On the other side of the sky—and the National Weather Center—from the "Sky Feast" of a lightning-ticked rainbow, a marvelous rainy sunset unfolded. This one shone just briefly, yet sublimely, in coppery hues reflected off puddles beneath, and amidst fleeting dances of crepuscular rays. Norman OK (27 May 21) Looking WNW 35.1818, -97.4406 … [Read more...]
Search Results for: crepuscular
Chadron Delight
A late-developing, messy, poorly structured supercell to the southwest was all we had to show for a daylong trip from Norman in positioning north for the following, anticipated bigger day...until this brief but dazzling sunset. Dodging a couple of uncommon but close lightning strikes, I managed to exit the vehicle just long enough to snap a few slides of thus beautiful sky before the window of … [Read more...]
Towering Cumulus on the Dryline
This is a much different breed of towering cumulus than the maritime version from nine months later and over a thousand miles southeast. Here, unlike on a land-breeze circulation, the low-middle level flow was strongly sheared, causing the tilt. The cloud looks less robust than the previous example because it was drawing in dry air from west of the dryline, on which it formed. This dry … [Read more...]
High Plains Rays
Storms failed to materialize diurnally on this, the first day of my second Great Plains chase excursion in June 2020. Still, the effort wasn't for naught, even without perfect foreknowledge of great storms in the forthcoming few days. These towers along the slow-moving cold front at least offered a marvelous sunset scene, replete with crepuscular rays, as bobwhite quail and western meadowlarks … [Read more...]
Three-State Supercell
The unquestioned highlight of my 2020 storm observing jaunt across the north-central Plains was this mind-bending supercell, on what I thought would be a relative “down day”. Doesn't it go to show that "down" time can be a magnificent time? This mothership-like storm formed as a junky multicell north of Douglas, WY. After a few hours, it turned rightward and evolved into this astonishing … [Read more...]
Cumulus Spotlight
One haggard clump of shallow convective clouds floated across the eastern Colorado sky behind a complex of thunderstorms. Being rather moisture-starved, these cumulus clouds entrained a good deal of dry air from their surroundings and sported ragged edges and holes—the most prominent of which cast a beam of sunlight directly at our spot for just a few seconds. An assortment of crepuscular rays … [Read more...]