Supercell

Those who live in the Midwest and Central U.S. often are fascinated by the supercells that accompany tornadoes. The images above come from a set of a couple dozen documenting a storm in Nebraska which did not result in tornadic activity, but presented truly awesome views of a supercell.

When I see pictures of supercells like the ones above, I am always reminded of that iconic scene in the movie "Independence Day" in which the alien spacecraft is hovering over the White House and then releases an energy beam which destroys the building.

I have been told (and believe) that when the movie was being shown in theaters, whenever it reached the point where that scene happened, the audiences invariably erupted in applause...