Weather Flashback

Summary

Having spent most of my childhood in the Midwest, scenes like this were somewhat common in summer and a major interest of mine. In the 1990s, intercepting streams of well-calibrated, real-time weather data were challenging. For most of the decade, the nearest internet connection required me going to a library (which was not close) or relying on infrequent radio or television updates for weather information. Eventually, by the late 90s, I purchased a WebTV and dial-up internet; with money I had saved from working at a greenhouse (several years before I was able to drive a vehicle.) This device greatly improved my ability to monitor forecast discussions, radar, satellite, and surface and upper-air charts. However, for most of my childhood, determining cloud type and what that cloud type might mean in terms of thunderstorm activity, for example, involved some rather unconventional techniques.

Back then, I relied a lot on the National Audubon Society's Field Guide to Weather by David Ludlum. This book contained numerous color plates of cloud types as well as descriptive figures and text; allowing me to relate what I was seeing in the field to what was in the book. I also used my scanner to listen in for occasional aircraft "ride reports" and "deviations for weather" as well as severe weather reports by Skywarn storm spotters. Relating to thunderstorm activity specifically, another "trick" I learned early on was to listen for interference caused by lightning on my AM radio. I would occasionally chart this interference on paper by indicating the time and amplitude of loudness of "glitches" as a way to gauge storm intensity and proximity; not realizing that I was creating a time-series.  By combining these data, I was often able to piece together storm position, intensity and morphology.  

With no cell service, this scene near Oakville Prairie in North Dakota took me back! Are those clouds associated with thunderstorm activity? If so, where are the storms precipitating? How intense are the storms? What do I mean by "intense?" What about their respective morphologies?