Storm Art

[foraloysius]

Lovely pictures of those dark skies. I was in that storm after the convention too. Quite an adventure, we don't have such heavy storms overhere. Robert appeared to be quite an expert on storms, which made it even more interesting to witness it.

Jim, thanks for sharing those pictures. Although those storms are quite interesting, they can cause quite a drama.

 

[jmm63]

This part of NJ is known for its majestic trees and sadly so many of them are lost. Some of the streets looked literally like the trees blew up. AND to add insult to injury, a house 2 streets over that saw the power lines come down in its front yard with the storm on Tuesday, was hit by lighnting last night and almost burned to the ground. Its a total loss, but the people were safe. Our local fire department thought the fire was out and left the scene, only to come back to find the house engulfed in flames. Freaky things are happening here.. hopefully its done for now.

 

[agiflow]

I agree wholeheartedly Jim...we have been seeing what seems to be more violent than usual T'storms this summer. The storms here in Iselin Friday and Saturday were intense....frequent cloud to ground lightning and 70 mph windgusts...a little unnerving to say the least. Though i have not seen to much damage..thank goodness.

 

[JerseyMike]

I agree wholehartedly. We've been having freaky weather lately. A school in Newark was extensively damaged by fire after getting struck by lightning last night. Even worse, four kids in Bergen County were also struck by lightning. Sadly, two of them were killed. (See link below) ENOUGH ALREADY. This is getting scary.

http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkzJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk2OTY1NzEwJnlyaXJ5N2Y3MTdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5Mg==

 

[lavamat_jon]

To all you guys in NJ...

that is pretty tragic stuff that's happening there! It goes to show that, as beautiful as mother nature can be when thunderstorms are around you can never underestimate her power. A house down the road us was struck by lightning on the TV aerial yesterday in the same storm I photographed, although thankfully the only damage done was a fried TV - however a few weeks ago here in the UK in a severe thunderstorm a whole row of terraced housing in Kent was ravaged by fire from one lightning bolt. Good luck to everybody in the affected regions, and wishing that no more damage is done - and you guys take care.

Jon

 

[JerseyMike]

Thanks, Jon.

Here's a link to some pics of the school that caught fire.

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/photos/gallery.ssf?cgi-bin/view_gallery.cgi/njo/view_gallery.ata?g_id=7346

 

[agiflow]

Thanks Jon for the kind words. I have resect for thunderstorms with a sense of fear also. I can only imagine what it must be like in the mid-west and "tornado alley". Thank goodness we do not see much in the way of Tornadic storms here...though they also seem to be on the increase..scary.

 

[compwhiz128]

Wow, that looks like Highline! (my school)

 

[Unimatic1140]

YAY for the Weather

These storm pictures are great; it is unfortunate about the damage to some of the beautiful trees though. I love watching the seasons the change and summertime is great for storms. I've always been a fascinated by the weather and I would never be happy living in a place without dramatic seasonal changes. Normally we get fierce thunderstorms here in Minnesota in the spring and summer, but this year so far we've seen very few as we are having an unusually dry summer. With the exception of a couple of days, it’s one of the least humid summers I can remember in a long time. Unfortunately the grass is not as lush and green as it should be in mid summer because we could really use some rain. Bring on the storms.

 

[bajaespuma]

Hey Britons!

I've heard that there are actually a lot more tornadoes in the UK than anyone in the US had been aware of. Is this true?

 

[gansky1]

We've been lucky this year for tornadic and frequency of severe storms, it's been fairly quiet. I agree, these scary storms are increasing in intensity and frequency - global warming experts are saying that it will likely get worse in the next ten years and may be at a point of no return if drastic measures aren't taken to cut greenhouse gas emissions soon. Other scientists fear that we may have already passed the tipping point and it's too late to curb major climate shifts.

A hybrid car is looking better and better all the time but the average American uses approximately 20 pounds of coal per day to generate energy... We have a long way to go!

 

[brisnat81]

its amazing how things shift

Great pics everyone, those clouds are amazing.

Queensland has never been affected by Tornados, however we used to get hit with huge thunderstorms and cyclones all through each summer.

Other than one damaging cyclone in January, which was the first in about 10 years, it is incredibley rare to get thunderstorms anymore. As the rain has stopped so have the storms. At best we now manage dry storms with lots of thunder and lightning, but no rain. Unusually these now occur in winter, rather than in summer.

Its a bit scary to see that when our weather patterns finally swing back around again, the ferocity of the storms we can expect. There has been lots of dicussion just prior to last summer about how after 15 odd years since the last bad cyclone hit the coast how complacent people have become, and how now so many people have no idea how to prepare for a cyclone or severe storm anymore.