Epic Voltage!

A totally epic thunderstorm blew into Amarillo last night. I had never seen so many bolts. My guess it averaged three or four bolts a minute. Here are just a few I shot from the Claude Highway looking south.

-Steve Douglass

Click to enlarge:

I saw this row of utility poles getting slammed. Shot with a telephoto from the back seat of my car with the camera mounted on a tripod. Exposure was in the neighborhood of a minute at F/32. ISO 50






After I came home (around 10 PM) and after a quick change of batteries, I went out again unable to resist having another go at the light-show going on to our SE.



While I was shooting - I kept hearing a "thump" under my car whenever the thunder was particularly loud. Eventually the creature taking cover under my Saturn revealed himself - a jack rabbit had taken refuge under my vehicle. He looked scared out of his wits.

Tower strike

Photographed near Ascension Academy last PM.


-Steve Douglass

Weird skies

I captured these weird-looking "wave clouds" coming into SW Amarillo this afternoon. As wicked as they looked- all they did was drop a few sprinkles.

Thunderstorms at sunset ...

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(C) Steve Douglass

Tornado risk today!

...THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS THROUGH EARLY TONIGHT FROM THE
TX PANHANDLE/SW KS TO THE MID MS VALLEY...

...TX PANHANDLE INTO SW KS THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING...
A BROAD CLOSED LOW HAS FORMED OVER THE LOWER CO RIVER VALLEY...WITH
A BELT OF 30-50 KT SSWLY MIDLEVEL FLOW EXTENDING OVER THE
SRN/CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS TO THE E OF THE LOW. AT THE SURFACE...A
COLD FRONT IS MOVING SWD ACROSS SE CO AND WRN/CENTRAL KS...AIDED BY
OUTFLOW FROM THE OVERNIGHT MCS IN NEB. THE SWD MOVEMENT OF THE
FRONT/OUTFLOW IS EXPECTED TO SLOW BY AFTERNOON ACROSS THE NRN TX
PANHANDLE INTO SW KS IN THE MERIDIONAL FLOW REGIME...AND
THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT IS EXPECTED LATE THIS AFTERNOON ALONG THE
FRONT. A NARROW CORRIDOR OF SUFFICIENT DEEP-LAYER SHEAR AND
INSTABILITY FOR SUPERCELLS IS EXPECTED WHERE THE ERN FRINGE OF THE
STRONGER MID-UPPER FLOW OVERLAPS THE SURFACE FRONT AND THE NW EDGE
OF THE UNSTABLE WARM SECTOR /MLCAPE VALUES 2000-3500 J PER KG/.

Severe risk today ...

NORTHEAST NM/TX PANHANDLE...
SHORTWAVE TROUGH OVER CO NOTED IN W/V IMAGERY WILL TRACK EASTWARD
AND PROMOTE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON OVER PARTS OF
SOUTHERN CO/NORTHERN NM. THESE STORMS WILL EMERGE INTO THE HIGH
PLAINS BY EARLY EVENING...WHERE STEEP LAPSE RATES AND INCREASING
MOISTURE WILL BE PRESENT. ISOLATED SUPERCELL STORMS ARE POSSIBLE
THROUGH THE EVENING WITH A RISK OF LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.

Suspicious - lowering.

Looking toward Claude last night from Nw of Amarillo. This is not a tornado but what storm chasers call "a suspicious lowering: Inflow feeding into the storm. There was some slight mid-level rotation with this storm, but because of dry air at the surface they were high-based.

-Steve Douglass

Wow!

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