The CG (cloud-to-ground) lightning strike here either penetrated or hit just behind the telltale signature of a microburst: a flared, curving foot at the bottom edge of a precipitation core. No reports of significant damage came from this event, as it struck in a rather dry river valley populated mainly by scorpions, sand burs, switchgrass, and scrub brush. However, wet microbursts like this … [Read more...]
Cirrus over Dwarf Cypress Forest
A soft yet busy set of wintertime cirrus streamers shoot over one of the most remote parts of the Everglades accessible by foot, at the Pa-Hay-Okee (grassy waters) overlook. This is the dry season, when continental cold fronts lower both atmospheric moisture content and groundwater levels here through evaporation, and little rain falls. Stunted by poor, thin soil on rough rock surfaces, "dwarf" … [Read more...]
LeFors Revisited
This wide-angle view of a very wet, classic supercell shows a wall cloud at lower middle, smooth accessory base above, tail cloud extending to the right, and a dense precipitation core to its rear. That rear area later would drop huge hail around 4 inches in diameter on some other chasers. Rapid rotation in the lower center portion teased tornadic potential; but outflow soon undercut the … [Read more...]
Prairie Flickering
The campsite was claimed, the vehicle serving as a rigid tent that was safe within from the coming source of lightning. It was time to admire and shoot this marvelous little light generator in the prairie twilight, with the Badlands at my back. This convection was elevated above a boundary layer stabilized by earlier storms. A scud cigar evolved into a roll cloud, surfing outflow upon outflow, … [Read more...]
Channels of Charge
A high-based, nighttime thunderstorm offered numerous blasts of electricity for my viewing pleasure, including this one that lit up both convective towers above and miles of cloud beneath. Obviously, the main channel of electric current here is the one through which the return stroke rushes upward, brilliantly illuminating the downward zigzag of the successful step leader. [The step leaders are … [Read more...]
Bellaire’s Barely Tornado
After the McLellan Lake tornado of 20 May 99, I didn't expect to see another obviously closed, ground-contacting vortex that could compete for the ignominious title of "weakest tornado I've seen". This was that. Under a broadly rotating, seemingly modest mesocycloic notch in this storm's updraft area, scud began to rise and turn slowly, right up from ground level, gradually condensing into a … [Read more...]
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