The zigzag white line that seems to be a cross between
a lightning strike and a tornado is almost certainly something
more physically plausible: a manual alteration of the photo.
Or, more euphemistically,
an image artifact, since I can't prove that
the Times's photo editor perpetrated a prank that could have
cost him his job. The picture is evidently
a stock image that was used in a perhaps
hurried attempt to enliven a dull story on grain
prices, so it might have been "hacked" before it
was acquired by the Times.
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Charles Packer
mailbox@cpacker.org