Among the most spectacular supercells I've ever seen, this dazzling storm cruised eastward across the nocturnal Nebraska sky, bathing itself in almost continuous light from its own furious generation engine for intracloud lightning. The storm itself took on the shape of an enormous breaking wave, while shear-induced, parallel bands of laminar low clouds (containing real waves!) accentuated the … [Read more...]
Cranebow
Here is but a small glimpse of that sublime moment when, after three days of cold, windy overcast, the line of showers passes east, sunshine breaks out to illuminate the late-afternoon "magic hour", the "American Serengeti" brilliantly erupts with life: hundreds upon hundreds of sandhill cranes take off into a rainbow-festooned sky as if to celebrate this fleeting window of beauty and … [Read more...]
Slapout Late
Viewing the "Slapout tornado's" surroundings at wide angle reveals an arcus cloud on the right side (NNW of the tornado), which actually was the rear-flank gust front for a large, newer, rain-wrapped mesocyclone forming unseen to our W (off the screen to the right). The whole scene looks rather "gust-fronty". Indeed, if we do out best to mentally subtract a tornado from view (i.e., put your … [Read more...]
Lake Perryton
No, this isn't one of those classical arcus-cloud scenes from somewhere around the Rio de la Plata in South America. Instead, it's the high, normally dry Texas Panhandle! As if a previous day of excessive rains in an already-wet spring weren't enough, yet another thunderstorm loomed with its shelf cloud, ready to drench this stretch of farmland. Is Lake Perryton real? Not on any maps, it … [Read more...]
Snow Geese in the Rain
During the "magic hour" of late-afternoon light, a small flock of snow geese and countless raindrops, near and far, imparted an oil-painting-like texture to the wondrous scene along the back side of a band of rain. These and another half million of their closest friends and relatives (geese and cranes) converge annually upon the Platte River Valley of central Nebraska—one of the world's great … [Read more...]
Blizzard at My Back
Yes, I was out in a full-fledged blizzard with gusts to 60 mph, barely able to stand, bracing with back into wind, shooting away. It wasn't balmy outside. Fortunately, I was dressed in more layers than a Vidalia onion, looking much like the Michelin Man, and didn't have to go too far to get into warm shelter. Freezing in real life and frozen in time, snowflakes that flew past at speeds of 40–60 … [Read more...]
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