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 
I set out to get some storm photos, but had to settle for some leftover clouds over downtown St. Paul.
