This example, while not high contrast, is a fine spotting illustration of how a partly rain-wrapped tornado may look from the back (departing) side of a mesocyclone. During much of the mature supercell stage, we had been in good viewing position for the fast-moving supercell. Then it "barfed all over itself," heaving a well defined gust front and a large, cold pool of outflow that appeared to … [Read more...]
Pasterze Glacier Zoom
The photo zooms in to the Alpine Pasterze's glacial debris bands, and shows crumpled patterns of ice under both sun and shadow from the clouds above. Isn't it amazing how much different the very same natural feature can appear if one looks at it close-up? 5 NW Heiligenblut, Austria (1 Aug 5) Looking NW 47.0756, 12.7508 … [Read more...]
Pasterze Glacier in 2005
The largest glacier in Austria and in the eastern Alps, the Pasterze drains ice mainly from the peak in the background (Johannisberg, 3,463 m or 11,362 ft), while scraping along the foot of the Grossglockner mountain at left, both in the Hohe Tauern range. Grossglockner is the highest mountain in Austria, at 3,798 m (12,461 ft) above sea level. This glacier has been receding in fits and spurts … [Read more...]
Cattails in the Grotto, Minerals on the Walls
As a quiet, shaded oasis in a desert path to California, the walls of west-central New Mexico's El Morro, and this cattail-festooned pool below, gave comfort, rest for the weary, and a medium for graffiti, to many generations of native and European-heritage travelers throughout the pre-automotive era. Since 1906, new markings have been illegal, except of course for the natural kind. Seeps of … [Read more...]
Flash Flood with “Hail Bergs”
Even on uneven surfaces at high elevation, the right conditions can yield potentially dangerous flash flooding. Here, a heavy and slow-moving thunderstorm with rain and hail cores training on the back side unleashed a torrent through just a few square miles of uphill drainage and across the highway east of town. Dry washes became very wet washes in quick order. "Hail bergs", made of loose … [Read more...]
Valley Stratus
Rising up a mountain road through the fog and mist, it seemed the cool, quiet and moist stillness, so stereotypically characteristic of the Olympic Mountains, would hold to the very ridge tops and beyond. Instead we broke out of the top of the stratus deck well below treeline, and hiked around those ridges for a few hours, only to peek over one crest and find that the stratus had risen further … [Read more...]
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