New Storm Chasing Blog...

I decided to start a blog specifically for my storm chasing. I will no longer be posting the chase reports on this blog. I will however, be posting highlight photographs and a link to the storm chasing blog. Be sure to subscribe to learn about possible chases and I also have a live stream link in there as well and now you can follow along on a chase.

Thanks.

-Ben

Majestic Noise

Have You Picked Up Your WFLAR Today?...



The new edition of the Wichita Falls Literature and Art Review.

My photography is featured in this season's edition of the Wichita Falls Literature and Art Review Magazine. If you haven't heard about the WFLAR you can find out more information and where to pick one up here.



My biography page in the WFLAR. Elisabeth Hawley captured these images during a meeting of the Red River Photography Club. We were discussing portraiture lighting and yours truly was the unfortunate model. LOL!

This season features 100+ pages of captivating photography, inspiring poetry/prose, and insightful articles all from local Wichita Falls artists. I was not the only photographer featured in this WFLAR. Mark Moody, Elisabeth Hawley, and Richard Carter, are just a few of the several photographers showcasing their images. The WFLAR is a great non profit organization promoting literature and art in the community. I plan to submit more images for the next edition.

These images were featured in the WFLAR. All of them were full page (double truck) spreads. Storm on the Plains, Storms..., and Rotating Wall Cloud Hamlin, TX. 







Cloud Formations Thanks to Hermine...

As I mentioned in my previous blog post, Tropical depression Hermine came through our forecast area. In fact the central area of circulation was over my home town, Wichita Falls, TX. Extensive cloud cover and precipitation limited instability. Therefore, the SPC was not too worried about severe weather. Low level shear profiles would support an isolated, weak tornado threat. This was enough to get me interested in a chase. I originally targeted Gainsesville, TX. I did get diverted to some developing storms near Jacksboro and Montague, TX. I should have stuck with my original target. Around 7:30pm a report came in of a brief tornado touchdown two miles north of Lindsay, TX! Oh well, that is how it goes sometimes. Though I didn't capture the tornado I still came back with some decent photos.

Hopefully we will have another chase before winter.

Thanks for viewing.

-Ben

Outside of Henrietta, TX on US 82 I saw this scene with the desolate barn, rolled up hay bales, and feeder bands from Hermine. I had to pull over to capture this image.
Sunlight! The sun briefly came out and thunderstorms started to form along the feeder bands.

We had an incredible amount of moisture. Our dewpoints reached a max of 76! The result was very low bases. In this picture you can see how close the ragged base is to the Texas prairie.

Towers start to form in the feeder bands.

I really liked this capture. Beautiful front light created a very contrasty sky. I only wish the power lines weren't there, Grrr...

Wider shot to reveal all the unique cloud formations.

More Storms this Week?...

Visible satellite image of tropical storm Hermine.

Infrared image of Hermine

Tropical storm Hermine is forecast to make its way through a portion of the southern plains from Monday-Thursday. The storm currently has a max winds at 60mph and is moving at about 15mph. While all the models show the storm breaking apart after it hits land, Hermine will still bring a substantial amount of tropical moisture. Thunderstorms are forecast from Tuesday night-Thursday morning for our area. Should be interesting to see what develops. Severe weather doesn't seem very likely right now due to the lack of CAPE on all the model runs. I should be off on Wednesday this week and I will try to do some chasing. Right now it looks like the largest threat is going to be flooding.

NWS Graphicast depicting Hermine's path. Note how it should be right over us Wednesday afternoon.


The SPC is not saying much for severe weather at this time. Inconsistencies in the model runs make it difficult to predict the severe potential. The have issued a Day 3 "See Text" which usually indicates a less than 5% probability of severe weather.

09/02/10 Severe Thunderstorms in Wichita Coutny...

Satellite image of Hurricane Earl passing to the east of North Carolina. Earl was partly responsible for our thunderstorms we had this week.

9/2/10:

A cold front was forecast to advance through our forecast area. Tropical moisture had also moved in our area thanks to Hurricane Earl. This spawned off scattered thunderstorms during the afternoon. The cold front caught up to these storms and formed into a squall line late evening. I was working at Radioshack and I remember hearing our display of weather radios all going off warning us about the severe weather on the way. There was a high wind report during this time, so I was unable to observe it, but I did watch the storm advance and got a few good gusts myself. Here is my quick report.

Thanks.

-Ben

Radar image of the squall line. This was about 10min after the high wind report.

Velocity scan shows a very outflow dominant storm. This is where I experienced some moderate to high winds.

Report of a 76mph wind gust in Wichita Falls. Amazingly, there was no power loss at our location!

The shelf cloud and distant core advancing over us. I like how the lightning lit up the core in an eerie bluish glow. There was a report of dime to quarter size hail at this point.

Anvil crawler lightning stretches across the night sky. This was my only decent lightning capture the entire night.

NWS preliminary storm reports. Wichita Falls has the highest recorded wind gust, with Edmund coming in second (75mph). Lawton had the only hail report with quarter size (1.00 in).