[Part 3 of 6] To the unititiated, and viewed entirely out of context, the right portion of this scene could look like one of ominous, imminent, extreme danger: one side of a very close, large tornado, churning along right behind the trees in the dim twilight. It’s just an illusion! Instead, it’s a shelf cloud moving overhead, lower in elevation than the midlevel cloud deck on the left side. The shelf’s bottom is obscured by the trees, its edge just past the zenith in this wide-angle view. That perspective, rendered to two dimensions of a photo, results in a downward-tapered appearance similar to that of a tornado’s condensation funnel. Also unlike a tornado, the worst damage in the immediate area was a few small tree branches broken in the cool outflow current that produced the arcus. [Go to Part 4]
Norman OK (30 Jul 20) Looking WSWShelfie Six Pack: Pseudo-Tornado
[Part 3 of 6] To the unititiated, and viewed entirely out of context, the right portion of this scene could look like one of ominous, imminent, extreme danger: one side of a very close, large tornado, churning along right behind the trees in the dim twilight. It’s just an illusion! Instead, it’s a shelf cloud moving overhead, lower in elevation than the midlevel cloud deck on the left side. The shelf’s bottom is obscured by the trees, its edge just past the zenith in this wide-angle view. That perspective, rendered to two dimensions of a photo, results in a downward-tapered appearance similar to that of a tornado’s condensation funnel. Also unlike a tornado, the worst damage in the immediate area was a few small tree branches broken in the cool outflow current that produced the arcus. [Go to Part 4]
Norman OK (30 Jul 20) Looking WSW