The hottest afternoon of the hottest summer in Oklahoma history also offered gusty 20-30 mph winds, a giant hair dryer roaring amidst an exceptional drought that had left all manner of plant fuels extremely dry. Groves of cedar stood ready to erupt in flames at slightest provocation, their oily foliage badly dessicated by months with little rain, ready kindling poised atop layers of tinder in the … [Read more...]
Hailstorm Exiting
Leaving behind a wintertime appearance in late spring, the deep-slate back side of a severe supercell offered a parting rainbow as visual compensation for the trouble it caused in the form of temporarily slickened roads and slightly shredded vegetation. It also provided some much-needed rain and welcomed relief from the June heat of the New Mexico High Plains. Mosquero NM (6 Jun 14) Looking … [Read more...]
TCu (not TCU)
A classical towering cumulus (meteorological acronym: TCu, as opposed to TCU the university) shoots skyward in a low-level convergence zone connecting other, larger areas of convection. Storm observers who can see through towers don't assign them much of a future, and for good reason; they are entraining dry air aloft. Still, the shifting crepuscular rays helped to make the scene splendid as we … [Read more...]
Park Underwater
When the floodwaters rose fast that Sunday morning in Story City, its riverside park and golf course became its river-bottom park and golf course. The floating garbage container only hints at the messy, long and arduous cleanup that awaits after an event like this, where the disaster doesn't end for a long time after the waters recede. Story City IA (8 Jun 8) Looking WNW 42.1877, -93.5814 … [Read more...]
Judith Gap Lightning
Otherwise rather nondescript due to a mess of intervening low clouds, this marginal supercell embedded in a cluster of storms made itself stand out from the convective crowd by flinging bright, hot bolts across the central Montana countryside. The mass of storms soon would heave a severe slab of outflow wind across the Little Snowy Range to the northeast, then right down into Lewistown. 1 SSW … [Read more...]
Turbulent Textures
Bane of tornado-centric storm hunters, outflow nonetheless can yield amazing visual and sensory experiences. The turbulent underbelly of arcus clouds--often nicknamed the "whale's mouth"--offers a fascinating visual cacophony of deeply granular cloud motions, the textures of which change continually. With a cool wind blowing at my back, and lightning-suffused core still several miles distant, … [Read more...]