Just a few snapshots of Jacob's ladder during a storm (single-cell cumulonimbus capillatus incus) in upstate NY last month. A cold, dry low pressure pocket from the north (being driven by a massive high pressure system behind it) slammed into the wet, hot high pressure ridge stacked up by hurricanes to the south. Here you can see the "intake manifold" drawing in a huge mass of energy as the storm skidded and rolled along off to the east down the Mohawk.

Sparks from the mesocyclone...
[img]http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/2271/sparkr.jpg[/img]

Draining off the flanking line...
[img]http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/9880/halow.jpg[/img]

Silently light up the anvil...
[img]http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/1466/heatlightning.jpg[/img]

I'm glad I didn't get run over by this one, that wall cloud (dangling underneath) was looking pretty squirrely. We get tornadoes up here too, ya just don't hear much about 'em. The big ones make the headlines but an EF1 can still rip ya in half. Fortunately we slapped it off the coast before it could do too much damage. Those darn Canadians, eh?

Hey! Hey! Hey-hey-hey! :D