Saturday, July 28, 2012

Golden Outflow

This past Thursday we had a compact meso low bearing HP-like (high precipitation) structure drop through the region. It was unique in the sense that despite having little moisture to work with (50 deg. dews at the airport coupled with the drought), this mitigating factor helped contribute to a unique photographic experience when light met cloud. Cyclic in nature and riding its own outflow boundary, on passage, winds kicked up to just below severe criteria which was equally unexpected and very dusty. Per the sixth image when this was occurring, you can imagine my awe to be watching dirt and small debris being lofted as high as the whistling power lines while basking in golden light hence the title of this entry. With no cloud interference on the western horizon, the waning daylight enabled the not oft sight of a back lit shelf cloud to be observed as any rainfall was confined up in the immediate core. Once the gust front passed which typically signifies the death of the storm cell, it wrapped up into an even more compact HP supercell as grand finale with mid level rotation easily discerned visually. A small wall cloud could be seen buried in the core of precipitation at its peak before flattening out with the loss of diurnal heating. 360 degrees of color on a drive taking me roughly 15 minutes from home.





























2 comments:

Suz said...

awesome Paul

Dann Cianca said...

Wait, are you sure you weren't photographing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?