True blizzards don't happen very often in these parts; but on Christmas Eve of 2009, we had a historic one for central Oklahoma. My only prior one was in March of 1989, with more snow but less wind and time duration, and much less willingness to get our amidst the maelstrom and shoot photos. This time, I was out there in its full and frigid fury, fascinated by the fluid flows traced by streamers … [Read more...]
Twisting Tall in Twilight
After displaying amazing daytime cloud structure and spinning forth the last of several tornadoes, the legendary Aurora supercell of 2009 slowly spun down and weakened while approaching York. Citizens of York rejoiced, and justifiably so! Still, they might have been spooked at least slightly by this menacingly beautiful twilight scene of the approaching storm column, twisted like visible … [Read more...]
Trail’s End
The Yampa and Green Rivers meet next to Steamboat Rock, a striking landmark as viewed from water level. The rivers have carved winding courses through the high plateau of northwestern Colorado, millions of years in the making, exposing sedimentary rocks that sometimes contains dinosaur bones and other fossils. From those arose Dinosaur National Monument, and to this we journeyed to find … [Read more...]
Clepsydra Geyser
The name of this geyser comes from the Greek word for "water clock", which is most appropriate both for its nearly continuous performance today and its remarkably regular 3-minute interval before the great Yellowstone quake of 1959. On a cool morning, as most are even in the summer, the steam wafts far from the spouting 197-degree water plume and marks this geothermal delight's location from … [Read more...]
EF5 Wedge with Satellite Tornado
Fortunately for us, the El Reno/Piedmont wedge tornado of 2011 took a slight leftward jog as we drove southward. Shortly after we pulled safely off the road, the now-gigantic tornado started wrapping again in precipitation. Its deep, carnal rumble unmistakably was heard and felt across the intervening 1-1/2 miles. Even crouched low with one foot forward, I barely could stand in severe inflow … [Read more...]
Shelf Cloud
Upon seeing shallow little thunderheads moving in from the NNW, we shifted our attention inland from a day of exploring and photography on the northeastern shores of Lake Superior. It was obvious that one of the Cb's would pass over or just E of Wawa Lake, so we headed there, knowing there would be an unobstructed view from the S or W side as it passed. The result exceeded our expectations—a … [Read more...]
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