The dichotomy of the Great Plains tornadic supercell seldom manifest more than on this west Texas afternoon. A storm exploded over an outflow boundary and slogged southeastward across the Midland/Odessa metro, spawning a few tornadoes, causing swaths of wind and hail destruction (including, ironically, at the NWS office there), and yet, putting on a spectacular show for observers. This was just … [Read more...]
Twilight Crawlers and Fireflies
Both a sparky storm and some fireflies illuminated the final moments of the last chase in the 2024 spring season. Fireflies (short green streaks over and near the road) often react to lightning flashes in kind, and with the back side of a storm complex flinging plenty of electricity overhead, the insects had plenty of motivation. The reddened remnants of light from the northwest horizon, behind … [Read more...]
Oklaurora
A solar storm of an intensity not seen in over a decade energized the upper atmosphere, and made auroral effects visible as far toward the Equator as Mexico and the northern Caribbean. This meant the rare ability not only to see an aurora in Norman, but to see this manifestation, looking south! In 2003, we saw distinct red pillars to the north looking over the Oklahoma City lights, but the … [Read more...]
Filamentous Tendrils
A classic supercell sported a classic, slowly rotating wall cloud as it rolled east-northeastward over western Oklahoma. Ragged strings and filaments of scud, rising but not rotating, were reported erroneously by other spotters as funnel clouds, during this period when I had an excellent view. The mesocyclone at and below cloud base had much stronger upward motion than horizontal (rotational). … [Read more...]
Stacked HP “Moose”
This deep, tiered, dark "moose" of a supercell (as I referred to it on social media from the field) was tornadic, but waited until becoming thickly rain-wrapped thanks to repeated cell mergers into the rear flank. Good luck seeing any spinups through all that turquoise-colored core's dense precip (including large hail). A position in the "notch" northeast of the mesocyclone may have afforded a … [Read more...]
Colorful Okie Storm
Sometimes the unplanned and unanticipated scenes become the most memorable, special and satisfying. On the next day after a messy, fast-moving supercell intercept that yielded two unremarkable photos total, the mid/upper trough past and low-level moisture reduced. Little was expected, yet much was found! A small cluster of high-based thunderstorms erupted shortly before sunset not far southwest … [Read more...]
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