Jacksonville, Illinois Storm Clouds Friday Evening

This is the third photo taken and is a funnel cloud approaching. Luckily, it did not turn into a tornado. It was eerily quiet and not raining or thundering and lightning yet. Look at the pair of oblivious birds on the electrical wire near the top of the photo! The timestamp on this photo was 4:36 p.m. (Click any of these photos for a larger view).

Notice in the next picture, just minutes apart and it is a lot darker. Then I went back in!

These photos were taken facing northwest from my home located just west of Jacksonville. After my last post announcing that I was unplugging the computer, I gathered up a flashlight and other things to take down in the basement, since we were under a tornado warning.

My satellite tv had not gone out yet and I had the local news on, so I could see that I had about fifteen minutes before a tornado that was spotted west of Jacksonville would arrive very close by my house. I know, I know, it is foolish to go out and take pictures with a storm approaching, so shut it! (LOL, I picked that line up from Re-Re).

Anyway, I only took four photos and came back in the house pretty fast. I was ready to go to the basement, but only if absolutely necessary. Luckily, I did not have to take cover in the basement. I avoid the basement at all costs. It is not a "finished" basement. It is dark and damp and is a haven for spiders. I gave up on a dehumidifier a long time ago. I couldn't empty it fast enough! The storm has finally let up now, but it is still very windy.

Jacksonville, Illinois Storm Clouds Approaching

After my last post, I went outside my home and took four photos of the clouds. I had to put them in two different posts, because thick clouds made it almost impossible to upload the pics via my satellite internet connection (HughesNet).

These are the first two photos. I believe they are called storm "wall" clouds.

This photo above is facing south west and the line of clouds seems to be parallel with the new Interstate Highway 67. On the right edge you can see the green exit sign near my house.

In the above photo I panned more towards the north west. The line of clouds still appear to be passing over the new Interstate Highway 67. The exit sign off in the distance on the left is the same one in the previous picture.

When a wall of clouds form like this, a tornado could suddenly drop down at any moment. At this point the weather gets very unpredictable. Sudden downpours could also occur, very strong wind gusts or hail and thunder and lightning. These clouds were moving about 45 mph with heavy rotation.

It had been near 80 degrees today. But when the cold front moved in and hit that warm air, the tornado watch, then tornado warning got issued.