Kilauea's Episode 33 wasn't the biggest or longest of the fountaining eruptive pulses during this sequence, but offered unique moments all its own, including pretty much any freeze frame's delivering a one-time pattern of twinkling elements. Here, countless tons of solidifying and molten chunks of incandescent rock -- small as thimbles or large as a school bus -- descend up to a thousand feet, … [Read more...]
HP State-Crossing Supercell
[Click Image to Enlarge] Likely not the last, and far from the first to follow me in haste and fury down I-70 into Kansas, this heavy-precip supercell resulted from the earlier merger of an outflow-dominant storm with a foregoing tornadic supercell in Colorado. This, in turn, would be absorbed into a long, severe squall line that would yield wild and menacing skies, as well as severe winds, as … [Read more...]
Volcanic Christmas Tree
The world’s hottest Christmas tree took shape in Kialuea’s summit caldera on this cool September morning in 2025. The high lava fountain assumed this form briefly, at irregular intervals for about an hour, during the 33rd episode of the eruption that began in December 2024. That eruption sequence is still underway as of this writing, in early 2026. Take close note of the rippled, smudged … [Read more...]
Spiral Storm with Tails
Challenges of safe storm observing are many! Running out ahead of a big, dark, deep, spiraling supercell to get a fuller look at its structure, on a hazy day, is a tough balance to reach in that narrow and fuzzy gap between being too close to see the depth of the storm and too far for the same purpose. That's especially compounded on the edge of the Hill Country, where terrain and thickets of … [Read more...]
Storm that Handed Off
Two "Brady supercells" highlighted this unusual central Texas chase day in mid June. A strong subtropical jet provided deep shear to support them, as readily seen here in the pronounced eastward tilt of the first storm's updraft. Of course, moisture and instability were fine, as is usually the case this far south this time of year, with shear typically quite lacking. Not this day! The newer … [Read more...]
Rush Sparks and Flash Flood 3
Back sides of thunderstorm complexes can offer tremendous electrical shows, and this epitomized that. While a flash flood coursed through a farm field, the display of sparks from overhead to the southeast was frequent, bright and sharp, thundering continually. This took a back seat to no other such experience in my long history of storm observing in terms of sheer frequency and quantity of … [Read more...]