Friday, June 12, 2009

A Scary Sky for Skywatch Friday



This storm came in a week or so ago. I got the dogs and cats safely inside and made sure that my tornado closet was ready, then went out to take some photos and to listen for the tornado siren (just in case!).

At the same time, Beez was driving home from work and spotted what he thought looked like a funnel cloud. Unfortunately, he didn't get a picture of it, but it was confirmed later that evening that such a cloud had formed, but nothing had come of it.


However, when I read the newspaper the next morning, there was a story about some localized weather action in Tucumcari, about 80 miles away. The article reported that 3 people on the street saw a funnel cloud, were enveloped by a strong wind, and heard a sound like a train. They rolled under a nearby pickup truck for shelter. Others in the area reported watching three dumpsters being picked up by the wind and carried at a height of a telephone pole to some distance away before they crashed to the ground.

And my storm? The clouds got more and more fierce looking--and then they just drifted away to the east, taking their threats (and promises of rain) elsewhere.

Be sure to click on the Skywatch Friday button on the side of this blog to view this week's photos of amazing skies all over the world.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ominous, but Awesome clouds! Great shots

D said...

Those clouds are scary and beautiful. But is there anything more frustrating than clouds without rain? All that huffing and puffing for nothing. I'm glad you didn't have a tornado though.
Very nice Skywatch!

nature ramblings said...

Those are the best cloud pictures I have seen. They really are scary looking!! Wonderful photos!! Sure glad no tornados touched down where you were! Thanks for sharing!

Lynn said...

Those do look scary. I love to take pictures of clouds but I have to confess, when the skies start looking like that I usually run inside.

Eric said...

WOW,what a beautifull dramatic skies here!!! good SWF entry!!!

Have a nice SWF

Anonymous said...

As dangerous as these storms are, they are still the most beautiful sight to behold...Great photos! Have a great weekend :)

Jean (aka Auntie Bucksnort) said...

Wow, who knew there was such drama taking place in our little cowtown?

Beautiful photos, Princess Bluebird. They look like really cool special effects of a freaky-scary alien attack rolling in from The Red Planet! Make room in your tornado closet for the women and children and dogs and cats and Redsox Schedule and Sock Monkey and Mother's Cedar Chest and my Suzuki! It's paid for! We all know how those gigantic Martian Warriors are attracted to bright reddish colors... They'd probably steal it and use it as a flashy battlefield fannypack.

Anonymous said...

Great shots! Now, that is aSkywatch photo.

I didn't know NM had tornados.

Barb said...

Those clouds would have made me run for the tornado shelter! We had several scares near Denver, too - just stormy in the Mts where I live. Your captures are awesome.

Margie's Musings said...

Great photos!

Quiet Paths said...

Yikes, yikes. And doubly so because those mammatus clouds are of the tornado variety -looking very serious. Great photos.

Judy said...

That first picture is awesome. Those clouds would have scared me to death. It is starting to storm here now as I type this. We had nothing but storms and rain for a week here! Great photos.

Nan said...

Does it make you miss the east? :<)