Photographed near Ascension Academy last PM.
-Steve Douglass
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
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.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Saturday, June 12, 2010
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/.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
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.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
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
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
The Maelstrom
CLICK TO ENLARGE
With no storms to chase tonight - I spent most of this evening editing this image in Photoshop. It was shot Monday night as the severe storms raked the city and the sirens were sounding.
When I first uploaded it into my Mac - I saw it had potential - but it had major problems. It was filled with electromagnetic noise (due to the lightning) underexposed in parts of the image and because the clouds were in motion during the 15 second exposure parts of it were blurred.
I knew it would take some serious work in CS-4 but If I could bring out of the mess the epic scene I beheld with my more sensitive eyes - it would be worth it.
- I spent over three hours "fixing" bringing out of the digital -muck this final view of that amazing storm.
I call it "The Maelstrom" and gives you a good idea what was going on in the skies over Amarillo that caused us to all lose so much sleep.
SAVE A STARVING PHOTOGRAPHER - BUY THIS PRINT!
-Steve Douglass
With no storms to chase tonight - I spent most of this evening editing this image in Photoshop. It was shot Monday night as the severe storms raked the city and the sirens were sounding.
When I first uploaded it into my Mac - I saw it had potential - but it had major problems. It was filled with electromagnetic noise (due to the lightning) underexposed in parts of the image and because the clouds were in motion during the 15 second exposure parts of it were blurred.
I knew it would take some serious work in CS-4 but If I could bring out of the mess the epic scene I beheld with my more sensitive eyes - it would be worth it.
- I spent over three hours "fixing" bringing out of the digital -muck this final view of that amazing storm.
I call it "The Maelstrom" and gives you a good idea what was going on in the skies over Amarillo that caused us to all lose so much sleep.
SAVE A STARVING PHOTOGRAPHER - BUY THIS PRINT!
-Steve Douglass
The little jet and the giant face ..
A thunderhead, that popped up yesterday evening, appears to be looking up at a high-altitude jet.
-Steve Douglass
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
In so little time ...
This sequence of photos (taken five minutes apart) show how fast a few clouds can turn into a storm. Photographed over SW Amarillo last PM.
- Steve Douglass
Cloud shadows.
One thing I love about storm is how their color and dimensionality interact. In this photo, the small cloud towers growing in the foreground (left bottom) cast a giant shadow on the super-cell thunderstorm in the background.
- Steve Douglass
Bloody sky ...
Sodium vapor lights on Loop 335 tinge the approaching storm blood-red.
-Steve Douglass
-Steve Douglass
Moon Lightning.
It's rare that you can catch a lightning storm and the moon in the same shot.
I shot this from Farmers Lane - just before all hell broke loose.
I'll post more tomorrow.
-Steve Douglass
Monday, May 24, 2010
A great e-book about tornadoes for your kids!
Hello!
I'm proud to announce that my first e-book written for 5 to 10 year olds is now on sale for the Amazon Kindle and (or) for download as a Adobe Acrobat file for your PC or Mac!
Mekay's 1st life is the story of a little girl, he grandfather, a farm cat named Mekay and their encounter with coyotes and tornadoes.
Read more about it HERE.
I hope you'll consider buying Mekay's 1st Life!
-Steve Douglass
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
Video highlights- last night's storm chase.
The storms that blew up near Claude weren't tornadic- but they sure were beautiful. I'll post some photos soon.
Slight risk today ...
.THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS OVER PORTIONS OF THE LOWER OH
VALLEY ACROSS THE TN VALLEY TO THE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST...
...THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS FROM SERN WY AND ADJACENT AREAS
OF SD AND NEB SOUTH ACROSS ERN CO AND THE SRN HIGH PLAINS...
...SYNOPSIS...
MID LEVEL FLOW WILL REMAIN QUITE AMPLIFIED ACROSS THE CONUS INTO THE
WEEKEND AS ONE WELL-DEFINED DISTURBANCE MOVES ACROSS THE MIDWEST
THROUGH TODAY AND ANOTHER SUBSTANTIAL TROUGH DEEPENS OVER THE WEST
AND ROCKIES. TRANSIENT RIDGING WILL MOVE FROM THE PLAINS TO THE MS
VALLEY THIS PERIOD.
...CNTRL/SRN HIGH PLAINS...
ANOTHER STRONG SHORT WAVE TROUGH COMING ACROSS THE CA/ORE COAST THIS
MORNING WILL ROTATE THROUGH THE LARGER-SCALE TROUGH ESTABLISHED
ACROSS THE WEST THROUGH TONIGHT. MID LEVEL SWLY FLOW IS FORECAST TO
STRENGTHEN ACROSS ROCKIES AND ADJACENT HIGH PLAINS THROUGH THIS
AFTERNOON AS LEE CYCLOGENESIS OCCURS OVER WY/CO. LOW LEVEL MOISTURE
...CURRENTLY MARGINAL FOR DEEP CONVECTION...WILL INCREASE NWWD AS
PRESSURE FALLS COMMENCE IN EARNEST LATER THIS MORNING AND LOW LEVEL
SELY FLOW STRENGTHENS. COMBINED WITH BOUNDARY LAYER HEATING AND
STEEPENING LAPSE RATES ALOFT...EXPECT A GENERALLY N-S AXIS OF
INSTABILITY TO DEVELOP WITH MLCAPE VALUES RANGING FROM ABOUT 500
J/KG ACROSS SERN WY...TO AS HIGH AS 2000 J/KG OVER PARTS OF TX.
LACK OF STRONGER DESTABILIZATION WITH NWWD EXTENT WILL MOST LIKELY
BE COMPENSATED FOR BY STRONG DYNAMIC FORCING FOR ASCENT WITH THE
APPROACHING SHORT WAVE...AS WELL AS OROGRAPHIC/UPSLOPE FLOW. THESE
INFLUENCES WILL LEAD TO THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT...FIRST OVER THE
HIGHER TERRAIN TO THE WEST...AND THEN SPREADING EAST INTO AXIS OF
MODEST INSTABILITY FROM SERN WY ACROSS NERN CO. PRONOUNCED SPEED
SHEAR...AS WELL AS STRONG DIRECTIONAL SHEAR LOWER IN THE STORM
UPDRAFT WILL LEAD TO ROTATING CELLS CAPABLE OF VERY LARGE HAIL AND
PERHAPS A COUPLE OF TORNADOES.
FARTHER SOUTH ALONG THE DRY LINE...FROM SERN CO TO WEST TX/ERN
NM...STORM INITIATION BECOMES MORE UNCERTAIN. LACK OF STRONGER
HEIGHT FALLS/FORCING AND DEGREE OF CONVECTIVE INHIBITION SUGGEST
THAT STORM DEVELOPMENT WILL BE ISOLATED ALONG THIS AXIS. CONSENSUS
EXISTS AMONG HIGH RESOLUTION MODELS AND THE NAM THAT SURFACE HEATING
AND WEAK BACKGROUND ASCENT MAY BE ADEQUATE FOR AT LEAST A COUPLE OF
STORMS TO INITIATE...ESPECIALLY FROM TX PNHDL SOUTH TO NEAR THE
PECOS RIVER. SHEAR PROFILES WILL BE SUPPORTIVE OF SUPERCELLS AND
LARGE HAIL SHOULD BE THE PRIMARY HAZARD FROM THIS ACTIVITY THAT MAY
DECAY RATHER QUICKLY AFTER DARK.
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