This laminar, sloping and strangely lit cloud formation developed along an area of gentle lift extending northeastward from the similarly flat, featureless supercell base unseen at left. The terrestrial texture of the formation reminds me of a hilly landscape rising in the distance from a glowing ocean. With the aid of a zoom lens, it formed a fine late-afternoon backdrop for the large wind farm south of Dumas, and one of my favorite shots from the 2010 storm season. Alas, the photographic opportunity was very brief. The supercell had inflow rooted aloft, instead of at the surface; so while the blades spun slowly in weak flow, scud began racing overhead from the northeast (behind me) toward the storm. Within another minute or two, we no longer could see this feature. The storm eventually moved into more unstable air and intensified, after dropping a copious deluge of hail and rain on Dumas.
4 S Dumas TX (12 Jun 10) Looking WNW
35.8329, -101.974Tail Cloud behind Wind Farm
This laminar, sloping and strangely lit cloud formation developed along an area of gentle lift extending northeastward from the similarly flat, featureless supercell base unseen at left. The terrestrial texture of the formation reminds me of a hilly landscape rising in the distance from a glowing ocean. With the aid of a zoom lens, it formed a fine late-afternoon backdrop for the large wind farm south of Dumas, and one of my favorite shots from the 2010 storm season. Alas, the photographic opportunity was very brief. The supercell had inflow rooted aloft, instead of at the surface; so while the blades spun slowly in weak flow, scud began racing overhead from the northeast (behind me) toward the storm. Within another minute or two, we no longer could see this feature. The storm eventually moved into more unstable air and intensified, after dropping a copious deluge of hail and rain on Dumas.
4 S Dumas TX (12 Jun 10) Looking WNW
35.8329, -101.974