As the roar of the Sulphur tornado got louder, the ambient light darker, rain wrapping thicker around the circulation's hook, the vortex's shifting neither left nor right was a sure sign of its direct approach, and of our need to evacuate this position with some time to spare before it closely approached the highway. An idyllic rural dream scene of wildflowers, spring-green grass and trees, … [Read more...]
Violent Tornado in Beautiful Countryside
A paradoxically emotive scene unfolded here: a massive, violent, audibly roaring tornado headed toward this pastoral country setting, with wildflowers fronting a beautiful ranch home. That also meant the tornado was moving my way, and it was almost time to leave. [This is a wide-angle view!] Knowing of the horrifying ruin that would arrive on this land within minutes, and the grave danger to … [Read more...]
Twilight Spin over Joy
Our third wonderfully structured supercell of the day wasn't truly during the day anymore. We didn't intercept this storm until after sunset, rounding into position as the deepening cobalt shades of late twilight silhouetted a massive, corkscrewing convective column that dominated the western sky. I would have been content with that silhouette, captured a time or two before this, to depict an … [Read more...]
Scalding Splash
Draining across a low hot spot, a creek flowing from Strokkur geyser and adjoining hot springs boils and splashes skyward into the late-afternoon sunshine, and against the dark background of a rare patch of Icelandic forest. Zooming into the scene yields an antediluvian effect harkening to imaginations of Earth's inhospitable infancy. Haukadalsvegur, Iceland (11 Aug 14) Looking WNW 64.3114, … [Read more...]
Tower-to-Tower Lightning
This was my first night lightning photo, using a car top to brace a then-20-year-old Mamiya 35-mm SLR. A bolt hurdled thousands of feet of clear air between the main storm tower and a flanking tower, prompting shouts of, "Did you get that, did you get that?" from Rich Thompson, who was standing nearby enjoying the electrical display. Back then, I had to wait days until the slide film was … [Read more...]
Sea of Stratocumulus
Gently convective, yet also partly stratified, this unbroken cloud deck would appear opaque and rather drab from below, with no substantial openings of sunlight reaching the ground—all these characteristics earning the formation the Latin name stratocumulus opacus. From above, the cloud deck gently rolled like an ocean of cottony vapors, trapped beneath an inversion of dry, stable air through … [Read more...]
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