A high-based, weakly rotating low-precip (LP) supercell that had a golden lining now was set aglow with deepening reds from top to bottom, capping off one of my finest storm seasons. [Or so I thought at the time...but who imagined there would be a photogenic tornado event the following October?] By this time, the short-lived but intense central Oklahoma drought had set in. Rain was scant and … [Read more...]
Some Clouds Have a Golden Lining
Here is yet another amendment to the popular saying! The lowering sun's rays assume more yellow hues as they pass through a larger section of the earth's atmosphere. This filters out light from the blue end of the visible spectrum, leaving predominant yellows, then reds, as the sun sets. The high-based cumulonimbus (thunderhead) here was weakly rotating and LP (low precipitation) in character, … [Read more...]
Lower Pillar and Subsun
On a loopy aerial approach to Indianapolis airport. this excellent example of a lower sun pillar, with embedded "subsun", became visible in fine ice-crystal clouds. The optical phenomenon was very bright in mid–late morning of late winter, and I had to expose for it at the expense of the snow-covered subdivisions below. Full sun pillars extend below the sun as well, when the atmosphere (instead … [Read more...]
Chadron Delight
A late-developing, messy, poorly structured supercell to the southwest was all we had to show for a daylong trip from Norman in positioning north for the following, anticipated bigger day...until this brief but dazzling sunset. Dodging a couple of uncommon but close lightning strikes, I managed to exit the vehicle just long enough to snap a few slides of thus beautiful sky before the window of … [Read more...]
Black Sand Dunes at Sunset
Low-angle rays of late-summer sunshine warm the northwest slopes of dunes on an Icelandic black-sand beach. Though the volcanic sand is dark, the surfaces of its grains—smoothed and polished by eons of wind and water movement—reflect light nicely at shallow angles. Tucked discreetly between sweeping mountain vistas in two directions and arms of the ocean, it’s easy to overlook simple bits of … [Read more...]
Mesocyclonic Mother Ship over I-80
A high-based wall cloud hovers like a refugee from Independence Day over I-80 in the Nebraska Panhandle. Like most wall clouds, this one was nontornadic—luckily for the trucker! Winds strong enough to blow vehicles off the road can occur around and under wall clouds, even if they never spin up a tornado. For that reason, it can be a matter of life and death to avoid going under wall clouds—or … [Read more...]
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