[Part 1 of 2] This low, wet, messy, tornadic circulation first developed just beyond that wind-turbine-festooned ridge it was cresting, which is the western end of southwestern Oklahoma's Slick Hills, and near a dot on the map called Saddle Mountain, named after part of the Wichita Mountains still further away. With the supercell already taking on heavy-precipitation characteristics, a big … [Read more...]
Desert Dust Bomb
This is a cloud, all right—a dust cloud, and a fast-moving, dense, nasty one that stymied traffic west of Tucson, as it caught indirect sunset light reflected off clouds to the west. It also was a fascinating manifestation of fluid flow. The outflow that caused this blew a well-defined haboob through Tucson itself, briefly and directly sunlit, before crossing some small mountain ranges that … [Read more...]
Desert Mountain Electric Attack
A few lesser strikes before this kicked off what I've called an electrical extravaganza near Eloy, but this rapid-fire, three-stroke series of discharges early in the lengthy train of cores gave me a hint that the night would be something special. Whether the mountain itself was it, or the flashes struck right behind it, that was a place I'm glad not to have been camping or hiking on a juiced-up … [Read more...]
Small Supercell Approaching 385
A few hours after a frantic intercept of a large, messy supercell that (for me) was briefly tornadic before it got away, it was time to let a few hours elapse and await further storm potential. Along came a small one! Even with an updraft that was narrower than usual, this classic supercell had so many of the textbook features: (small) wall cloud, rear-flank downdraft, vault region on the north … [Read more...]
Desert Mountain Sundown
At deep zoom, a delightfully complex cloud mix and landscape below combined to compose a unique sunset scene in the southwestern New Mexico desert. The last of the day's storms in the region had died away a couple hours before, leaving convective detritus, comfortably cool outflow, and disappointment at lack of lightning-shooting opportunities in the sunset light and beyond. However, that sense … [Read more...]
Grand Canyon, Electrified
Several minutes deeper into twilight, and following a singular, loud blast into one of the Grand Canyon's natural amphitheaters, the increasingly dense rain core and surrounding terrain lit up with another cloud-to-ground discharge into the canyon. This delicate yet dangerous beauty had a bonus: a cloud-to-air flash above that was nearly parallel for about half the visible distance before … [Read more...]
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