As a complex of severe thunderstorms receded south-southeastward across the appropriately named Thunder Basin National Grassland, surfing its own outflow while spewing severe hail and wind, it left behind an extensive field of mammatus. This formation, however, represented an elongated and striking form that occasionally resembled closely swimming dolphins or can-packed sardines. 28 WSW … [Read more...]
Quintessential Great Plains
What can be more evocative of the Great Plains ideal than rolling shortgrass prairie, a windmill, and of course, a funnel cloud? Fortunately for a few locusts and jackrabbits in the projected path, the circulation producing the persistent but only modestly spinning funnel never intensified into a tornado, as far as we could tell. 8 SE Bridgeport NE (15 May 15) Looking WSW 41.587, -102.984 … [Read more...]
Iced Pecans
Still held fast to their formative limbs, pecans dangle encased in ice after a bout of freezing rain. Normally 15–20 feet or more above ground, the branches sagged severely from the weight of the ice, bringing them down at or below eye level. In this case, they didn't snap, and within a few days after the ice melted, resumed essentially their former positions. Thousands of other limbs and even … [Read more...]
Striations over Funnel
After intercepting a small, singularly tornadic supercell in southern Kansas, attention turned to a much larger storm in northern Oklahoma that tried very hard a few times but couldn't spawn a surefire tube. Storm size isn't everything! The funnel cloud at lower right was one such attempt, but overshadowed by the dramatic fluid sculpture of the supercellular cloud form itself. 2 NW Renfrow, OK … [Read more...]
Lakeshore behind the Storm
A tumultuous Independence Day afternoon of thunderstorms and heavy rain ended with this tranquil and relaxing moment. A marvelously chaotic yet calming convective sky, bathed in illumination of the approaching sunset, reflected off a flood-swollen lake whose waves gently lapped on the sandy shore. Occasional thunder rode gentle southeast breezes flowing from the cool side of the storm complex, … [Read more...]
Pileus Cloud
Pileus caps are made of ice crystals high in the troposphere. They form as a slab of air is shoved upward, in the shape of a dome or cap, just above a rapidly rising convective tower. Moisture in the dome condenses directly into an ice fog as the air rises and cools, forming the pileus. Next, the convection shoots right through the newly minted cloud layer. The lifted layer above the … [Read more...]
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