All original images (C) Steve Douglass unless otherwise noted.

All original images (C) Steve Douglass unless otherwise noted. Permission required for commercial use or publishing.

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Friday, February 27, 2009

A Red Norther?


There was an interesting celestial conjunction tonight between venus and the Moon. I shot a few photos of it - but the real photo didn't happen until a cold front blew into the Amarillo area bringing lots of airborne Canadian real estate with it. Caught in the glow of the city's sodium vapor street lamps it added "atmosphere" to the shot making it that much more eerie.

-Steve

PS: Still no rain.

Panhandle Skies in a flying lawn chair.

My good friend Ken Hanson is crazy. He bought him a flying lawn chair suspended from a bed sheet by wires. Naturally I had a to take a few pictures. You might have seen him (and his fellow crazies? flying out and about close to sunset (when the winds are calm) down between South washing ton and Georgia streets on McCormick.














These guys have way too much fun.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Placid Plains


No rain - but plenty of color.


(C) Steve Douglass
click on the photo to enlarge.

Monday, February 23, 2009

Another classic sunset



Tonight's glorious sunset in case you missed it.

Can't beat those West Texas sunsets!

-Steve

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Finally a decent sunset

I saw the clouds gathering on the horizon this evening and went out over behind Ascension Academy (as I do a lot) to see if the sunset was going to amount to something worth shooting. I was surprised to see some other amateur photogs out there, but at t he last moment a bank of clouds moved over the sun and it looked like it was going to be another dud.

However, I know from experience to just wait a bit and I was quite pleased to see the sun and clouds finally come together and give us another classic West Texas sunset.

Then I noticed the others who had come out to photograph the sunset had given up and left - before the real show had even begun. If they had just stayed around 15 minutes they would have seen this:



I call this one "The Last Ride."

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

8 people killed in February Twister outbreak In Oklahoma

ARDMORE — Eight people are confirmed dead in Carter County but the tornado's death toll could rise, according to Carter County Sheriff Ken Grace. Sheriff Grace said Tuesday evening there were 15 people who may have died but that was not confirmed.

The Chamber of Commerce office furniture and walls are strewn across grass after a tornado destroyed much of the city of Lone Grove in southern, Okla. on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman



Carter County emergency officials were forced to suspend the search for survivors shortly after 1 a.m. until daylight Wednesday.

“It’s just too dangerous,” Sheriff Grace said, referring to jagged metal and live wires hidden in rubble and debris. “We don’t need to be adding any more injuries to what we already have.”
Sheriff’s officials said this town of about 5,000 people was devastated when a tornado estimated to have been about a half-mile wide tore through the middle of Lone Grove, ripping buildings from their slabs, demolishing dozens of mobile homes and snapping any trees and power lines in its path.

“It looks just like any tornado footage you see on TV,” said OHP Trooper Bryant Harris, who lives in Lone Grove.
“There’s nothing left ... twisted metal, cars turned upside down, cars in trees.”
Harris, who lives just down the road from some of the most hard hit areas, said he and his family rode the storm out in a tornado shelter.

“It really does sound like a freight train coming through,” he said, describing the roar of the devastating storm.
About an hour before rescue workers suspended their search, the distraught sheriff said his men were doing all they could to clear areas and look for dozens of missing people — freeing people from debris and wrecked cars and marking bright orange “X”s on areas that had been searched. But Grace said he just didn’t have enough light or man power.

“We’ve had reports of people calling for help in abandoned fields,” the sheriff said. “We’re doing all we can.”
At least two trailer parks, and dozens of homes and businesses were destroyed. One deputy sheriff said whole families were lost in one of the trailer parks, and he said he expected more fatalities to be discovered at first light.

“I’m scared to death to see what daylight brings,” the deputy said.
Lone Grove lost its only furniture store on state Hwy. 70, and all that was left of the chamber of commerce, next door to John’s Furniture, was a slab and scattered debris.
The UPS building, also on U.S. Highway 70, had part of its roof ripped off, and the town remained without power through the night.

For the most part, neighboring Ardmore - a much larger population area - was spared, but sheriff’s officials said an area north of Ardmore, near Springer, was also hit hard, including a private school, Beavers Academy.
Grace said rescue workers from all across southern Oklahoma were arriving to help out in the search and recovery efforts and extensive efforts with helicopters and grid searches would begin at first light.
Lone Grove survivors recall tornado

Lana Hartman and seven others were huddled in a small closet, about 6 feet tall by 4 feet wide, in their one-story brick house when they felt a tornado roar past their house last night. No one in the house was hurt.
Hartman said those in the closet could feel wind underneath the closet door. A teenager in the closet began lifting off the ground and others had to hold her down by grabbing her T-shirt, Hartman said.

Hartman moved into the house on Tuesday, just hours before the tornado struck. Hartman's house is next to a furniture store, which was significantly damaged.
This morning, couches and recliners remained lined up in the store, but several walls and part of the tin roof and insulation is missing. John Taliaferro has owned the store for 37 years.

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

First storm photos of 2009






Coming home from Waco, I was briefly inside a tornado watch - which is rare February event. Although I didn't chase today, I was really, really tempted to - especially when thunderstorms began to build up all around near Eastland, Texas.

Unfortunately work dictated that I get back home and I had already driven 250 miles of a 500 mile trip and didn't relish the thought of getting back to Amarillo in ragged shape.


i did however take a few photos of the gathering storms and for a brief moment it felt like May in February. This shot was looking southeast toward the towering Q near Stamford, Texas. Nothing tornadic, but pretty none-the-less.

-Steve

Bulletin: February 19th Oklahoma Tornado Event


OKLAHOMA CITY -- Multiple tornadoes touched down in central Oklahoma on Tuesday, causing extensive damage to businesses in northwest Oklahoma City and destroying several homes in the Oak Tree area of Edmond.

However, as of early evening Tuesday, no deaths or major injuries have been reported.
Moderate to severe damage was reported in the Oak Tree neighborhood of Edmond. At least six homes along Country Club Drive and Heritage Boulevard were destroyed. The National Weather Service confirmed tornado touched town in Coffee Creek near Kelly.

The Red Cross set up a shelter on Waterloo Road at the Waterloo Road Baptist Church in northern Edmond. The Red Cross is also deploying canteens for emergency responders in the affected areas.
These areas are closed to local traffic. Edmond officials said people living in damaged neighborhoods would need identification to get back in.

About 12,500 OG&E customers were without power, mostly in North Oklahoma City, Eyewitness News 5 reported.
Damage was also confirmed at a Chuck-E-Cheese pizza parlor near Northwest Expressway and Rockwell Avenue in Oklahoma City, and KOCO got several reports of roofs being lifted from homes.
"You could see it starting to form and then it started. It sounded like a train hit, and before we knew it, it was over," said a 19-year-old resident in the area. "We saw a funnel start to touch the ground."

At a Hobby Lobby store in northwest Oklahoma City, doors were blown in and torn off hinges. The front foyer ceiling collapsed, witnesses said, and lighting fell to the ground.
Tornado Forms Live On-Air Near Edmond Middle School
The storms also complicated things for school systems in central Oklahoma, whose administrators had to decide whether to bus kids home or keep them inside. Most opted to keep kids at school, and some students were still not home by 5 p.m.
More than a month away from the traditional start of severe weather season in Oklahoma, severe thunderstorms have developed across the state.

A moderate risk for severe weather was issued for much of the KOCO viewing area on Tuesday morning, and a tornado watch was issued until 8 p.m. for much of southwestern and south-central Oklahoma.
"Large hail, damaging winds and strong tornadoes are possible," said KOCO chief meteorologist Rick Mitchell.
Meteorologist Andy Wallace said there had been some discussion among meteorologists about upgrading the moderate risk for severe weather to a high risk, a rare designation even in Oklahoma.
Tornado Safety

Monday, February 2, 2009

Winter Winds

Click to enlarge!

Please click on each image to enlarge them and see them in their proper color and contrast.