Before completely wrapping in rain and dissipating, the Willow tornado's condensation cone thickened, briefly presenting decent contrast through the rain. It also made a good memory for non-meteorological reasons. Some fathers take their daughters to "daddy-daughter dances". I took mine on a daddy-daughter dancing-tornado intercept, and this was the second of three we would see on the … [Read more...]
Tilted, Tapered Cone
After two supercells merged to assume a big bell shape, the resulting combined storm produced a very brief, anticyclonic tornado on its south flank, while the main mesocyclone wrapped in rain, occluded and dissipated. The second mesocyclone following the merger was more productive, spawning two tornadoes, one of which I was able to shoot decently. Here, the early stages of that vortex can be … [Read more...]
Cloud-Streaked Sunset
Sheets, patches and flecks of high clouds blaze with the reddened rays of the day's last sunshine. The varieties of shape, texture, hue and form in sunlit clouds is endless, meaning a unique visual blessing to be appreciated with every colorful sunset sky. Norman OK (30 Jan 12) Looking WSW 35.1822, -97.4411 … [Read more...]
Squiggly Tube
Beneath some fairly wondrous structure, a contorted little funnel appeared, just south (leftward) of the storm's farthest, most dense core area. Brief connections of the condensation funnel with ground, along with occasional debris whirls, confirmed this was a tornado, and a clockwise-spinning one at that. Yes, anticyclonic tornadoes can occur from cyclonic supercells; this one was just off the … [Read more...]
Travelers’ Thunder
Travelers had to deal with lightning on this fine, rainy Arizona evening. Along Interstate 10 in the background, vehicles of assorted sizes whizzed along through and around the storm, their taillights visible in this time exposure as red streaks. Others like me, already at their motels, either heard the thundery spectacle from within their lodging, or took in the show on balconies of motels that … [Read more...]
Wall Cloud and Red Dirt Road
Prior to producing its first tornado, a supercell got better organized, with a large updraft base preceding a growing wall cloud. This is a quintessential southwestern Oklahoma scene, the sparse vegetation of a semiarid climate interspersed with exposed areas of red-clay soil on either side of the primitive road. In wetter conditions, this path would be deeply rutted, extremely slick … [Read more...]
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