Wires

Waves

Shot south of town - not severe but very pretty. Even tame storms can offer unique photographic possibilities.

-Steve Douglass

Today's Severe Forecast

.WESTERN PORTIONS OF THE CENTRAL/SRN PLAINS...
MORNING WV IMAGERY SHOWS FRAGMENTED UPPER WAVES MOVING SEWD FROM THE
WY/NEB BORDER SEWD INTO NRN OK. HOWEVER...ONGOING CONVECTION OVER
NRN KS AND MODEL FORECAST SUGGEST SYSTEM NEAR THE WY/NEB BORDER
SHOULD BE THE MAIN FEATURE FOR CONVECTION ACROSS THE CENTRAL/SRN
PLAINS. SUNNY CONDITIONS AND WARMING/DESTABILIZING BOUNDARY LAYER
THIS MORNING WAS OCCURRING OVER SERN CO/SWRN KS/NWRN OK AND THE TX
PANHANDLE. ACROSS THIS AREA...THE BEST OVERLAP OF LOW LEVEL FRONTAL
CONVERGENCE...WARMING AND LIFT ASSOCIATED WITH UPPER WAVE WOULD BE
OVER SWRN KS/NWRN OK AND TX PANHANDLE. OTHER STORMS ARE LIKELY TO
DEVELOP OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF SERN CO/NERN NM WHERE STRONG
HEATING OF MOIST BOUNDARY LAYER WILL OCCUR. AFTER STORMS
FORM...MODERATE INSTABILITY AND 30-40 KT DEEP LAYER SHEAR SHOULD
SUSTAIN MULTICELLS AND POSSIBLY A SUPERCELL OR TWO. THE MAIN THREAT
WILL BE HAIL...THOUGH THE WIND THREAT WILL BE HIGHER THIS EVENING AS
STORMS CONSOLIDATE INTO ONE OR TWO LINEAR CLUSTERS.

Cold Air Funnel

Sighted over Amarillo this afternoon. This is a short-lived tropical cold air funnel cloud. Rarely dangerous, always impressive, prompting lots of calls - but basically a sheep on wolf's clothing.

Auntie Em - it's a Gustnado!

My brother Paul and & I went chasing tonight up Busland Road (just before it splits off to Boys Ranch) and we caught a nice short-lived gustnado off to our west. We also saw a terradactyl and I broke his computer ... so all and all it was a semi-productive chase!

Not bad for a storm chase in July!

Opinion: Forecasting or Fearcasting?

You've heard of weather forecasting - but what is fearcasting?

Fearcasting is what you do when your TV station is still at the bottom of the ratings even though you've hired a new topnotch meteorologist and had a sponsor buy you some new-gee-whiz 3D doppler gizmo and you have to make it pay off.

Fearcasting is spending way too much live air-time covering severe weather - whether it is severe or not.

Fearcasting includes the following phraseology:

"This is a potentially dangerous situation!"

"You should consider taking your tornado precautions!"

"This storm could become a right-turner and move into the city!"

Note the frequent use of the words: "Potentially" "Should consider" and "could."

These key words give the TV meteorologist an out. He never said there was a tornado, but there could be - so as a result keep watching our station!

Unfortunately this fearcasting technique is now becoming the norm at a certain station in Amarillo.

The idea is to keep you fearful so you'll stay tuned in. They are on the air constantly - and live - broadcasting from the heart of the storm - so they must know better - even though the other stations are only running a crawl.

I can't tell you how many times I've been storm chasing sitting under the same clouds the fearcasters are) and I'm wondering to myself ( as I hear their reports coming over my portable TV) where are they getting this stuff?

Fearcasters - you know who you are!

You also should know it doesn't garner ratings, the latest statistics are proof of that.

So here it is:

Cry wolf too many times and the viewer will just turn the channel.

Continue to underestimate the intelligence of your viewers, and they will turn the channel.

Don't force a respected veteran forecaster to become a fearcaster. It didn't work with Tony Derda. It didn't work with Amy Gardner and its akin to tabloid journalism.

We (the viewing public) know that you really can't "keep us safe."

That's up to us. Just keep us informed but do so honestly.

Don't embellish.

Don't hype and most of all -

Don't Fearcast!

Spaceflight Now | STS-127 Shuttle Report | Lightning delays Endeavour launch

Spaceflight Now | STS-127 Shuttle Report | Lightning delays Endeavour launch

Shared via AddThis

Lightning from a severe thunderstorm that rolled over the Kennedy Space Center on Friday, July 10 caused NASA to postpone the launch of space shuttle Endeavour, originally planned for Saturday, to allow engineers additional time to ensure the strikes at pad 39A didn't harm onboard systems.

This gallery of images from a camera positioned near the pad to capture the launch caught the dramatic lightning show.




Photo credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News

Dust Bowl Stories wanted for Ken Burns documentary

KACV-TV (PBS) is assisting Ken Burns' production company gather tales from the old dust bowl days. Pictures, stories and interviews are needed. If you have a story to tell, please submit them here.

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Palo Duro Canyon White Tails

-Steve Douglass

Heat Wave Continues ...

Palo Duro Canyon - Picture Postcard

Please click to see this photo in all its depth and color.


Since their are no storms with that death ridge parked on top of us, and i have a huge backlog of photographs to process and post, I'll think I'll start with some of my recent Palo Duro canyon pics.

If you haven't been down to PDC in awhile, take a break and make the trip. The canyon is the greenest I've ever seen and its breathtaking. I've also seen more wildlife than I ever have, deer, vultures, lizards, turkeys and lots of tarantulas.

I'll post photos of them later.

-Steve

Storm in the Palo Duro

-Steve Douglass

Tonight's lone storm.

One storm managed to bust its way through the hard as steel cap tonight northeast of Amarillo. The setting sun really lit it up and I thought Ii would share it with you.

Nothing severe - but it sure was "perty" as we say in these parts. It's dying now - but I captured it for posterity. Enjoy it because the forecast is for nothing but severe clear for the next long while.

-Steve Douglass

The Buzzard Air Show

Palo Duro Canyon is famous world-wide for the spectacular summertime musical TEXAS!, but did you know that there's another show in the canyon - an air show that has drawn the interest of a group of local photographers?

Every evening while tourists are marveling at the spectacle in the Pioneer Amphitheater another spectacle is taking place this summer at the far end of the canyon.




The air show surrounds a small group of trees near "Cow Camp Cabins" in the southern end of the park. On any given night you'll find some photographers, tourists,campers and locals, pulling out lawn chairs and binoculars, long lenses and cameras,and settling in for the show that takes place every night come rain or shine, whether there is an audience or not.

Some of them bring refreshments, and even I-Pods to supply their own personal soundtrack to the aerial ballet that seems to begin sharply at 7:00PM.

It is at that time that hundreds of Turkey Vultures descend from the thermals they ride on the high canyon rim to roost for the night in two trees located on the Palo Duro Creek bed.



By sunset two trees are filled with the huge squawking arguing beasts all vying to be on the top-most limbs (seems politics does exist in the buzzard world) but no matter how ugly these winged carrion eaters look like up close, in the sky (as they circle down from the heights to their night digs in the lowly draw,) their grace rivals any of the dancers in Paul Green's play underway just up the canyon.

Its quite a show and at sunset it can be spectacular as well. It takes over two hours for all the vultures to auger down unto their night tree and it seems they come from all over the Panhandle because you can see large groups of them heading into the canyon from over the far rims.

There also seems to be some kind of unspoken communication going on between the buzzards. One can't help but imagine some kind of vulture "air traffic control" channel because their approaches to land seem very coordinated.

First the older birds, the grand-old-buzzards land. No doubt from years of experience and knowing the sooner one roosts the more prime the roosting location. one gets

Late comers sometimes end up roosting on the ground or on flimsy branches that break in high wind, and no self-respecting buzzard wants to take wing in the pitch dark searching for another place to spend the night, especially during one of the infamous gully-washers that happen down in the canyon.

Worst case scenario is they have to land on the ground, where coyotes and raccoons lurk, drawn to them by their pungent (and rather far reaching) Eau-de-road-kill natural perfume that only a mother buzzard could love.



Next seem to be (what I call) the baby-boomer buzzards who fly precision approaches and waste no time arcing down out of the sky to land gracefully on their chosen tree limb and then= just before the last light of the setting sun is gone, come the "newbie buzzards" the teenagers and tweens who seem to cruise the thermals on the southwest rim of the canyon until the very last moment, like human kids playing kick-the-can until that inevitable holler from mom telling them to get their keesters home.

Can't say I blame the teen-buzzards. Cruising the canyon walls does remind me of my ill-spent youth cruising Polk Street, but I digress.

In any event the teenagers are the more curious. It's clear to the audience they are taking their own sweet time spiraling down - with some of them actually flying low over the ground-trodding humans and probably wondering how we can stand being mired to the earth.

So if you get the chance (and soon before the buzzards begin to migrate to warmer winter climates down in Southeast Texas) grab your lawn chair and a soda, load up your I-Pod (with your favorite songs to watch buzzards by) pay the $5.00 park entry fee (or better yet get a season pass) and enjoy the buzzard air show.

Like the play TEXAS! everyone should experience it at least once.

-Steve Douglass

PS: click to enlarge the photos.

No storms - time for other photography!

The following were taken in Palo Duro Canyon.
I hope you enjoy them.

-Steve

Special thanks to Dale & Shelley for letting me tag along on their PDC treks.

Palo Duro Canyon - strata

The sky is falling ..

Now I know why it rains ...

Partly Cloud

I guess New Yorkers never see mammatus clouds