July 20, 2010

Spoke too Soon!

Just when I was saying that we’d not had any tornado warnings, along came two today! Big storms rolling though, trying to push out the 100% humidity and 95F weather. If they hit, they were south of here, by a little bit… along with the 70+ mph winds that blew through the other night! EEK!

We had really strange clouds last night, too. The light reflecting off of this cloud was so strong that it actually cast shadows. Apparently, this was the back end of a storm hitting 50 miles away. The top of this cloud was at 50,000 feet, which is massive. Roylance ThunderstormYes, I am a weather geek. I took a class in college called “Wind & Weather for the Serious Yachtsman”, and it was actually a tough meteorology class. If you’re racing off-shore, you need to be able to read the clouds and the sky to see what’s coming.  Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in morning, sailor take warning. P1010085 When I lived in the UK, I was fascinated with the cloud formations there, as they were so different in that island nation, than they were here on the US Atlantic coast. Even though it was very cloudy, the sun always seemed to be shining. 

When I would drive to work, along the coastline, I would see rainbows dancing in the sky as it rained on one side of me and the sun shone on the other. st. donats cliffs at high tide The clouds were often dramatic with dark bottoms, looking threatening and somber. This was my last day at the castle and the sky matched my mood perfectly. Dark and stormy. st. donats 8 Do you pay attention to the sky and the clouds?

16 comments:

  1. Boy, your weather is wild these days!

    Funny thing I was taking pics of clouds last evening at dusk we get some wonderful ones here in the Tropics.

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  2. Yes, all the time. Everything about the weather system is truly awesome, (and I rarely use that word because it is so overused that it's become meaningless in today's parlance). You would have been in good company in UK, where commenting on the weather is a national past time; for very good reason - it is so very changeable - you can have the whole gamut in one day, which makes dressing for it a challenge, to say the least. As my mother taught me - use the "layering" technique, and like a good Boy Scout - Be Prepared.

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  3. The tornado warning reminded me of your post!

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  4. I was up at 5:55 this morning and the sky was red as red could be. I chanted the sailors take warning yo myself as I stumbled off to make espresso.

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  5. love the clouds - have watched the pink sky at morn and night for years and remembered the rhyme each time- miss is loves the clouds too - a favorite summer activity - lying on back, in cool green grass, looking at clouds, and seeing things. gave miss is a writing prompt one summer: look at clouds and write about what you see...more sticky, hot weather today

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  6. Kerry... It's St. Donat's Castle in Wales. It's an international school now and I worked there.

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  7. I do. The different skies remind me of the various places where I have lived and I welcome those moments of being transported to different places, friendships and lives. I love the last photo-the beautiful spring green of rebirth contrasted with the foreboding grayness of sky and castle. Thanks for pushing me to remember.

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  8. Are you kidding?! I am obsessed with Foot's Forecast (and have caused others to be likewise, with one guy telling me his wife was going to divorce him and then kill me because I'd introduced him to it!).

    There's a really gorgeous book by Richard Hamblyn called The Invention of Clouds. I interviewed him about it when it came out, about 10 years ago. Fascinating. And there's even a Sky society, where you can actually buy shares of the sky (to foster appreciation and protection of the atmosphere).

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  9. Yes, I do and always did.

    My current dh is retired from the NatWeatherService and he will tell me much much more than I want to know. ;)

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  10. Yes, I am a "weather geek" and I'm so thrilled to see others are too!
    My husband is in agriculture, and I suppose He picked the habit up from the farmers he was around and passed it along to me.
    I'm so glad, too, because it's one of those fascinating little things in life that so many people don't bother to notice.

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  11. I am a weather junkie! I grew up in western New York. The lakes are so big that they generate their own weather systems so we got "lake effect" storms winter and summer. The best clouds I've ever seen are in Minnesota--spectacular thunderstorms.

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  12. Yeah, yeah, clouds, weather, blah, blah, blah......what I want to know was what was it like to stay in that castle!!!

    Breathtaking! (lol)

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  13. I love clouds also and frequently stop what I'm doing to photograph them. I took a meteorology course in college and was totally fascinated. I think it made me look at the world around me more closely. The cloud in your first picture is amazing!

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  14. Yes, I do and bytheway I like your blog, keep it up :) stock photos | royalty-free images | stock images

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  15. i always watch the sky, there is something all powerful about severe weather. it puts it all into perspective making me feel like a small spec on this earth.

    besides, we have to check the forecast it always determines the correct attire!

    very much enjoy hearing your thoughts, keep on bloggin...

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