Photo Album: Thunderstorms 2014

Special Page: September 15 turbulent skies

	Funnel cloud southwest of Scottsville on April 28. Shane Holinde/WBKO
	Funnel cloud near Barren River Lake on April 28. Shane Holinde/WBKO
	Lightning striking the ground near Waco on April 28. Jason Rawlins
	Thanks to Wade Bell for sending us this excellent photo showing a shaft of torrential rain cascading onto central Crawford County on May 12. Sudden downpours like this can generate strong, gusty winds as the rain hits the ground and pushes air outward.
	Here's another great shot from Wade Bell on May 12. That low-hanging cloud in the lower left of the picture looks like a tornado or funnel cloud, doesn't it? In fact, it's simply a harmless, low-hanging cloud. When viewing cloud formations like this, look for any rotation. If it's rotating, keep a very close eye on it. Otherwise, it's probably just an innocuous low cloud. Also note that the feature is partially obscured by trees. In the Great Plains it's often easy to tell if a funnel is reaching all the way to the ground. However, in southern Indiana and central Kentucky there is a great deal of foliage and topography that can make it very difficult to tell if a cloud formation is truly touching the ground or not.
	This rotating storm produced a wall cloud over Bowling Green on June 4. Fortunately no tornado developed. Jason Darnall
	This low hanging cloud formation developed near a heavy downpour in Lexington on June 20. It's pretty scary looking, but fortunately was completely harmless. Davy Buttery via Bill Meck/WLEX
	More low hanging clouds over Lexington on June 20. The technical term for these is "stratus fractus" though most often we simply refer to them as "scud." Davy Buttery via Bill Meck/WLEX
	This sure looks like a tornado, doesn't it! However, this is merely a harmless low cloud, forming in a very moist atmosphere on the edge of a heavy downpour at Clay's Ferry on June 20. Bill Meck/WLEX
	Winds clocked at 55 mph felled this tree in Frankfort on June 20. Sue Ellis via Bill Meck/WLEX
	A downburst felled trees between Lyndon and Graymoor-Devondale in Jefferson County, KY on July 7. Tim Hargis/WAVE
	The above storm knocked a tree onto this unfortunate vehicle near the intersection of Herr and Westport. Mark Powers/WAVE
	Small hail, but lots of it, in Lyndon on October 6. Mark Powers
	This hail fell from a thunderstorm in northern Allen County on October 6. Matt Pedigo/the Citizen-Times