All photos taken on May 8, 2024.
Our road trip is well underway and we are now travelling in the United States. We left Medicine Hat, Alberta, early this morning during a rather intense rain storm.

During the night prior to our departure, the wind was howling and the rain was furiously pounding down.

I checked aviation weather several times and saw that there was a huge trough of seriously bad weather stretching all the way from northern Alberta across most of Saskatchewan and into North Dakota. That’s an enormous area.

This system is expected to last for two days and drop a lot of moisture on an area that has been extremely dry over the last year, so while it wasn’t bringing the best driving conditions, it was at least bringing much needed water.

The clouds were huge and only about 150 metres (500 ft) above the ground. Comprised of dense, multiple layers, they were not to be ignored.

After many hours of these conditions, we finally saw some cloud breaks as we neared Minnesota.

It was a difficult drive with the high crosswind continuously pushing the vehicle and the rain beating the windshield to the point of occasionally obscured visibility, so we were very happy to stop for the day! I hope tomorrow’s weather is better.
Cheers from the North Dakota/Minnesota boundary.
Let’s hope the weather improves for your road trip, Lynette. No one wants to travel in bad weather. Enjoy what you can of the rest of it.
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Thank you very much, Stuart. It’s much better today and are headed where the weather is much improved!
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Safe travels Lynette! There are some serious storms across the midwestern states.
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Thanks, Tricia. 😊
This one was gigantic! A lot of is actually still in place this morning as it’s quite slow moving, but we’re on the other side of it now and heading toward Detroit today. Cheers.
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Looks like the view through my windscreen on Monday. I hate driving in heavy rain, the roads are flooded and the cars and lorries kick up so much spray you can’t see a thing!
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Agreed. This was nasty as we had a gusting 80 km crosswind at about 90° and the trucks travelling at 120 km in the opposite direction were causing serious spray and additional vehicle-generated gusts. I hate driving in it, too!
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Stay dry!
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Thanks, Neil!
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Great shots from the road Lynette. Glad you made it through. The SE was supposed to get up to 70 mm rain by the time it ended. Great for this parched area. Happy travels. Allan
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Thank you very much, Allan. We’re on the other side of it now and headed for Detroit today. Yes, the SE has been very dry with unusually high temperatures, even for there. This was excellent for them.
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We’ve been having similar huge downpours down here in the southern states! Makes driving….err…..interesting!
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Agreed; the driving has definitely been interesting, especially with those 80 km gusts! Stay safe.
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Have a safe trip, Lynette.
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Thank you very much, Sue. 😊
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I grew up in Manitoba and loved to watch the storms roll across the prairie. But, not driving in them. Stay safe. Maggie
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Thank you very much, Maggie.
Agreed; I like watching them but not driving in them (or have to walk in them).
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I love the photo of the dark clouds with the sun breaking through making the fields golden.
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Thank you very much, Anneli. I like that one too. I tried to get a couple more but wasn’t able.
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Looking Northwest from Chicago and waving. Safe travels.
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Thank you very much, Lori! Waving back tomorrow. We’re stopping in Madison for the night.
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Madison, Wisconsin? My dad lives only 30 minutes south of there. And I’m 70 minutes south of my dad. We’re so close!
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Oh Lori! That’s a bit heartbreaking! So sorry. I would love to meet you and would make room to do so if we weren’t on a schedule to meet one of our kids tomorrow. There will be a next time though. 💛
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Let me know when ‘next time’ comes around. We’ll plan it!
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For sure! Will be fun! 😊
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Oh, and enjoy your visit with ‘the kid.’ 🙂
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Thanks so much! We’re looking forward to seeing him.
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Safe travels!!
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Thank you very much. 😊
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Driving in heavy rain is tough – glad you made it through this leg of your trip!
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Thank you very much, Barbara. It was tiring but we were able to spread the driving between the two of us, so it wasn’t too bad.
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That’s good.
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Have a safe journey 😊
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Thank you very much, Aana. 😊
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Great skies to look at photos of but testing driving conditions. Moisture is badly needed, though.
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Yes, the skies were very dramatic but the driving was tiring, for sure. We were happy to see that there was lots of rain. It would have been better if it had been slower, but at least there was some!
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nice to have rain
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Yes, it sure is.
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Safe travels. Thank you for the amazing pics.
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Thank you very much. 😊 You’re very welcome.
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Hopefully the weather improves!
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We drove through and away from it and in much better weather now! 😊
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Nice captures of the moody skies. I’m sure it wasn’t fun weather to drive in. Hopefully that was the worst of it on your road trip.
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Thank you very much, Linda. By the time we reached Wisconsin we had left it behind. It was quite intense at times, though, and did make the driving tiring. I was happy to get past it.
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