Darkness of a high-based storm and its precipitation core, infused subtly by the early stages of a double rainbow, make a splendid backdrop for the illuminated wooden bulk of the abandoned Hettinger Equity grain elevator. Unfortunately, the following October, most of the town of Bucyrus was burned up by a wildfire, except for a few buildings and this old grain elevator. Bucyrus ND (13 Jun 12) … [Read more...]
Falls’ Fault
The tightly curved beds here were laid down flat! On the coast of southern California, the sedimentary rocks have been folded and contorted every which way. To complicate matters, they also endure splitting and shifting. To the right of the falls, the layers have been shifted outward and slightly offset, because a fault (interface between two moved rock slabs) separates them. Streams and … [Read more...]
Sunset on the Range
Anvils and trailing precip regions from organized, eastward-moving, forward-propagating thunderstorm complexes usually slope upward gradually with westward extent, the rain gradually becoming lighter. That was the case here, where the resulting large area of the fuzzy cloud underside, and of precipitation aloft, caught the setting sun's light and diffused it marvelously across a big sector of the … [Read more...]
Snow Divots
After one of the snowiest winters and springs on record, mid-July found fields near Lake Tipsoo that normally are verdant and profusely carpeted in wildflowers still buried in deep snow. By this time, the old snow had gotten dirty and granular on top, covered with windblown deposits and plant material, and pockmarked with remarkably regularly spaced and sized divots. Dark material accumulating … [Read more...]
Stromsburg Rope-Out
Less than a full minute elapsed between the tubular phase in the previous shot and the final rope stage shown here. Even though the visible part of the tornado vortex no longer was connected to the cloud base, it's obvious from ground contact of the condensation vortex, with debris, that a tornado still was (barely) underway. Even at this final, last-gasp stage, mere seconds from dissipating, it … [Read more...]
Backwards Damage Process
What's backward about the tornado damage at this site, and how did this happen? Please stop and ponder this for a few moments, then continue. The garage door of this small, open-span metal structure tells all you need to know. The force responsible had to come from within, and the only other entry point for the needed blast of air is the missing roof. [The wall unseen at right was intact, as … [Read more...]
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