Today's Windstorm

Major Awesomeness over PDC.

Beautiful storm over Palo Duro Canyon today.

-Steve

Click to enlarge - please!

Bird Chase?

I was out chasing a storm south of the city this afternoon (over PDC) and I caught this guy flying alongside my car so I took his photo.

Enjoy!

-Steve

Towers & Towers

Thunder & Lightning PDC

Here is some video of lightning on the South rim of Palo Duro Canyon taken last night before the bottom fell out of the sky and nearly drowned us.

Eye level storm

Before I went chasing yesterday I happened to be in the Amarillo Club (doing some photography for a client) and I glanced out the window and saw the storm building on the West side of Amarillo.

What a great opportunity to photograph a storm from a different perspective!

I'd love to shoot some nigh-time lightning shots from up there.

- Steve

Today's Severe Forecast

AREAS AFFECTED...SERN CO / SWRN KS / NWRN TX AND WRN OK PNHDLS

CONCERNING...SEVERE POTENTIAL...WATCH LIKELY

VALID 141805Z - 141930Z

THE THREAT FOR SEVERE STORMS INCLUDING SUPERCELLS IS EXPECTED TO
INCREASE THIS AFTERNOON. CONVECTIVE TRENDS ARE BEING MONITORED FOR
A WW.

LATEST MESOANALYSIS INDICATED DEEPENING SURFACE LOW OVER FAR NERN NM
WITH AN ASSOCIATED WSW-ENE ORIENTED BOUNDARY INTENSIFYING ACROSS
CNTRL KS. TO THE S...A DRYLINE WAS RAPIDLY MIXING EWD THROUGH ERN
NM...WHILE A WARM FRONT /DELINEATING OUTFLOW BOUNDARY FROM SATURDAY
STORMS/ WAS RETREATING NWD THROUGH THE TX PNHDL.

FORECAST IS COMPLEX TODAY OWING TO THE NEWD TRANSLATION OF A LEAD
IMPULSE CURRENTLY OVER THE TX PNHDL INTO WRN OK...AND THE EARLY NEWD
EJECTION OF PRIMARY SHORT WAVE TROUGH THROUGH CNTRL INTO NERN NM.
AS A RESULT...STRONG DEEP-LAYER FORCING FOR ASCENT IS ALREADY
BEGINNING TO OVERSPREAD DISCUSSION AREA PRIOR TO PEAK AIR MASS
DESTABILIZATION. CONSIDERABLE CLOUDINESS ASSOCIATED WITH BOTH
DISTURBANCES WILL RESTRICT DIABATIC HEATING ACROSS THE REGION THIS
AFTERNOON. NONETHELESS...THE PRESENCE OF STEEP MIDLEVEL LAPSE RATES
AND MODEST BOUNDARY LAYER MOISTURE WILL CONTRIBUTE TO POCKETS OF
MODERATE INSTABILITY WHERE MLCAPE WILL APPROACH 1000-2000 J/KG.

GIVEN THE RAPID ARRIVAL OF THE DYNAMIC FORCING ATTENDANT TO PRIMARY
MIDLEVEL TROUGH...EXPECT STORMS TO GRADUALLY INCREASE IN COVERAGE
AND INTENSITY THIS AFTERNOON ALONG THE FRONT RANGE AS WELL AS INVOF
SURFACE LOW AND ABOVE-MENTIONED BOUNDARIES. ABQ VWPS SHOWS A 50 KT
JET STREAK ACCOMPANYING SHORT WAVE TROUGH IN THE MIDLEVELS WHICH
WILL CONTRIBUTE TO MORE THAN SUFFICIENT DEEP-LAYER SHEAR FOR
SUPERCELLS. WHILE LARGE HAIL WILL BE THE PRIMARY SEVERE THREAT...A
TORNADO OR TWO WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH ANY SUPERCELLS THAT CAN
EFFECTIVELY UTILIZE AVAILABLE BOUNDARIES AND CONVECTIVE INSTABILITY.

..MEAD.. 06/14/2009


ATTN...WFO...DDC...GLD...AMA...PUB...BOU...

Leader up a guy wire.

Ii was talking to my brother Paul last night about this photo I took a week back of a nearby lightning strike and a small "leader" bolt I caught arcing up the guy-wire on a telephone pole.


These "sympathetic" bolts arc off nearby wires all the time, but the main strike is usually so bright we don't see them.

Not the best lightning photo - but interesting.

-Steve

Super Cell On Hwy 60

Almost ...

Looking north of the Pantex Plant this evening. This storm kept cycling and producing very short lived wall clouds and brief funnels. Vortex 2 was all over this amazing storm but alas, for all its beauty it only managed one weak funnel.

I'll post more later.

-Steve

Who are you? Hoo! Hoo!

See Storm - See Serpent

I was out chasing our dust storm today, found myself on the east side of town on a county road (shooting the storm) when the wind suddenly died and I became aware of this buzzing sound pretty close to me. The hairs on the back of my neck suddenly stood on end when my brain finally realized what it was.I found this slithery fellow coiled up and about a foot and a half away from me. I slowly backed away took a few photos and let him be.

Luckily he was pretty sluggish (cold from the rain) and not too aggressive, so i was able to get fairly close. I wouldn't have heard him if the wind hadn't died.

-Steve

Super Cell - Super Night.

Yesterday's dry-line made for some very photogenic storms- especially to our Northwest. I just love it when a storm cooperates and all the ingredients come together (except for a tornado) and provide for a spectacular display of Mother Natures power.

I must of shot 300 frames yesterday. Here are just a few.

Fun with funnels!

Surprise - surprise. We had an actual tornado warning in Amarillo this evening. I caught these two photos of a brief land spout funnel over southwest Amarillo that prompted the warning. I shot these looking West from about 34th and Teckla.

Alien Sky

The clouds looked unworldly tonight and made this common street lamp look like something out of War of the Worlds.

I'll post more tomorrow.

-Steve

Possible chase day Tuesday.

..CNTRL/SRN PLAINS...

BOUNDARY LAYER DEWPOINTS IN THE 50S TO LOWER 60S WILL COINCIDE WITH
EML/STEEP LAPSE RATE PLUME WITH A MODERATELY UNSTABLE AIR MASS
DEVELOPING BY AFTERNOON AHEAD OF COLD FRONT. THE COMBINATION OF
FRONTAL ASCENT AND DEEP-LAYER FORCING ASSOCIATED WITH SLOW-MOVING
VORTICITY MAXIMUM MOVING ACROSS THE REGION SHOULD FOSTER SCATTERED
TO NUMEROUS TSTMS ALONG BOUNDARY THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING
HOURS. WHILE ENVIRONMENT WILL REMAIN ONLY MARGINALLY SHEARED...THE
STRONGER STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF DAMAGING WINDS AND HAIL GIVEN THE
PRESENCE OF THE STEEP LAPSE RATES AND ANTICIPATED EVOLUTION TO LINE
SEGMENTS OR A LINEAR CONVECTIVE SYSTEM.

Severe No - Pretty Yes

We had a storm system (cold front) sweep through the Texas Panhandle today. At sunset we had some amazing technicolor clouds off the the east and then when the cold front swept through we had a good lightning storm sweep through the city
This first shot was made north of Amarillo looking toward some cauliflower storms to our NE.



Shot with a Nikon D-70s/300 mm zoom and a 2X converter to compress the foreground house and trees and the storm in the background.

Here's anquite accidental and strange shot I took when the storm moved into Amarillo . I was trying to shoot some lightning (using a 30 sec exposure) but forgot to turn of my flash. When the flash fired it froze the raindrops and then a big flash of lightning streaked in the sky behind the rain.

It made for an interesting image.

Canon Pro-1



Here's another frozen rain photograph but this time I purposely set my flash up to try and capture the falling drops.

I set the focus about one foot in front of the lens.

.

Popcorn Storms

Beautiful, but non severe, these "popcorn storms" keep popping up and dying down all over the Texas Panhandle. On average they last 45 minutes to an hour, drop a little rain, maybe some small hail and then die. Here are a couple in the building stages before they were whisked away by the Monsoonal winds.

-Steve Douglass

Electrifying!

We may not have any storms, but apparently someone has had some doozies!

This storm pictures was taken yesterday morning in Cape Town, South Africa.

It was sent to me by Linda Vanreenan. She lives here in Amarillo, but has friends and family in Cape Town and knows my passion for lightning photos.

Thanks Linda!

Nothing severe but maybe photogenic storms?

DAY 1 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
0219 PM CDT FRI MAY 22 2009

VALID 222000Z - 231200Z

...NO SVR TSTM AREAS FORECAST...

HAVE GREATLY EXPANDED THUNDER POTENTIAL ACROSS MUCH OF TX BASED ON
WWD MOISTURE SURGE AND DEEPENING CONVECTION OVER PORTIONS OF THE
HILL COUNTRY. ADDITIONALLY...ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS HAVE EVOLVED
ACROSS PARTS OF OK AND THIS AREA WILL BE ADDED TO THUNDER AS WELL.

FARTHER NORTH ACROSS THE UPPER MS VALLEY...WELL DEFINED UPPER
VORT/SHORTWAVE TROUGH IS SHEARING EAST ACROSS MANITOBA INTO NWRN
ONTARIO. THUNDERSTORMS ARE DEVELOPING SWWD ALONG TRAILING COLD
FRONT INTO NWRN MN/NERN ND AND THIS ACTIVITY SHOULD SPREAD ACROSS
NRN MN INTO THE EVENING HOURS. MOST CONCENTRATED ACTIVITY IS
EXPECTED TO REMAIN NORTH OF THE BORDER WHERE LARGE SCALE FORCING IS
GREATER.

OTHERWISE...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD DEVELOP OVER PARTS OF ERN WY
LATER THIS AFTERNOON AS LOW LEVEL LAPSE RATES CONTINUE TO STEEPEN
ALONG FAVORED ZONE OF CONVERGENCE.

..DARROW.. 05/22/2009

.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 1114 AM CDT FRI MAY 22 2009/

ANOTHER QUIET CONVECTIVE DAY IS EXPECTED TODAY ACROSS MUCH OF THE
UNITED STATES AS STRONG WESTERLIES ARE CONFINED TO THE NORTHERN TIER
OF STATES...AND RICH LOW LEVEL MOISTURE ONLY RESIDES OVER THE
SOUTHEAST REGION. SCATTERED AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED
OVER THE GULF COAST STATES IN ASSOCIATION WITH BROAD UPPER LOW OFF
IN THE CENTRAL GULF. HOWEVER...EXTENSIVE CLOUDS AND WEAK LAPSE
RATES WILL COMBINE WITH MARGINAL VERTICAL SHEAR TO SUPPRESS
ORGANIZED SEVERE STORMS.

...NEB/SD/WY...
WEAK EASTERLY/UPSLOPE LOW LEVEL FLOW IS FORECAST TO DEVELOP OVER
WESTERN NEB AND EASTERN WY THIS AFTERNOON. THIS WILL HELP TO
TRANSPORT SLIGHTLY MORE MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS INTO HIGHER
TERRAIN OF EASTERN WY...WHERE CONCENSUS OF MESOSCALE AND OPERATIONAL
MODELS DEVELOP SCATTERED STORMS. THESE STORMS MAY DEVELOP EASTWARD
INTO WESTERN NEB DURING THE EVENING. WEAK FLOW ALOFT WILL RESULT IN
SLOW MOVING MULTICELL CLUSTERS CAPABLE OF SOME HAIL.