Pumpkin patch - Etter, Texas

In October - sometimes the wind doesn't blow....

-  and then the balloons go up.

click to enlarge

(C) Steve Douglass

Severe weather scenario for Amarillo & vicinity

Moon over the mesa

(C) Steve Douglass

Storms bring welcome rain - and a little damage to Amarillo area

AMARILLO.COM "Area thunderstorms graced the Texas Panhandle with much-needed moisture without too much reported damage Wednesday evening, National Weather Service Amarillo meteorologist Lance Goehring said.

 About 7 p.m., the weather service recorded 0.39 of an inch of rain at Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport, 0.47 of an inch northwest of Canyon, 0.09 of an inch six miles northwest of Fritch, 0.26 of an inch southeast of Pampa, 0.06 of an inch in Hereford and 0.44 of an inch in Bootleg, Goehring said. Residents reported wind damage at Southeast Park Complex at Southeast 46th Avenue and South Osage Street with at least one utility pole snapped and a tree uprooted, but no injuries were reported, Goehring said.

 Xcel Energy spokesman Wes Reeves reported 800 houses lost power in the Borger and Fritch areas Wednesday evening, but crews restored power to those houses in about an hour. The weather service warned of high winds, hail and flooding Wednesday afternoon as severe thunderstorms hovered above Potter and Randall counties, meteorologist Andrew Moulton said. “We’ve gotten reports of what we believe to be at least quarter-sized hail near (the Tradewinds area),” Moulton said. “We’ve measured over 60 mph winds in multiple locations, especially east of the city.” Residents also reported flash flooding near Westgate Mall, he said.

 READ MORE AT AMARILLO.COM

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Sunset in an old barn

Photographed on the east side of Amarillo
Photo by Steve Douglass

Wall cloud capture from last night's storm in Amarillo

Video still from the storm that caused wind damage and flooding in Amarillo last night. This was shot just east of Bushland of an isolated cell that was ahead of the line that may have been briefly tornadic.

Photo by Steve Douglass

Link to VIDEO here!

I never tire of shooting windmills ...

July storm at sunset

A dying storm cradles the setting West Texas Sun one more time before it slips behind the far horizon.

Click to enlarge
Photo (C) Steve Douglass

Popcorn storm July, 4th, 2012

Click to enlarge:

Amazing wonderful epic mammatus tonight over Amarillo

Photo (c) Steve Douglass

Annular Solar Eclipse: Happy Texas

All photos (C) Steve Douglass

Panhandle storms

Significant sever weather risk today - especially Tuila/Plainview area

..CENTRAL/SOUTHERN PLAINS... WIDESPREAD THUNDERSTORMS HAVE BEEN ONGOING OVERNIGHT ACROSS PARTS OF KS/OK/MO. THESE STORMS HAVE RESULTED IN A WELL-DEFINED OUTFLOW BOUNDARY THAT EXTENDS ROUGHLY FROM AMA-SPS-ADM-FSM. EASTERLY LOW LEVEL WINDS ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE BOUNDARY WILL HELP TO TRANSPORT AMPLE MOISTURE WESTWARD INTO THE TX PANHANDLE. MOST MODEL SOLUTIONS AGREE ON STORMS FORMING ALONG THE DRYLINE/REMNANT OUTFLOW BOUNDARY BETWEEN 19-22Z...AS A WEAK SHORTWAVE TROUGH NOW NEAR THE 4-CORNERS AREA APPROACHES THE REGION. THE 12Z AMA RAOB ALSO SUPPORTS RATHER EARLY INITIATION WITH STEEP LAPSE RATES AND ONLY A MINIMAL CAP. STRONG DEEP LAYER EFFECTIVE SHEAR AND MEAN FLOW ORTHOGONAL TO DRYLINE WILL PROMOTE DISCRETE SUPERCELL DEVELOPMENT WITH VERY LARGE HAIL POSSIBLE. THE TORNADO POTENTIAL WILL BE DEPENDENT ON THE EVOLUTION OF THE REMNANT OUTFLOW BOUNDARY...BUT THERE DOES APPEAR TO BE SOME RISK OF A FEW TORNADOES DURING THE EVENING FROM SOUTHWEST KS INTO THE TX PANHANDLE AND SOUTHWEST OK. DURING THE EVENING...STORMS MAY GROW UPSCALE AND SPREAD EASTWARD ACROSS PORTIONS OF WESTERN/CENTRAL OK WITH AN CONTINUED RISK OF HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS.

Epic West Texas Thunderstorm

I had a nice chase with storm chaser Brady Kendrick yesterday. No tornadoes but we intercept this beautiful thunderstorm in NE of Panhandle last night.


Epic skies in NorthWest Texas!
Click to enlarge photos.

(C) Steve Douglass

Major tornado outbreak forecast tomorrow!

..SRN AND CNTRL PLAINS...
AN IMPRESSIVE UPPER-LEVEL LOW WILL MOVE EWD ACROSS FOUR CORNERS
REGION SATURDAY AS A POWERFUL 90 TO 110 KT MID-LEVEL JET EJECTS NEWD
INTO THE SRN AND CNTRL PLAINS. AHEAD OF THE SYSTEM...A CORRIDOR OF
MODERATE TO STRONG INSTABILITY IS FORECAST ACROSS ECNTRL KS...CNTRL
OK INTO NW TX. THIS COMBINED WITH STEEP MID-LEVEL LAPSE RATES AND
STRONG LOW-LEVEL SHEAR WILL BE VERY FAVORABLE FOR SEVERE STORMS AND
A TORNADO OUTBREAK WILL BE LIKELY ACROSS THE SRN AND CNTRL PLAINS
FROM LATE SATURDAY AFTERNOON LASTING THROUGH THE EVENING AND INTO
THE OVERNIGHT PERIOD.

Amazing huge hail storm and flooding on US Highway 287 North of Amarillo: Video-photos!

Photo courtesy National Weather Service Amarillo:

Rotating supercell thunderstorm North of Amarillo 4-9-2012

(C) Steve Douglass

Severe weather forecast for Aril, 09, 2012

..THERE IS A SLGT RISK OF SVR TSTMS THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT
FOR WRN OK AND NW TX...

...WRN OK/NW TX AREA THROUGH TONIGHT...
A DIFFUSE FRONT EXTENDS FROM NRN OK INTO SW KS...WITH BOUNDARY LAYER
DEWPOINTS OF 56-60 F REPRESENTATIVE OF THE TX/OK WARM SECTOR N OF
I-10. ALOFT...THE LARGE SCALE RIDGE EXTENDS FROM FAR W TX NNWWD TO
THE NRN ROCKIES...THOUGH AN EMBEDDED/SUBTLE SPEED MAX IS EXPECTED TO
CREST THE RIDGE IN CO TODAY AND MOVE SEWD OVER OK TONIGHT. DAYTIME
HEATING/MIXING WILL HELP CONSOLIDATE A DRYLINE ACROSS THE
CENTRAL/ERN TX PANHANDLE THIS AFTERNOON. THE PRIMARY FOCUS FOR
THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT WILL BE THE DRYLINE/FRONT IN ADVANCE OF THE
SUBTLE SPEED MAX THIS AFTERNOON...WITH STORMS EXPECTED TO SPREAD
SEWD ACROSS WRN/CENTRAL OK AND NW TX OVERNIGHT.

MODIFIED FORECAST AND OBSERVED SOUNDINGS SUPPORT AFTERNOON MLCAPE
VALUES NEAR 1500 J/KG AS A RESULT OF THE MODEST LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE
BENEATH MIDLEVEL LAPSE RATES OF 8.5 C/KM. MEANWHILE...VERTICAL
SHEAR PROFILES ARE FORECAST TO BE FAVORABLE FOR SSEWD-MOVING
SUPERCELLS WITH NWLY EFFECTIVE-BULK SHEAR OF 35-45 KT. LOW-LEVEL
SHEAR WILL BE STRONGEST INVOF THE SURFACE FRONT ACROSS NW OK THIS
AFTERNOON...WHERE EFFECTIVE SRH COULD APPROACH 200 M2/S2.

THE GENERAL SCENARIO IS FOR STORMS TO FORM AROUND 21Z NEAR THE
DRYLINE/FRONT INTERSECTION AND THEN SPREAD SEWD THROUGH THE EVENING.
DISCRETE SUPERCELLS WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THE INITIAL
DEVELOPMENT...WITH AN ATTENDANT RISK FOR VERY LARGE HAIL AND A
COUPLE OF TORNADOES. LATER THIS EVENING INTO TONIGHT...CONVECTION
WILL TEND TO GROW UPSCALE INTO A CLUSTER OR TWO...AIDED BY A 30 KT
SSWLY LLJ AND ASSOCIATED WARM ADVECTION. THE RISK FOR AT LEAST
ISOLATED LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS WILL PERSIST WELL INTO
TONIGHT.

...FAR W TX/SE NM THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING...
BOUNDARY LAYER DEWPOINTS IN THE 40S TO NEAR 50 HAVE SPREAD WWD INTO
FAR W TX/SE NM. THE 12Z EL PASO SOUNDING SUPPORTS THE POTENTIAL FOR
HIGH-BASED STORM DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTERNOON NEAR AND JUST E OF THE
HIGHER TERRAIN. MLCAPE APPROACHING 1000 J/KG AND EFFECTIVE BULK
SHEAR NEAR 25 KT SUGGEST SOME RISK FOR ISOLATED HAIL/STRONG WIND
GUSTS.

..THOMPSON/ROGERS.. 04/09/2012