This picture was taken about 20 years ago on the drive back from a visit to Vicksburg, MS. I was used to severe weather but this cloud made me a bit nervous. A vivid memory. The picture doesn't do it justice but it can still give you a taste of how threatening and ominous this cloud was. The side of the road we were on was blue skies and sunshine but the left...wow...I don't think I'd ever seen such an intimidating cloud before. We snapped a picture out of the car window and prayed that a tornado wouldn't drop out of it. It looked so heavy, it was hanging so low to the ground--I didn't know it was possible for a cloud to hang that low, especially as full of water as this one was. When it did finally break there was a heavy downpour so we had to pull over to the side of the road because you couldn't see to drive. Then it ended abruptly and gave birth to a beautiful rainbow rather than the tornado we expected. What a great storm!
15 comments:
Oliviah, rarely have I ever seen clouds look so dark and ominous. I did grow up in Baton Rouge, and we had our share of wicked storms, but those clouds look like something very, very different than just a storm. Ahhh, the thrill of a child in a storm, the thrill of wanting and needing someone else, which a storm like this brings forth, a chance to reflect on how small and vulnerable we are in the grand scheme of mother nature.
I think this picture needs a hug. My arms are open. Come to me my dear Beautiful Soul. :-)
I miss these storms. Florida suffers with drought and rain is a luxury that never seems to last long enough. Yesterday and today we got rain, glorious rain. Thank you for that hug, your timing is impeccable.
Strange as it may sound, I love thunderstorms. I love the rain, the sound, the feel, the taste, the smell. I like the sense of possible danger. I like walking in the rain. I'd like to say I like cycling in the rain, but that is just plain misery--you would be amazed at what creating your own wind does to chill the body. :-D
I love them too. When I was a child I developed a fear of tornadoes during a particularly effective family tornado drill, so I would panic at the first hint of a dark cloud. That fear built into a full blown phobia. Which was unfortunate because Mississippi doesn't suffer for lack of cloudy days.
Then one day it occurred to me that my being in a state of constant vigilance over the weather was not protecting me from tornadoes, in fact, my fear did not seem to have any effect on the weather whatsoever. I thought about how much time I had spent being petrified of tornadoes that never came and I realized I didn't know one person who had suffered damage from a tornado, which seemed odd to me considering the number of tornado threats and warnings we got.
I decided I was not going to be afraid of tornadoes anymore and I guess I defied the fear. Thunderstorms became a huge thrill for me. Very exhilarating, what an adrenaline rush. I would look hopefully at clouds that showed potential. I'd climb up the sliding board and stand on the very top to feel the power of the wind lashing around me, and getting lectured by my mother about the dangers of lightning.
I guess I went from one extreme to the other but it just felt so good to not feel that fear.
Oh do I love a good thunderstorm. :-)
Far and few between, they are here, so when they do come, it's almost like a gift. Love a good thunderstorm too, the crack of lightning across a darkened sky, where even at night everything just for a second is illuminated, makes fascinating viewing, and just the sounds of rain lashing down and the wind tearing at the trees and rustling everything else remotely flexible. I could never sleep through such a sight, better than fireworks.
That cloud is so low and dark, it looks like smoke from a manic fire. What a rainbow that must have been that followed. :-)
OK - now that is one BLACK CLOUD!! I don't know that I have ever seen anything quite like that one!!
Autumn, yes! That's exactly what it looked like--smoke, which made it look very eerie and surreal compared to any storm I had ever seen before (or since). I've always been glad we had the camera with us at the time. I got two pictures of the rainbow but they were so disappointing, in both of them the rainbow looks faded against the sky. Disappointing because what we saw with our eyes was so much more vivid than that. I wish we had had a handy professional photographer with us on that trip. :-P
kshippychick, looking at that picture makes me wish I were a storm chaser. :-P
The clouds are are really eerie looking, and quite menacing. Good shot!
Thanks Deb. I wish it had turned out clearer but we were driving, I'm surprised it wasn't a complete blur. I don't quite have the hang of using my scanner so none of the pictures I've been posting have turned out quite right. There's a scratch on the picture and I thought about fixing it with PictureIt but decided not to fix it at all because I didn't want to risk undoing the look of that cloud by messing with it. I hope you are having a good day. :-)
Happy 4th of July, Oliviah. :-)
Thank you :-)
That could be the smoke from an erupting volcano it is so dark and dense!!! I remember thunderstorms like that when I lived in Texas as a child. WOW! Love that picture.
I found out that the storms in Venice are fabulous, filled with shattering claps of the thunder which follow the vivid lightning flashes... and then, just like in the movies comes the drenching deluge. It was fabulous - but after all the fun, we were truly drenched, cold, and soggy for the trainride back to the hotel. Still, I can't help but wish we would get some rain like that here once in a while...
We are melting away in the heat today again... triple digits.
Seems these kinds of storms are getting more severe these days. We have driven through that town in Kansas, that was recently totally destroyed , on the way to the springs in Colorado. Hard to believe that we didn't stop for the "worlds largest hand dug well -- and meteorite" which is near the town.
Terry, ahh...volcanoes, thunderstorms in Texas, and Venice in the rain...the stuff dreams are made of. :-)
Goatman, you guys really make me want to travel again. I'm on my way to check your blog to see if you have pictures of those springs in Colorado. :-)
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