ALL FLIGHTS CANCELED

This is just behind the view in yesterday’s picture. The river is high for this time of year. A heliport on a barge sits in the Mississippi. You can take a sightseeing flight around the Arch and the city. The helicopter must have fled to safety before the big storms blew through, which you can now see moving out. No more flights today.                        

SPRING IN THE MIDWEST

I intended to go to shoot some of our 314 Day events yesterday. Nature intervened. We've had a mild winter and very early spring. Here in the Midwest that means it's time for violent thunderstorms and some tornadoes. When I was getting ready to leave in the afternoon my phone began to blare severe weather warnings and the radar looked ominous. A blast drove through soon thereafter, ripping off a large part of the tree in the foreground onto our front steps, seconds before Mrs. C was about to walk in the door. This was followed by a strange orange sunset over our street.            

BETWEEN THE STORMS

Thunderstorms passed through the area off and on all weekend while the Michigan division of our family was here to visit. One evening Mrs. C and I watched the kids while our son and his wife went to dinner with an old friend. Another line of storms blew across, leaving this view from their Air BnB apartment when the sun returned.         

Prairie Storm

Looking north from the parking lot of our motel in Marysville, Kansas.  This can be a land of violent thunderstorms. The town lost power for about three hours Friday night and Saturday morning.      

When It Rains

Go out and shoot it. It's pouring off and on all weekend here but I need material. If the rain gets too hard you can take pictures from the safety of your car. This photo was taken on the Mississippi riverfront under the Arch. The heavens opened a moment later.

If you look closely you can see that this is a color picture. No desaturation used.            

Ninty Degrees To The Right

And a few minutes earlier than the shot in yesterday's post. The drama of the storm front over the Mississippi, Eads Bridge and East St. Louis. Here in the Midwest that yellow sky sometimes signals a tornado.                 

April Showers

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The tornado warning sirens went on and off all last evening. Welcome to springtime in the Midwest, when masses of cool, dry Canadian air collide with warm, wet flows from the Gulf of Mexico and go boom. No tornadoes in our immediate area, although there were a few to the northwest. I sat out on my front porch and watched the show for a while.

Saturday morning update: reports say that tornadoes touched down in the northwestern suburbs. Several homes were destroyed. A church lost its steeple during Good Friday services. Lambert St. Louis International Airport is closed indefinitely after suffering extensive damage to the main terminal and one of the concourses. See photos on the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's website here.

Are there such things as Anglican dogs? See Downtowm St. Louis 365.