[Part 1 of 2] The travertine terraces of Yellowstone's Palette Spring, part of Mammoth Hot Springs, reveal an exquisitely intricate, ever-evolving, fluid sculpture made solid by liquid, and in the process, constructing some of the most fascinating patterns in nature. Calcium carbonate, dissolved in the hot spring water, continually forms a solid at the surface as the water cools and … [Read more...]
Outflow Light, Part 2
[Part 2 of 2] As the shelf cloud and its deep outflow pool surged past my High Plains promontory, unbroken exposure to the cold winds couldn't take away from fuller appreciation of the subtle, yet wondrous, western-sky light being diffused onto the arcus' turbulent underbelly. Soon, this complex would shoot of to the southeast, cast marvelous sunset mammatus across the northern sky, develop a … [Read more...]
Outflow Light, Part 1
[Part 1 of 2] Dark-sky, bright-ground scenes long have enthralled me, and this was no different. A former supercell merged with an outflow-dominant cluster of storms that had formed in the Laramie Range, and the entire blended mass migrated southeastward onto the adjoining High Plains, unleashing a torrent of cold outflow in the process. That normally would be a cue to head to the night's … [Read more...]
Frozen Zinnia
The last flowers of summer didn't finish blooming before an early ice storm finished them off. This one developed icicles more delicate than the flower. Soon, ice and plants both would be gone. Zinnias are native to southwestern North America and parts of Central and South America, including a few Great Plains varieties. They have been cultivated and bred worldwide for their bright variety of … [Read more...]
Electric Ray
No, this isn't electric ray, the fish. Instead it's a literally true, English-language representation of the Spanish word commonly used for a cloud-to-ground lightning stroke: rayo (ray). A single, non-forked lightning discharge—much resembling the stereotypical energy ray of science fiction—blasted past the edge of a supercell's forward-flank core, with mesocyclone region mostly unseen off the … [Read more...]
Change of Direction
Icicles, dangling off the limb end in the form of a comb, didn't develop sideways. Instead, the branch hosting them had been horizontal, 90 degrees to the right, until the cumulative weight of ice broke it off the tree trunk. Slight curvature in the prongs, before the sudden turn downward following the breakage, signals the gradual lowering of the branch before it failed. This was a destructive … [Read more...]
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