Storms of rain, storms of dust

Not a good forecast for today, so little point of moving to the country. A short walk before the predicted heavy rain was in order - I did not get far. Having passed the station and moving into the fields between the track and the S7 extension works, I noticed a heavy plume of rain falling out of dark clouds was pressing ever closer. And as it do so - the wind was picking up, blowing the fine topsoil from the construction site and nearby fields into the air. It was quite something.

To the north and west of me, intense rain was falling, displacing large volumes of air and creating a strong downdraft. My clothing was quickly covered in dust, I could feel it between my teeth, it was in my eyes (despite aviator-shaped glasses), and bizarrely, when I rubbed my hands together, they felt like they'd had talcum powder sprinkled on them. But no rain. 

Below: looking south-east, at the edge of a wheat field where the construction site begins.

Below: the height of the dust storm. Despite nearby deluges, it was still bone-dry here. The air is full of dust, the crops are waving around in the wind (I should have set a longer shutter speed to show that motion as a blur in the foreground). Looking north-east.

Below: the storm moves off to the south east. To the right, an access road leading to the S7 junction at Zamienie, on the horizon, a hill of soil stockpiled for the construction. I continue along the unasphalted and orphaned section of ulica Kórnicka, truncated by the railway line's modernisation at one end and the S7 extension at the other. Without the old pedestrian crossing, there's no access to this bit of ul. Kórnicka from Jeziorki, nor, without its connection to ul. Sikorki, from Zgorzała.

The rain caught up with me after I'd crossed back under the railway line using the culvert, it will continue to rain until midnight. The water level on the ponds is back to a healthy state, though the algae is blooming and the reeds are closing in.

A similar situation occurred yesterday evening; below: looking west from the top end of ul. Trombity, a titanic deluge in the near distance, to the left of that column of intense rain, you can see clouds of dust that the downdraft has kicked up from the S7 site and the fields.

Below: two more shots of the encroaching storm also taken from ul. Trombity.

The clouds roil, the heavens open. I evaded a soaking by waiting a few minutes in the culvert under the tracks; once again, the worst of this rain passed a couple of kilometres to the west of Jeziorki.

Below: after the clouds move on, the sun reappears to shed strong light on the fresh landscape, right through to sunset, which is now just five minutes before its latest of the year (the sun will be setting at 21:01 for a whole week, from 21 to 28 June in Warsaw).

Extreme weather events make for good photography!
 

This time last year:
Michalczew, Gośniewice and Warka

This time four years ago:
Jeziorki birdlife update

This time six years ago:
Inside Okęcie airport's new old terminal

This time ten years ago:
Thirty-One and Sixty-Three (short story about 19th century Polish uprisings)

This time 12 years ago:
Jeziorki to Jeziorki - the big rail loop

This time 13 years ago:
Automotive miscellany

This time 14 years ago:
South Warsaw sunsets