Stormy Weather

It was such an oppressively hot, sultry day yesterday that sweat ran down your body even when you were sitting still doing nothing.  The temperature was upper 90's but it was extremely humid; the heat index was 115 degrees F.  It sure felt like tornado weather, and there was a tornado watch called for all of southeastern Minnesota.

Cooler air finally breezed in that evening and clashed with the steamy air, resulting in a fierce storm.  The sky turned greenish,  then yellow, then  orange,  and finally deep reddish brown with massive dark, churning clouds.  The tree tops whipped sideways in the wind and the windmill whirred frantically. Unfortunately, I had left my camera in the barn and did not want to venture out into a potential tornado to get it, so my photos were taken after the storm had subsided significantly.

At the peak of the storm it was dark as night, but as the  clouds broke up, the sky lightened, with a hint of a sunset peeking through on the western horizon.

Clouds zipped past the windmill.

We lost a few branches, including a huge limb off the big silver maple next to the barn, but it managed to fall without causing damage to roof, fence or livestock. Although it was still raining hard and windy, the cows bounded over to munch on the leaves. They love maple leaves.

This is our week for taking off from the Farmers Market -- happily, we will have time to clean up the fallen tree branches.