Summer memories
Monday, May 21, 2007
When I first came to Illinois at the somewhat tender age of 17, I remember Dad driving the two of us towards the lake on Touhy Avenue in a raging thunderstorm. What I didn't know at the time was that we were not all that far from Ohare and that might have explained the continuous sound of airliners overhead. Those sounds combined with the ongoing thunderstorm and low visibility made for a memorable introduction to Midwest weather.
Growing up, we could most of the time see the weather coming. The mountains were about 50 miles to the west of us, and weather would usually come from that direction. Often, you would have a clear hour or so to get inside if something really nasty was on the way.
Once I got to Illinois, I could not quite get a handle on the weather. Still don't, after many decades. Part of it I am sure is that the horizon is much closer, if you can even identify it. The other part is that the clouds seem lower, somehow. The strongest difference is that the clouds here in Illinois are much less distinct. In Montana, they seem to be crisp and well-defined.
While Montana has its share of seriously violent weather, Illinois has a much bigger share of tornados. I haven't seen one here, but have seen some seriously bad skys, where clouds are dark green, low, and swirling.
I do have a photograph of a tornado in Montana, but it is pretty skinny, and broke up shortly after I took the picture.
Sitting out on the tractor during the summer, you could see the dust devils. After watching them for a while, you can begin to see that the bottom part that looks all chaotic and violent is really only the smallest part of the whole thing. Look carefully, and you can see the very smooth tube of faint dust rising far above the plain. Once you learned to spot them, you could watch them marching across the fields, one after the other, in a warm afternoon with clear skies.