A meteorologist who asked to remain anonymous writes:
This tattoo is of a cumulonimbus (thunderstorm) cloud with bolts of lightning. My childhood fascination with weather led to a career in it. Storms are embedded in my psyche & soul, and during a stormy time in my life I decided to embed a storm in my skin. I sketched a cumulonimbus cloud for the tattoo artist, and he and the other people in the parlor said something along the lines of, “Dude, we can make that tubular!” and this is how it turned out. It retained meteorological accuracy via the bit of an “anvil” in the upper right and is comparable in structure to the storm in this photo , but without any color. That’s fitting since it represents personal storms as well as atmospheric ones, but perhaps someday I’ll get another tattoo that’s not so dark, to represent brighter days.
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(With apologies to Mr. Zimmerman )
Originally published March 22, 2009. Copyright 2009 Carl Zimmer.