Crazy Minnesota weather

t3sk3y

Hey all..

I know this is actually *skyscape* rather than landscape, but since there isn't a weather forum, this is probably the next best thing..

We've had some really crazy weather in the midwest over the past couple of weeks. I was lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time with my camera for some of it.

The first two shots were taken in Albert Lea, MN on Saturday, June 7th. They are of some rare Cumulo Mammatus clouds right at sunset. I was just leaving my brother's wedding and noticed that a really strange orange glow was coming from outside the church. I ran outside with my camera and saw the most spectacular cloud formations I've ever seen. These usually accompany very severe weather - and there were tornadoes only 10 miles away earlier that afternoon.



The view overhead:


This next picture was taken on Saturday, May 31st just south of Montgomery, MN. Again, many hailstorms and tornadoes in the area. With the setting sun in the frame, HDR was really my only salvation. I like how it turned out!



I had about 30 seconds to get the shot before the huge raindrops moved in. On a scary side note with a happy ending - as I dashed to the car to get out of the rain, my 40D with the Canon 10-22 tumbled off my tripod because I hit the quick release. Fortunately, it fell on the CF card door in gravel so nothing was hurt but my pride.

Enjoy!
-Mark.
__________________
Visit the Defenestrator at: http://www.t3sk3y.com
My SmugMug galleries: http://teskey.smugmug.com

aktse

Thanks for posting! I have never seen anything like this before!

Dogdots

Oh my....I call those cotton ball clouds but they are scary since you know there is a lot of turbulance in those buggers with a storm very close.

Very nice capture of them

cmorganphotography

Hope you guys are staying safe! The rivers are attacking the streets here in Des Moines! Very nice pic of the farm. Reminds me of home. I like all the lines drawing your eyes to the small strip of yellow light lower middle. Very crazy clouds, indeed!

gus

They are seriously great weather photos ! We get those formations here quite often in summer.

shniks

t3sk3y wrote:

Hey all..

I know this is actually *skyscape* rather than landscape, but since there isn't a weather forum, this is probably the next best thing..

These are great Mark- I have never seen anything like this before. Still can't believe it is real. Thanks for sharing.


Cheers,

Tee Why

That's some funky sky.

Eia

Extra ordinary!!! I like that drama in color and cloud.

_____________________________________________________

t3sk3y wrote:

Hey all..

I know this is actually *skyscape* rather than landscape, but since there isn't a weather forum, this is probably the next best thing..

We've had some really crazy weather in the midwest over the past couple of weeks. I was lucky enough to be at the right place at the right time with my camera for some of it.

The first two shots were taken in Albert Lea, MN on Saturday, June 7th. They are of some rare Cumulo Mammatus clouds right at sunset. I was just leaving my brother's wedding and noticed that a really strange orange glow was coming from outside the church. I ran outside with my camera and saw the most spectacular cloud formations I've ever seen. These usually accompany very severe weather - and there were tornadoes only 10 miles away earlier that afternoon.



The view overhead:


This next picture was taken on Saturday, May 31st just south of Montgomery, MN. Again, many hailstorms and tornadoes in the area. With the setting sun in the frame, HDR was really my only salvation. I like how it turned out!



I had about 30 seconds to get the shot before the huge raindrops moved in. On a scary side note with a happy ending - as I dashed to the car to get out of the rain, my 40D with the Canon 10-22 tumbled off my tripod because I hit the quick release. Fortunately, it fell on the CF card door in gravel so nothing was hurt but my pride.

Enjoy!
-Mark.
__________________
Visit the Defenestrator at: http://www.t3sk3y.com
My SmugMug galleries: http://teskey.smugmug.com

schmoo

WOW! Fantastic formations and great captures! Nature did her job but you did yours as well. Thanks for sharing some really unique views.

jopapeca

Greattttt shots... thumb.

coscorrosa

Wow!:jawdrop

Those clouds are unreal! I've never seen any clouds that looked like that before, you did a great job capturing them too.

I've had a camera fall off of a tripod before too (the lens broke the fall, and the fall broke the lens) :cry Pride comes cheap, camera lenses, not so much!

t3sk3y

Thanks a lot, all...

It was a very lucky catch - It's been years since the last time I've seen Mammatus clouds, and it was double lucky that I had my camera with me.

A friend of mine that's a fine art landscape photographer told me that he has friends that do weather photography full-time that spend entire spring/summers driving around them Midwest without seeing any.

-Mark.