WunderBlog Archive » Weather Extremes
Category 6 has moved! See the latest from Dr. Jeff Masters and Bob Henson here.Amazing Weather Photographs: Part 2
Amazing Weather Photographs: Part 2
Weather news is a little slow this Friday so I thought I would I would post another selection (this time 10) of amazing weather-related photographs. This is sort of a follow up to a popular blog I posted on this same subject last October. Some of the images were taken by professionals and others just a lucky snap shot. They are arranged in no particular order.
As we head into the heart of the (so far lackluster) tornado season, I thought I would show a couple of interesting tornado images. Professional weather photographer Mike Hollingshead took the one above in southwestern South Dakota on June 7, 2005. The image, aside from being gorgeous, is particularly interesting in that it shows a large portion of the supporting cloud structure. A university meteorology professor could devote an entire lecture discussing this image. Photo by Mike Hollingshead. For more of Mike’s amazing tornado images, one of which was featured on the cover of National Geographic magazine last September, see his web site.
“I do..” Now let’s have the reception in the storm shelter. A couple of wedding crashers make for a fine backdrop at this event in Kansas on May 19, 2012. Fortunately, the uninvited guests kept their distance. Photo by Cate Elmey, Witness Weather.
One more tornado shot. This, of course, is a waterspout but one of such size and intensity that it was almost certainly of tornadic proportions unlike the vast majority of waterspouts. A U.K. Royal Air Force aircraft took the photo somewhere over the Atlantic on an undetermined date sometime in the 1950s or 1960s. Unfortunately, little is known about the image. It appeared in Frank Lane’s classic book “The Elements Rage” which was published in 1965. Photo from Royal Air Force archives.
This photo was most likely shot from a lakefront condominium along Chicago’s Lakeshore Drive. It is obviously a time-lapse as can be seen by the traffic streaks along the highway. The image has appeared on several web sites including the Huffington Post, but I am unable to identify either the photographer or when it was taken. Some have commented it is a Photoshop job, but I doubt that. It would be very difficult to create the reflection of the lightning strokes on Lake Michigan’s choppy waters. Photographer not identified.
Another amazing waterfront image. This time of wind-blown sea fog enveloping tall condominiums at Panama City, Florida on February 5, 2012. You’ve probably seen this image before, but I believe it is unique. I can’t recall ever seeing a photo quite like it. Photo by pilot JR Hott, Panhandle Helicopters.
Flash flooding during the summer monsoon season (June-August) temporarily creates what is known as ‘The Little Colorado River’s Grand Falls’ at a location in the Painted Desert north of Winona, Arizona. These cliffs are 200 feet high. Photo by Tom Brownold.
While I’m on the subject of the desert Southwest I must include this spectacular sunset dust storm that is engulfing the city of Alamogordo, New Mexico on the evening of June 15, 2012. Photo by ‘The Bruenns’ uploaded to wunderground.com
Now for something completely different. In late January, 2009 a severe ice storm crippled portions of southern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas with 1-2” thick accumulations. This image was taken in Springdale, Arkansas by super shooter Mike Hollingshead. Photo by Mike Hollingshead. For more of Mike’s winter storm imagery see his web site extremeinstability.com
Perhaps the greatest snow accumulations on earth occur at the mid-elevations along the western spine of Japanese Alps on Honshu Island. In February 1927 a site on Mt. Ibuki measured a world-record level depth of 1182 cm (465.4”) almost 39 feet. So much snow falls here that it is a tourist attraction in its own right. A highway that crosses the mountains is kept open and plowed all winter and at one stretch, known as the Yoki-no-otani snow canyon, the accumulations reach their greatest. It would appear in the image above that the snow is about 20-30’ deep. Photographer not identified.
As you may have noticed, Mike Hollingshead is my favorite weather photographer. One of the things he does so well is to not just photograph extreme weather but also place it in human contexts as was the case in the image above. He was chasing a storm near Watertown, South Dakota last summer (on August 3, 2012) when he had the presence of mind to stop by this small roadside chapel and place it in the foreground of the intense squall line approaching. All in all, a quintessential American Prairie scene. Photo by Mike Hollingshead. Follow this shoot on his web site here.
That’s all for today. I know this selection is not quite as interesting as the one I posted last October, but that is why those were called the “Top 12 Most Unusual”. I won’t make a top-anything claim about this set, just ten great and/or interesting weather images.
Christopher C. Burt
Weather Historian
Weather news is a little slow this Friday so I thought I would I would post another selection (this time 10) of amazing weather-related photographs. This is sort of a follow up to a popular blog I posted on this same subject last October. Some of the images were taken by professionals and others just a lucky snap shot. They are arranged in no particular order.
As we head into the heart of the (so far lackluster) tornado season, I thought I would show a couple of interesting tornado images. Professional weather photographer Mike Hollingshead took the one above in southwestern South Dakota on June 7, 2005. The image, aside from being gorgeous, is particularly interesting in that it shows a large portion of the supporting cloud structure. A university meteorology professor could devote an entire lecture discussing this image. Photo by Mike Hollingshead. For more of Mike’s amazing tornado images, one of which was featured on the cover of National Geographic magazine last September, see his web site.
“I do..” Now let’s have the reception in the storm shelter. A couple of wedding crashers make for a fine backdrop at this event in Kansas on May 19, 2012. Fortunately, the uninvited guests kept their distance. Photo by Cate Elmey, Witness Weather.
One more tornado shot. This, of course, is a waterspout but one of such size and intensity that it was almost certainly of tornadic proportions unlike the vast majority of waterspouts. A U.K. Royal Air Force aircraft took the photo somewhere over the Atlantic on an undetermined date sometime in the 1950s or 1960s. Unfortunately, little is known about the image. It appeared in Frank Lane’s classic book “The Elements Rage” which was published in 1965. Photo from Royal Air Force archives.
This photo was most likely shot from a lakefront condominium along Chicago’s Lakeshore Drive. It is obviously a time-lapse as can be seen by the traffic streaks along the highway. The image has appeared on several web sites including the Huffington Post, but I am unable to identify either the photographer or when it was taken. Some have commented it is a Photoshop job, but I doubt that. It would be very difficult to create the reflection of the lightning strokes on Lake Michigan’s choppy waters. Photographer not identified.
Another amazing waterfront image. This time of wind-blown sea fog enveloping tall condominiums at Panama City, Florida on February 5, 2012. You’ve probably seen this image before, but I believe it is unique. I can’t recall ever seeing a photo quite like it. Photo by pilot JR Hott, Panhandle Helicopters.
Flash flooding during the summer monsoon season (June-August) temporarily creates what is known as ‘The Little Colorado River’s Grand Falls’ at a location in the Painted Desert north of Winona, Arizona. These cliffs are 200 feet high. Photo by Tom Brownold.
While I’m on the subject of the desert Southwest I must include this spectacular sunset dust storm that is engulfing the city of Alamogordo, New Mexico on the evening of June 15, 2012. Photo by ‘The Bruenns’ uploaded to wunderground.com
Now for something completely different. In late January, 2009 a severe ice storm crippled portions of southern Missouri and northwestern Arkansas with 1-2” thick accumulations. This image was taken in Springdale, Arkansas by super shooter Mike Hollingshead. Photo by Mike Hollingshead. For more of Mike’s winter storm imagery see his web site extremeinstability.com
Perhaps the greatest snow accumulations on earth occur at the mid-elevations along the western spine of Japanese Alps on Honshu Island. In February 1927 a site on Mt. Ibuki measured a world-record level depth of 1182 cm (465.4”) almost 39 feet. So much snow falls here that it is a tourist attraction in its own right. A highway that crosses the mountains is kept open and plowed all winter and at one stretch, known as the Yoki-no-otani snow canyon, the accumulations reach their greatest. It would appear in the image above that the snow is about 20-30’ deep. Photographer not identified.
As you may have noticed, Mike Hollingshead is my favorite weather photographer. One of the things he does so well is to not just photograph extreme weather but also place it in human contexts as was the case in the image above. He was chasing a storm near Watertown, South Dakota last summer (on August 3, 2012) when he had the presence of mind to stop by this small roadside chapel and place it in the foreground of the intense squall line approaching. All in all, a quintessential American Prairie scene. Photo by Mike Hollingshead. Follow this shoot on his web site here.
That’s all for today. I know this selection is not quite as interesting as the one I posted last October, but that is why those were called the “Top 12 Most Unusual”. I won’t make a top-anything claim about this set, just ten great and/or interesting weather images.
Christopher C. Burt
Weather Historian
The views of the author are his/her own and do not necessarily represent the position of The Weather Company or its parent, IBM.