Severe Storm Photography from Spring 2005
All photos copyrighted by Dave Chapman
May 12th: South Plains, Texas, Supercell and Tornado
| Wall cloud on slow-moving HP Supercell east of Plainview, Texas. This is a day when many chasers lose windshields from large hail as an erratic tornado closes off the only escape route. |
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| New wall cloud develops several miles to the northeast, but soon dissipates. |
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| Rather than chase the activity to the northeast, I drive a couple of miles southwest, where this new wall cloud forms. The storm has an ominous look which I interpret as transitioning into outflow-dominated. |
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| Instead, a strong rear-flank downdraft (RFD) generates a tornado. |
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| Closer view. |
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| A rather strong tornado is drifting slowly northeast. It's about two miles away from me, so I relocate north about a half-mile in order to improve contrast. After changing lens, I get out of the car and realize the tornado has changed directions and accelerated towards me. |
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| Photo of the lowest portion of the condensation funnel (after I drive a mile south). From my position I can hear an intense roar (a first for me). I try to compare the sound with the typical comments of "freight train" and "jet engine". This one clearly sounds like a jet engine, as if I were walking across the tarmac and a nearby jetliner were taking off. Many chasers north of this tornado are trapped by the storm and get pounded by baseball-size hailstones (but get some great video). |
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| Early evening photo of the southwestern end of the now outflow-dominated storm. |
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| View looking north. |
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| A few minutes later. |
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| Disorganized updraft being undercut by cool surface outflow. |
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| Mammatus on storm to the south, which later produced a strong tornado. |
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| A little later. |
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| Sunset south of Plainview, after my first close encounter with a strong tornado. |
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| The end of a memorable spring day in the Texas Panhandle. |
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2005 Storm Pages:
Dave Chapman's Storm Chasing and Outdoor Photo Galleries