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Photo of the day: Roll cloud over Wisconsin
Tornadoes are everywhere this season, but where there are tornadoes, there are sometimes roll clouds. This shot was taken by me while I rode in the passenger seat through a wicked storm in Western Wisconsin last sumer. As my fiance and I drove closer to the rotating cloud, a sight we'd never before seen, we were a little intimidated. The radio was relaying to us tornado warnings and despite the presence of this ominous cloud, everything seemed eerily calm. As soon as we passed under the roll cloud, however, we were slammed with a torrential downpour of rain and hail. The storm darkened our field of vision tremendously. We found out later that day that this particular storm system had also spawned 3 separate tornadoes--fortunately, we didn't see any of them.
A roll cloud is a type of Arcus Cloud. Roll clouds are low and tube-shaped and, generally speaking, pretty rare.
Filed under: Learning, Photos, Stories, North America, United States
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Bob May 25th 2011 5:53PM
Having lived through several tornadoes in Northern Ohio, they sound like a freight train and leave destruction wherever they go! God help those in the path of the storm.
mark May 25th 2011 7:52PM
thats no joke. im not too far from joplin mo and they just got hit by only the 2nd F5 in the history of mo. its aweful.
Bob May 25th 2011 5:53PM
Dumb !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Al Schrader May 25th 2011 6:51PM
Tornados can vary quite a bit. Some of them are small & not very powerful while others can be fractions of a mile across & have winds powerful enough to lift a pick-up truck 500 feet into the air & throw it like a baseball. If you live in tornado alley, I suggest have a basement or below ground shelter just in case....Alfred-
frankerin May 25th 2011 7:19PM
How very erudite. A roll cloud is an Arcus cloud. Hmmmm. Explains everything. Please stay out of teaching.
TheDarkHorseOne May 25th 2011 8:25PM
I saw one of these in Indy, coming out of St. Vincent's parking lot. In my case, the sky beyond it had that eerie, greenish hue that's I've since learned happens in the presence of hail. Just like the above story, once that leading edge went by, all hell broke loose and it was a doozy. No tornadoes in the area I was driving, but the lightning and wind and rain were something I'll never forget. In retrospect, it was an extremely cool thing to witness, personally. Nothing like an ominous line of rolling cloud stretching from horizon to horizon, coming inexorably closer and closer in near silence.... Creepy.
Grandmakitty4 May 27th 2011 2:00AM
The roll clouds are not only eerie. They can wreck havoc with motorcycles and hogh profile vehicles like campers and VW vans out in the Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska rea - saw one turn a van into a rolling dervish once - no one killed - but the van was a mess. A motorcyclist wouldn't fare as well.
Malcolm May 25th 2011 9:12PM
Mybe someone needs to goggle H.A.A.R.P. Is our military is testing this machine located in Alaska to control the weather and why the UN is interested in it. Is our military trying to control the weather and is this project a WMD? Russia said they have machine like H.A.A.R.P. Why would Mother Nature be causing all these tornadoes, earthquake and storms around the world. We've had a large amount of unusual weather for the last two years.
concerned May 26th 2011 8:57AM
The H.A.A.R.P.wepon in alaska was originally developed by the oil companies as a new way of finding oil deposits in the earth.When they realized that by increasing the voltage on it upwards of a billion watts it could be used to change weather or vibrate tetonic plates in the earth to cause earthquakes the government bought it outrite and has developed it as a W.M.D.
tom May 26th 2011 10:10AM
the fujita scale will have to have an EF-6 addition pretty soon.
SML May 25th 2011 9:29PM
That photo was NOT taken from the passenger seat. Just admit that you were driving and taking the pic at the same time. Why make up a story that is clearly not true?
CJB May 25th 2011 10:58PM
No kidding! It is clearly taken from the drivers side of the car. If it had been taken from the passengers side of the car, you would be on the other side of the lane they are in, and you would see the right side of the hood in front of you, not the left as in the picture. . You are correct. .
Why not just say you took the picture while driving down the road? And not even mention witch side of the car you are taking it from. Unless you know it was wrong to take it while driving.
Guilty! lol
Who are they trying to convince anyway?
Charlene May 26th 2011 12:03AM
Who the heck cares what side of the car it was taken on? The article was supposed to educate us on weather hazards. Obviously she already feels a little guilty about being caught driving at the same time, but ya don't have to point it out.
Thanks for the pic, E.S., but yea, pull over next time and be safe.
SML May 26th 2011 12:08AM
Because, Charlene, veracity in reporting, in ALL aspects of the report, is an absolute requirement. If she lied about where she was in the car, maybe she lied about whether or not she even took this picture.
Plagiarism is not new in reporting.
Grandmakitty4 May 27th 2011 2:04AM
Give him a break, guys Maybe he had a British car.
Flagrante Delicto May 25th 2011 10:45PM
Roll clouds are NOT uncommon in South Florida in the late summer.
marciakingqclp yodog May 26th 2011 12:55AM
Ah, here we go, the server is back up. Unfortunately, there was a system crash at the write server and it has rolled back two hours so my essay has gone.
http://www.folkdirect.com/home/m/sites/view/Nitro-Muscle-Mass-Does-It-Really-Work
KELLI May 26th 2011 1:09AM
The technical name is not a roll cloud. Its a squall line. Normally followed by high winds and torential downpours. And with all the storms that happend in the last few days, this is the photo of the day????? This picture according to the article was taken last year. Nice......
grumpy63528 May 26th 2011 1:08AM
What do they mean rare? I see these types of clouds in my area quite often.
kellit May 26th 2011 1:11AM
also that is not a rotating cloud....just sayin