolled in, and left a trail of damage and much needed rains. i was out in it, getting a few sky shots and enjoying the relief it brought to the over 100 degree humid laden heat indices we had been living with for many weeks. we all knew that on the other side of this storm front were temperatures that were about 30-40 degrees lower, and much drier. the timing was perfect for a strong storm, with late afternoon/early evening heat and humidity at a high point for the day, and the stage was set for some big winds, hail, rain and possible damage. this is how the sky first appeared when the warnings came. it is early evening when it is usually still quite light out and this storm is about 15 minutes away from showtime, and coming from the north over the wisconsin borders. this northern shot showed a very dark frontal line and behind that a strange golden sky, that appeared friendlier but was not. it was filled with lightning, winds and heavy rains.

pizza delivery/storm delivery - 7:35pm:
i had just ordered a pizza to be delivered, 20 minutes previous, and the delivery of the pizza coincided with the beginnings of this storm over our neighborhood. he just got the pizza out of his hands and backed his car up to go deliver another when I got this shot. is that a funnel cloud or tornado? not sure, but sure looks like on in the sky. the winds just really started kicking up just as this driver was backing out and around the corner. those are his car headlights in the image. Hard to say if that is a funnel cloud or not, but below is a larger display of that image with some adjustments made to the lightness and brightness to get a better view. the image is grainy because the exposure was difficult with the automatic digital camera settings and i did not see this cloud formation when i took the picture. i was more interested in the shot of the wind hitting the trees. and i was not about to set a tripod out and stand in this with an open shot setting and no flash. below is this grainy image of the same shot, adjusted with a photographic software program. i may or may not send this one off to some weather people. the winds were just starting but the rain had not yet begun to fall.

is that a funnel cloud? it has the appearance of one

dinner delayed - 7:40pm-8:15pm
well there was no way i was going to stop my observations and image taking to stop and eat some pizza. this was just too neat to pass up, though it would have been even nicer to get out on those country roads and get some long shots of clouds and lightning without the interference of neighborhood trees, housetops, and utility lines. however, nature has not fully exhausted its holdings of storms and there will be more to go chase and take pictures of. below are a few more thumbnails of other images i got during the rest of last evening. i may take my camera out while running to visit clients this morning, in case there are some after storm images to shoot. again, the clouds were interesting as well as the wind, rain, and coloration of the sky behind that frontal line. there were many lightning strikes and several broken trees in communities all around us. the trees in our yard faired well, but the neighbor's roof lost several shingles and some patio furniture and other items made visits to yards nearby. and another line of rain came through about an hour or so later.

over our roof and across the street



a few more images