By this time--about four hours into its lifespan--a long-lasting, heavy-precipitation supercell often wears an expansive kilt of rising scud surrounding a deep, dark core. This splendid specimen was no exception. Where this storm was exceptional was in its spectacular high-based presence over the scrubby shortgrass plains and red soil of southeastern New Mexico, and especially, the deep, … [Read more...]
Twilight Surf and Ice
A short time-exposure of gentle waves washing over ice and black rocks, on a black-sand seashore, in the twilight...an ethereal moment in time is recorded for all time, when no one else was there to witness. With daylight nearly gone, it was just the cold surf, the volcanic beach, and an appreciative observer and photographer clad in hip waders. 7 SW Reynivellir, Iceland (18 Aug 14) Looking … [Read more...]
Drive Train, No Truck
Though not overtly spectacular, this may be the most impressive damage scene for me. In an open field, far removed from any other automotive debris, the Andover, KS tornado of 26 April 1991 deposited a drive train, axle and wheels, with a tire stripped off one rim. That tornado disemboweled some vehicle's innards, tore them free and tossed them away, as a fisherman would gut his catch! Whither the … [Read more...]
Colorado Crackle
The trailing portion of a band of high-based thunderstorms slowly became more photogenic as it swept eastward across the Colorado plains, and its outflow constructed a shallow arcus cloud. Then, as so often happens on the edge of a core, including earlier with the same convective cluster, a cloud-to-ground stroke split the sky and sent waves of thunder booming across the High Plains. 2 S Woodrow … [Read more...]
Sheridan Lake Non-Tornado
[Part 3 of 4] As the Sheridan Lake storm complex of 2011 churned southeastward, blasting waves of outflow into the back side of its gust front, one particularly intense wind channel reached a very dry, plowed field. This stirred up a miniature Dust Bowl, visually imitating the debris cloud of a funnel-deprived tornado. Of course, the cloud base above wasn't rotating, and the dust plume dispersed … [Read more...]
Roof Lightning
From the roof of the National Weather Center, we cast a wide gaze across the breadth of the OU campus and the city of Norman. A dazzling montage fills the northern sky: a high-based multicell thunderstorm, its cloud base subtly tinted by the filtered tones of the sunset light, the internal convective generator blasting forth a big spark to punctuate and bracket the scene. This was a welcomed … [Read more...]
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