Saw this thunderstorm on the way back from a weekend at our camper up north. You could easily see its explosive growth by just watching it for few seconds. The anvil at the top of the cloud forms when the top of the thunderstorm reaches high enough to get caught in the upper level winds.
On the way back from a family reunion in Wisconsin, I spotted this funnel cloud on Highway 64 just a few miles shy of Stillwater. Pulled over and started taking pictures. Just fascinating to watch its evolution, in total silence. The main cloud above extended far to the left, with this ‘scorpion’s tail’ dragging behind it. Typical arrangement for tornadoes. Eventually the funnel harmlessly dissolved back into the mother cloud.
Coming back into the Twin Cities, all hell broke loose as there were several tornadoes in the area. Got caught in an incredible pull to the side of the road downpour. Truck sure was nice and clean afterward. Night time photos with lightning of the cell that produced the tornadoes I took once I got back into town will be up next week.
For other skywatch photos go here 
Rarely have I seen such a dense rain pattern on a lake, not to mention a fisherman on shore next to it. There was a fair amount of lightning in the area too. Guess we all take our chances, including the photographer.
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This is the engine room from which the engineers operated Locomotive 227. In the center you can see the coal shut leading underneath the boiler.
Locomotive 227 is located at the Lake Superior Railroad Museum. Weighing in over 1 million pounds and capable of pulling a load of 36 million pounds, it has two separate ‘engines’, i.e. sets of powered wheels. Because of the locomotive’s length, the wheel sets are articulated, meaning they can ‘turn’ underneath the main body of the locomotive. This was necessary so the locomotive could handle the curves in the railroad tracks.
Looking at all the controls in the cab, one could almost imagine that the train engineers running this machine could probably have a go at running the space shuttle, aero issues excepted.
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