A 40,000-Foot Storm From 70 Miles Away

In an otherwise clear blue sky Saturday night, I spotted a storm from my back porch here in State College, PA, far in the distance.

Since identification from radar and satellite would be easy, I took a look and found the storm (according to Google Earth) about 70 miles to my southeast, near York, PA.

It's amazing that the storm could be seen that far away, but the echo tops product indicated rain heights (cloud heights would be higher) to over 40,000 feet!

Here's a closeup:

This kind of thing happens in the Plains routinely, of course, but seeing it here in Pennsylvania is unusual. Just another reason I say "The Weather Is Always Interesting!"