Wild skies kept wafting past, as a series of cores in a slow-moving storm complex flung electricity between cloud and ground. All the while, surrounding sky flickered in a high-voltage disco strobe, a throbbing dance of light, arrhythmic pulsations: left, right, near and yonder, to the music of differential airflow. Shortly following this shot, the onset of light rain signaled the time to pack … [Read more...]
Sun in Cirrus?
We holed up in a wildlife blind, awaiting the evening return of sandhill cranes to their roosting haven on the Platte River. As they did, a fascinating visual effect unfolded, thanks to the ever-changing Great Plains sky, impending sunset and a ribbon of intervening cirrus clouds. Both to the eye and to the camera sensor, the sun gave the illusion of dropping through the cirrus deck instead of … [Read more...]
Laminar Night
Marvelously stacked shelves of clouds glow from within thanks to a frequent and generous dosage of in-cloud lightning, in this short time exposure. Wild and otherworldly in appearance, this crazy-looking formation has a sane physical explanation. The laminar, plate-like appearance arose from layers of moist, stable air forced upward by strong lifting along and above the storm's cool pool of … [Read more...]
No Baseball Tonight
The Iowa flooding of June, 2008, canceled many sporting events, including anything to be played at this field for many days to come. Water rose several feet higher before this flood was finished, thanks to 4-10 inches of rain unleashed the prior evening and overnight on the drainage basin of the nearby Skunk River. Story City IA (8 Jun 8) Looking WNW 42.1878, -93.5867 … [Read more...]
Supercellular Sparkle
Despite gradually weakening since its near-sunset peak, the Arcadia supercell continued blasting forth lightning from every level. When we finally were able to get enough distance between us and the storm to feel reasonably safe outdoors, the pace of the best lightning had lessened considerably. Still, this storm offered a few more reminders of its capability to deliver instant death, and this … [Read more...]
Travertine Takeover
Upon pondering Yellowstone National Park, most folks think of geysers, wildlife, hot pools, mountains: all amazing and worthy of the camera, for sure. Yet in one corner of the park lies a grimly stark landscape frontng the distant Absaroka Range—ledges of travertine, precipitated from old hot springs, that entombed the trees they encountered. In the dry, high-altitude climate, the old arboreal … [Read more...]
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