I entered a contest a while back and found out last week that one of my photos was picked.
I'm a geek at heart, to know that NASA liked one of my photos makes me pretty excited.
Please contact me at father_thunder(at)cox.net
Showing posts with label Thor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thor. Show all posts
Sunday, September 30, 2012
NASA Liked One of My Pics!!!
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
First . . . a sign
Per Spaceweather.com: A NIGHT TO REMEMBER: A coronal mass ejection (CME) hit Earth's magnetic field around noon Universal Time on Sept. 26th. The impact set the stage for a night to remember. As soon as darkness fell over Scandinavia, auroras filled the sky with such intensity that they were visible through rain clouds. Fredrik Broms photographed the scene from Kvaløya, Norway:
Maybe if you squint hard enough, the violent space weather will be visible in the upper Midwest.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Severe Thunderstorm Warning August 9, 2011
A large group of storms invaded Kansas and brought some much needed rain. They also brought damaging winds that caused damage in Burton and Hutchinson. They also flipped a semi on K-96. I watched the storms moving in from Great Bend which also caused a brief tornado warning in Ellis country around 9:00. As the storms neared Hutchinson I grabbed my gear and went out.
When I got a little bit out of the city, I kept looking to the northwest wondering what exactly I was looking at. There is always a few moment after leaving the house and looking at RADAR you're left with that feeling of the unknown.
Lightning illuminated the smooth sides of the rotating storm. The storm itself, when at it's most powerful looked like three plates staked upon each other.
Winds were very steady at 30mph. There was a slight gust that almost took the camera and tripod but luckily the remote sensor was connected and I used it like keeping a dog at bay.
The storm moved near and I went a little further north to look at some of the scary looking clouds (SCUD) hanging from the bottom. As I went to the clearing most of the clouds had died off and the storm lost its structure. Lightning struck overhead and just to the north. I decided it was time to go home.
When I got a little bit out of the city, I kept looking to the northwest wondering what exactly I was looking at. There is always a few moment after leaving the house and looking at RADAR you're left with that feeling of the unknown.
Lightning illuminated the smooth sides of the rotating storm. The storm itself, when at it's most powerful looked like three plates staked upon each other.
Winds were very steady at 30mph. There was a slight gust that almost took the camera and tripod but luckily the remote sensor was connected and I used it like keeping a dog at bay.
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| lighting up the shelf as it almost passed overhead. |
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| Sorry, shameless self promotion |
The storm moved near and I went a little further north to look at some of the scary looking clouds (SCUD) hanging from the bottom. As I went to the clearing most of the clouds had died off and the storm lost its structure. Lightning struck overhead and just to the north. I decided it was time to go home.
Friday, June 10, 2011
06/09/11 chase
Although there was a thunderstorm watch for the area, this storm surprised me with it's fierceness. I watched the small blob grow on radar screen and decided to go take a look before I had a get together later in the evening. I have a great vantage point to watch storms about two miles from my house. It's a local farm field that the hedge rows were removed and I can see way out west.
When I arrived, I noticed a definite lowering of the clouds.
The wall cloud was forming and feeding off of the huge amount of moisture to the north of it and building although rotating very slowly.
There was some radio chatter about a rear flank downdraft opening up but I never saw it. Quickly the wall cloud slimmed down and continued feeding on warm moisture.
I was in a good position with inflow directly overhead. It kept the rain from cloaking the area. The cloud slowly rotated and radar finally indicated a cause for a tornado warning. If there was a rear flank downdraft, I think it choked out the tornadogenesis as the wall cloud became smaller. As it became smaller it began to rotate.
It was rumored that the storm was moving SE instead of straight E. Unfortunately, that's where my house is.
Part II coming soon.
When I arrived, I noticed a definite lowering of the clouds.
The wall cloud was forming and feeding off of the huge amount of moisture to the north of it and building although rotating very slowly.
There was some radio chatter about a rear flank downdraft opening up but I never saw it. Quickly the wall cloud slimmed down and continued feeding on warm moisture.
I was in a good position with inflow directly overhead. It kept the rain from cloaking the area. The cloud slowly rotated and radar finally indicated a cause for a tornado warning. If there was a rear flank downdraft, I think it choked out the tornadogenesis as the wall cloud became smaller. As it became smaller it began to rotate.
It was rumored that the storm was moving SE instead of straight E. Unfortunately, that's where my house is.
Part II coming soon.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
May 24,2011
We were under a high risk of severe weather and some of the most influential storm chasers I know were commenting how bad the forecast for Wichita looked. Although it has been a mostly quiet spring, we were due for bad weather, and with Joplin, MO so fresh in our minds, many people including myself were worried.
Storms began firing up in Oklahoma west of OKC and heading here fast. Even the management at work released us to go home early. Of course, I went chasing. I hate fast moving storms. These were coming in at 50-60mph and beginning to join into a nasty multicell storm.
For this storm I decided to take out the Chevy POS. No point in destroying totally reliable transportation. I grabbed Ruminator Brent again (he was with me on the previous storm posted) and we headed out west to intercept. Right before we left, a cell formed before the multicell and looked interesting. We ran to Maize, Kansas and set up. Once again at Nancy's A-Mazing Sandwiches, sorry Nancy there was a weather apocalypse we had to get ready for, so we stayed in the parking lot.
While watching very dark, very overcast sky, two bicyclists passed us holding up traffic on one of the main streets in Maize. I think my chase partner and I stared at them as they went by thinking of a case to present on functional Darwinism. Unfortunately dark, overcast, and rainy sky does nothing for photography.
We sat in the parking lot watching the storm came in and the lightning gave a show that now I kick myself for not recording. Seemed like we were surrounded by lightning and thunder for a while.
We ran back across town to the east side seemingly to get rained on a little harder. Thank you Rain-X.
The storms flew through the area and slowed as it hit the city. Reports were coming in about the destruction in OKC and surrounding areas, but Wichita really dodged the bullet.
We ran back to the house to check radar (I know I need to upgrade and join this decade, hmmmm maybe I'll add a paypal account for help). The storms in Wichita weakened drastically and a large strong squall line had formed in western Kansas spawning several warnings. As the sun went down, the line decided to start moving east. The bottom of the squall line would hit Wichita and as it grew close, thunderstorm warnings were issued, although they were borderline severe.
They appeared to build for a while, then weakened as the sun dipped below the horizon.
The winds were still as this moved in then a moderate gust of cold wind let you know it was coming. I tried taking lightning pictures and developed a game called Capture/Processing. When the Sony DSC-V3 is capturing and lightning strikes, I get it. When it's processing, I get nothing. Last night the storm won.
After dark I started playing with long exposure as the shelf cloud came into sight. The below was taken with a 5 second shutter speed. The light on the left is from Wichita, the light in the middle was lightning.
Not too much on the horizon, yet. I could use a couple days worth of rest.
Storms began firing up in Oklahoma west of OKC and heading here fast. Even the management at work released us to go home early. Of course, I went chasing. I hate fast moving storms. These were coming in at 50-60mph and beginning to join into a nasty multicell storm.
For this storm I decided to take out the Chevy POS. No point in destroying totally reliable transportation. I grabbed Ruminator Brent again (he was with me on the previous storm posted) and we headed out west to intercept. Right before we left, a cell formed before the multicell and looked interesting. We ran to Maize, Kansas and set up. Once again at Nancy's A-Mazing Sandwiches, sorry Nancy there was a weather apocalypse we had to get ready for, so we stayed in the parking lot.
 |
| Boosted the shadows in this to show cloud definition now I see an inflow line. |
While watching very dark, very overcast sky, two bicyclists passed us holding up traffic on one of the main streets in Maize. I think my chase partner and I stared at them as they went by thinking of a case to present on functional Darwinism. Unfortunately dark, overcast, and rainy sky does nothing for photography.
 |
| Lots of rain. |
We ran back across town to the east side seemingly to get rained on a little harder. Thank you Rain-X.
The storms flew through the area and slowed as it hit the city. Reports were coming in about the destruction in OKC and surrounding areas, but Wichita really dodged the bullet.
We ran back to the house to check radar (I know I need to upgrade and join this decade, hmmmm maybe I'll add a paypal account for help). The storms in Wichita weakened drastically and a large strong squall line had formed in western Kansas spawning several warnings. As the sun went down, the line decided to start moving east. The bottom of the squall line would hit Wichita and as it grew close, thunderstorm warnings were issued, although they were borderline severe.
 |
| Add caption |
They appeared to build for a while, then weakened as the sun dipped below the horizon.
The winds were still as this moved in then a moderate gust of cold wind let you know it was coming. I tried taking lightning pictures and developed a game called Capture/Processing. When the Sony DSC-V3 is capturing and lightning strikes, I get it. When it's processing, I get nothing. Last night the storm won.
After dark I started playing with long exposure as the shelf cloud came into sight. The below was taken with a 5 second shutter speed. The light on the left is from Wichita, the light in the middle was lightning.
Not too much on the horizon, yet. I could use a couple days worth of rest.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
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