A mass of deep towering cumulus clouds, so large as to make the desert mountains of far west Texas whose lift spawned it look puny, here began its transition to a short-lived supercell thunderstorm. The tallest convective battlement at left, a tilted wall of congestus, shot upward through a layer of pileus that formed just above it, seconds before. Vertical motions in this cloud cluster were … [Read more...]
Kansas High Plains Tornado
One tornado photo that didn't get away was a long time coming. Of the tornadoes I had seen on a decade of storm chases prior, this was the first of which I captured a non-distant slide where the tornado was in focus, properly exposed, and clearly defined as such. This vortex spun up beneath a wet-classic supercell out in the open country northwest of Liberal and east of Hugton, KS, endangering … [Read more...]
Davis Mountains, After the Storm
Eerie light, of an uncommon shade between auburn and sepia that seems more Martian than earthly, occupied a diffusely cloudy section of distant Davis Mountains sky behind a weakening supercell. The storm's leftover outflow rose onto the mountains and condensed to scud, reflecting brighter, whiter light originating farther aloft, and adding to the somber softness of the scene. Far west Texas on … [Read more...]
From Behind the Tree, Please!
The Prospect Valley tornado of 2018 elongated southward from its cloud-base location, the foot of the vortex shoved along gently by downdraft air wrapping around the ground-level mesocyclone. I had a nice vantage for viewing this spectacular specimen, except for the minute or less where its ground-contact area migrated behind the largest tree in that distant clump. That experience brought to … [Read more...]
Severe Uncertainty
What previously had been a high-based, somewhat ragged, outflow-surfing supercell, in and north of the Judith Range, then tightly rotating with a funnel, then high-based again, encountered a boundary with backed flow and slightly greater moisture. The storm accordingly, albeit temporarily, wrapped up an intense low-level mesocyclone, represented visually in this wide-angle view by the ragged, … [Read more...]
Ramrod Reflections
The swimming hole at the north end of Ramrod Key has relatively sheltered water for reflective views, thanks to some surrounding mangroves and the structure of the nearby Florida Bay bathymetry. When not occupied by bloodsucking insects or drunk people, it is a quiet, relatively secluded area and good place to observe sunsets in the lower Keys. Briefly, this was no exception. For just a minute … [Read more...]
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