Knowing the scale of a cloud formation makes every bit of difference in understanding it. A couple of people who aren’t meteorologists asked me if this was a funnel cloud, which of course it wasn’t. Instead, it was the dying updraft column of an entire thunderstorm—and not just any thunderstorm, but this supercell that had not produced a tornado. As the afternoon faded, the boundary layer cooled and the storm pumped forth too much cold outflow. The formerly powerful supercell drew upon too much stable air and undercut itself, shriveling away from the bottom up, the bronze light of the nearly setting sun splashing its ragged remains with a final display of visual majesty. Another weakening thunderstorm’s anvil can be seen in the distance, just rightward (N) of a sun soon to set with deep-zoom brilliance.
1 SW Roscoe TX (23 Apr 8) Looking W
32.4362, -100.553Old Storm Bronzed
Knowing the scale of a cloud formation makes every bit of difference in understanding it. A couple of people who aren’t meteorologists asked me if this was a funnel cloud, which of course it wasn’t. Instead, it was the dying updraft column of an entire thunderstorm—and not just any thunderstorm, but this supercell that had not produced a tornado. As the afternoon faded, the boundary layer cooled and the storm pumped forth too much cold outflow. The formerly powerful supercell drew upon too much stable air and undercut itself, shriveling away from the bottom up, the bronze light of the nearly setting sun splashing its ragged remains with a final display of visual majesty. Another weakening thunderstorm’s anvil can be seen in the distance, just rightward (N) of a sun soon to set with deep-zoom brilliance.
1 SW Roscoe TX (23 Apr 8) Looking W
32.4362, -100.553