First, some more weather pictures from the recent Midwest storm system. These were send by reader Tom Czarny in an email called “Some photos from the End of the World”. His notes:
Or so it seemed as this storm (since termed a mesocyclone) swept into my hometown of Traverse City in northwestern Michigan yesterday about 4 PM. Heavy damage everywhere as a result of the straight-line winds. The small town of Glen Arbor, located adjacent to the Sleeping Bear National Shoreline, is still as of this hour unapproachable due to the number of downed trees. A State of Emergency for the area was declared a few hours ago. I took only one of the attached photos and the rest were taken by friends and acqaintences in an exchange of storm porn.
And, to balance weather with wildlife, some chipmunk photos from Diana MacPherson:
Sorry to add to your backlog but these chipmunks were cute today. I left peanuts out but the chipmunk in these photos only ran off with one.
Chipmunk (Tamias striatus) in Plant Pot:
Chipmunk (Tamias striatus) Eats Berry in Plant Pot:
Those are remarkably dramatic photos. Except for the last three which are remarkably cute.
Almost exactly what I was going to say.
I read each of those captions for the cute pics of the chipmunk as “…in Pot Plant”.
I always say that a touch of dyslexia makes life more fun.
I did the exact same thing…Freudian dyslexia in my case.
Nice! The cloud photos are wonderful.
Very dramatic chipmunks, and the clouds are cute.
Amazing clouds! I’d wet my pants if I saw those coming.
Yes, really scary!
Fascinating storm pictures! I should be grateful that in the UK we don’t experience the sorts of weather extremes you get in some parts of the US but I must admit I’d love to see some of your storms for myself (albeit from a safe vantage point!).
We don’t have cyclones here I think, so this is very welcome weather pr0n indeed. The difference between air and sea is … well, not much! The only time I’ve seen similar clouds, albeit on a much smaller scale, has been weather over flat round mountains (old volcano cores).
Oh, and chipmunk seeds … how cute!
I adore “Chipmunk in Repose.” More, please!
I like the idea of ‘weather porn’. ‘Honestly, officer, I have no idea how those pictures of mammatus clouds got in my computer!’
😀
Great shots! Seeing the pictures looking over the lake reminds me of Stephen King’s great novella “The Mist”.
Awesome clouds, but while in the midst of them, I would imagine fear and excitement. I’ve seen similar clouds in Wyoming once, and the sky turned green.
The ‘munk peeking out of the pot(ted) plant with its curled left hand is one for the archives. The one with the peanut reminds me of my d*gs when they carry one of their over sized plush toys shaped like a dog bone.
That chipmunk couldn’t figure out what to do with the nut.
Those cloud formations look like a sleepy malevolent eyelid, with lashes and everything! Amazing. Hope the storms didn’t cause too much damage.
“Sleepy malevolent eyelid.” Wow, superb imagery; I went back and looked at them with that in mind and got chills down my spine!
I’ve seen lots of crazy cloud formations here in the middle of Oklahoma, including the ‘Big One’ of ’99, which was huge and solid black, but I’ve never seen any as dramatic as these from Michigan. They’re exhilarating to look upon.
While not as dramatic as these photos, I like to look at this wind map when I hear of major storms in the US: http://hint.fm/wind/
You can zoom in by clicking a location.
That’s some scary looking weather you got there. The chipmunks are mega-cute though.
Fantastic storm pics, Tom!! I heard it was rough up there but these really bring it home. I shudder to think of the damage.
Diana, those are SO adorable! 🙂 How close were you?
Pretty close – the pot that the chipmunk was in is right outside the sliding doors onto my deck.
I’m tempted to not wake up that sleeping canid. (Bears are closely related to the humans furry slaves, aren’t they? Yes : bears, seals, d*gs and weasels are a grouping.)
…a group of ursids, pinnipeds, canids, and mustelids…