One special sunset on the New Mexico plains saw a semi-symmetric faceoff between sagebrush pointing up and sparingly spotlit mammatus aiming down, the clouds splashed in rusty to tan-orange hues, as the final rays of sunlight dribbled past spotty clouds in the west. The scene only lasted, at best, half a minute between hardly any color, this on both land and sky, then very muted remnants. 3 NNW … [Read more...]
Summertime at Stephens’ Falls
On a warm, steamy day, Stephens’ Falls in the summer offered cooling and shady respite, along with a photogenic setting deep in a lush, green Wisconsin forest. This cascade tumbles over a resistant ledge of Ordovician St. Peter sandstone, with much greater volume and force during springtime snowmelt. The long likely rolled right off the vegetated drop at upper left during a long-ago flood. 5 N … [Read more...]
Flank of Faith
Where history, reverence, and beautiful sky converge, a moment in time arises like none other. That was true on this last day of my 2026 spring chase season in the old town of Bueyeros (“Ox Drivers” in Spanish), as a multicell storm with a pronounced flanking line built behind the 1894 Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Each substantial tower in the flanking line, from tip to storm, extended a little … [Read more...]
Lighting up Limon
Loudly rousing residents from restful slumber, a nearly hourlong barrage of wickedly bright, close lightning slammed down upon the High Plains town of Limon without mercy nor favor, courtesy of merging thunderstorms. The electrical attacks came in waves without any full intermission. On a few occasions, nearly simultaneous explosions of light and sound sent even hardcore storm observers diving … [Read more...]
Time’s Passage on Johnson Mesa
Johnson Mesa is a remnant of the highest of the High Plains in New Mexico, occupying a tableland 8,600 ft above sea level where lava flowed into and solidified in a former valley of the "Dry" Cimarron River about 8 million years ago. Surrounding softer deposits wore away, leaving the basalt platform as a topographic high, though not as tall as Horseshoe Mesa in the background, along the Colorado … [Read more...]
Sizzling Twilight Supercell
Power-pumping product of mergers with earlier forms of the storm, this twilight supercell churned deviantly down westernmost Oklahoma, blasting deadly electricity in any given direction. Even amid its fierce lightning barrages that sent observers scrambling back into their vehicles, the storm awed all who bore witness to its wondrously swirled form. Another storm with another wall cloud lurked … [Read more...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 419
- Next Page »