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The smoke made it to 40N. today. Chalky white skies all day. At sunset you could see the smoke better looking at the horizon and through the most atmosphere hence more smoke. The nearest clouds in this direction was the Iowa/Nebraska border and you can not see them from this location. This is all smoke.

Hot, dry and windy conditions before significant green out that far north and all you need is a spark or two and it is Katty-bar-the door.

Ummmmmmm, no.

Your air quality via AirNow.gov. Forecast Discussion: Mon, May 15, 2023: An Air Quality Alert for fine particles due to wildfire smoke is in effect beginning tomorrow, Tuesday, at 4 A.M. through tomorrow at 4 p.m. for northern Minnesota. Fire activity has ramped up in the past week across western Canada. A band of smoke has been moving east across Canada for the past several days. A cold front will dive south tonight and pull this smoke towards Minnesota. Sinking air behind the front is expected to bring this smoke to the surface, creating poor air quality conditions.

The sound of boats on the lakes probably drown out the sound of the green starting to grow.

Wow! Shingles on the roof and asphalt on the driveway. Who Knew?!?!

Up and down night here also. At some point there was some larger-than-quarter hail. Sounded like hell on the aluminum back porch cover. Tore the sheet-rock out of the trees here. 1.72 in the tippy bucket so far.

Looks like the last image is from 0055Z. Nothing since then. Must be trying to rectify it.

Interesting.

Plenty of clouds for the sunset of 4-23. Wide-angle. Taken with the 24-70mm at 33mm... Closer-up. Taken with the 24-70mm at 70mm (cropped in camera)...

4-19 looked similar to 4-18 looking to the west. Taken with the 24-70mm at 35mm... What little color there as post sunset looking northwest. Taken with the 24-70mm at 57mm...

4-18. Taken with the 24-70mm at 35mm... Taken with the 24-70mm at 70mm (cropped in camera)...

4-15 Looking east pre-sunset. Taken with the 24-70mm at 24mm... Looking west pre-sunset. Taken with the 24-70mm at 24mm...

Three day rain total of 1.38" in my tippy bucket. Matches up well with the radar estimates out of KIND. Maybe even more tonight.

And now to the southern portion of the Midwest. At about 1620Z a tiny, tiny cell went over my house. If you look at the radar it really looks like nothing. Therefore when I heard some hail hitting the window. I figured it would last only a moment then stop. But it kept going. So, I finally got up and went to the back door and looked out. It was really going to town. Only pea-sized just it just wasn't quitting. So I broke down and grabbed the camera and stuck it out the back door.

Only, two weeks behind now. This is from 4-14. I do remember racing after dinner trying to get to this sunset. I probably should have just gone to the municipal lot, which is a lot closer, but I drove all the way out to the firehouse and literally had to plop the camera down beside the car in the parking lot to get this single image. So please excuse if the horizon is a little unlevel and any other imperfections. Taken with the 24-70mm at 44mm (cropped in camera)...

36" more for weatherbo? I am sure he would enjoy it but his chickens, not so much.

Been knee deep in bloom pics so I have gotten ay, way behind in my cloud pics. Going to add another day here. This was from 4-13. Some nice color. Started off ho-hum after the sunset. Taken with the 24-70mm at 70mm... The red as it was creeping into the skies looking south. Taken with the 24-70mm at 24mm... A close-up of the stuff at the bottom of the previous image, but just a tad later hence more red. Taken with the 24-70mm at 50mm... And the finishing color on the horizon west. Taken with the 24-70mm at 70mm... Cheers!

And yet you managed to post here. #CarringtonEventCancel

Some interesting fun a couple of hours ago here. Crews and services investigate loud boom near Hamilton County | wthr.com I had just walked back from dinner downtown and was walking to the car to put it in the garage. I heard the rolling boom and thought thunder or there as a big train wreck. It was 100% overcast here so I did not see any flash. Came in the house and turned on the puter and when the radar came up I saw nothing even close to me that could have made any thunder. A real head-scratcher. Turned on the radio scanner and here the town east of here inspecting a large natural gas line in the country but not finding anything. Just before I hit the shower I heard the dispatcher mention either the NWS or EMS thought it might have been a meteor. Too bad it was overcast and I as not out taking sunset pics. Might not have got it even if I could see it. Post sunset I am usually focused to the west and if it was east of me I probably would not have been able to get swung around in time.

You actually have a driveway and not an iceway! P.S. KIND made it up to 84 today.

Looks like KORD will be warmer than KIND this morning. The Lake is your friend.

Looks like the precipitation is exiting the area. I had hoped for between a half and an inch of rain but the tippy bucket says 0.42" in the backyard. Close.

Even some white flakes mixed in with the drizzle and brief showers this far south.

4-10 was another seven hours of looking up. The early afternoon cirrus and a partial 22 degree halo around the Sun. Taken with the 24-70mm at 24mm... Sometimes there is a contrail problem here in the Midwest. Taken with the 24-70mm at 38mm... The orange entering the area. Looking south. Taken with the 24-70mm at 35mm... The red entering the area. Taken with the 24-70mm at 24mm... The late red exiting the area to the west. Taken with the 24-70mm at 45mm... Cheers!