Twin City Photos

I was visiting my parents in Maple Grove when the tornado started it’s path through Minneapolis. When I left them I took Highway 10 heading east. As I got close to the river, leaves and branches started falling out of the sky. Turned on the radio and heard the tornado was basically following 35W towards Forrest Lake. Always up for an adventure I headed up to Forrest Lake, and actually got ahead of the tornado, having driven through some torrential downpours. Near Forrest Lake I pulled off 35W and parked myself on a county road. The cell that had produced the tornado moved in, but this point the tornado was starting to fizzle out, and it actually got quite calm. I did get this shot of the leftovers.

I’ve joined the #teamphotoblog challenge lead by Sopheava of posting a photo a (week)day till the end of the year. Anyone that visits my blog knows just how I’ve slacked off over the last year or so. Even though I have thousands of photos stashed away, being my own harshest critic, I keep them stashed, collecting dust. So lets dust off some of those hard drives.

Last weekend at the peak of the a snowstorm I went out on a shoot with Mitchster. We had several spots in mind but in the end what turned out to be the only good spot was the downtown Minneapolis area. It was quite an ordeal dealing with the cold wind and blowing snow, but it was worth it.

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.

Here are the photos of the storm leaving the region, moving into Wisconsin. The sky directly overhead was clear and starry, and the storm was far enough away you couldn’t even hear any thunder. Sometimes there was some much lightning portions of the thunderhead looked like giant lightbulbs.

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