There was a bit of “Weather” in Missouri on Sunday and, thanks to my wife, sister and bro-in-law, and Michelle,  I was able to go out chasing without subjecting the kids to weather danger.

Thanks Family!

I caught my first storm early PM, just west of Clinton, MO. Feeling like I was already behind this system, I let it pass me by. I opting instead to continue north to KC to intercept a SE moving cell that was far enough west where  I could, hopefully, position myself in front of it and take advantage of the destabilized atmosphere created by the first storm.

I waited in SE Kansas City (Lees Summit) as the storm approached the city.  You know something powerful is headed in your direction when you see mammatus clouds being pushed overhead.

Thus began a zig-zag of racing SE on county roads in rural Missouri.  The storm gained strength as it tracked towards Clinton, and I was buffeted by 60mph crosswinds in an attempt to stay ahead of the rain/hail core. The leading edge formed a shelf cloud that continued to evolve as I watched.  An awesome spectacle…

I was overtaken by hail a couple of times, buffeted by winds and rain.  This little farm took a pounding (as did my back while I shot this):

Here’s a 100% crop of the image, you can clearly see the marble (and maybe one golfball?) sized hail, and yes, it hurts.  That’s one of the reasons I wear a helmet while chasing!  Can you imagine getting beaned by a baseball sized chunk of ice that just fell 15,000 feet?  Ouch…

I navigated to 52 West, just south of Clinton, and decided it was time to let this storm go on it’s way.  Unfortunately, that meant I needed to cut back into the center (core)of the storm, which didn’t worry me much;  60mph winds and small hail aren’t that worrisome if you can avoid falling trees and overreacting drivers.

Just as I got into the heavy precipitation, the man on the radio issued a tornado warning for the storm I was currently in, with the center of the warning focused on Appleton City, 3 miles west of my location and I was headed right for it.  I was in zero visibility hail and rain, with a possible tornado in the mix.  It’s what chasers call being in the “Bear’s Cage”, not a place you want to be…but I came through unscathed, and I was rewarded with a nice little rainbow.

And some nice light to finish the day.

So my last chase (?) of the season ended with rainbows and sunshine, but no tornados…hmm…maybe we can get one more month of spring weather?

JB

7/15/10

Sasha & JB

6/910

Sasha and I purposely overslept on Monday (actually we weren’t asleep, we were having some quality time, lazing and talking.)  Sasha was late for school, but neither of us were very uptight about it, so we pulled lazily into the Sugar Creek parking lot at about 9am.  As we were getting out of the car, I glanced upwards and saw this massive gust front rolling into Bentonville.  Well, I pretty much fireman-carried her into the school, kissed her pretty little head and then ran back to the car and started driving east, looking to get out in front of the leading edge, hoping to get a clear view as it rolled by.  I had my Sony R-1 with me, I carry it everywhere for just such occasions, so I was prepped.

I rushed east on Tiger Blvd, but soon realized that the front was moving faster than I first thought.  I parked, jumped out and took a few images of the amazing clouds that were directly over the city.  Back in the car and then made my blunder:  I should have taken 102 east towards Avoca, but instead I opted for 12 east, thinking the system was moving SE. By the time I stopped for gas, the whole system was gone, and although I chased to Highway 23, I never caught up with it.

Anyone who saw these spectacular clouds won’t soon forget them.  They are called  Undulatus Asperatus.  We think of the sky as being filled with gases, but where clouds are concerned, it’s more appropriate to think of water and fluid dynamics.  What we witnessed Monday was akin to standing on the ocean floor and watching as the waves roll by overhead (in slow motion no less).    Beautiful!

From Wikipedia:

Undulatus asperatus (or alternately, asperatus) is a rare, newly recognized cloud formation, that was proposed in 2009 as the first cloud formation added since cirrus intortus in 1951 to the International Cloud Atlas of the World Meteorological Organization.[1] The name translates approximately as roughened or agitated waves.[2]

Here is a google link to some very cool images of these types of clouds:  HERE!

And here, humbly submitted, are my images of these amazing clouds:

It’s not the first time I’ve seen this cloud type, this is from Fayetteville, 2007:

JB

6/8/10

I’m from LA (Lower Arkansas);   I love humid summer mornings (but not humid summer afternoons), Bradley Co. tomatoes, really cold beer, fried okra, figs, and crappie.  I also love that most southern of trees, the magnolia.  Especially very old magnolia trees that were never “shaped”.  Left to their own devices, real, non-hybrid magnolias will grow limbs as far down the trunk as there is air to fill.  Long, solid limbs that grow right along the ground, reaching far out into the available space, leaving a cave-ish void around the trunk, creating natures perfect little hiding spot;  shaded, roomy, and dark.  Many a southern kid could forgo the trouble of building a clubhouse if they were lucky enough to have such a magnolia in the neighborhood.

We have a big (shaped ) magnolia tree in our back yard, and the blooms are gorgeous this year.  I wanted to photograph the blooms last year, but the damned Japanese Beetles were thick, and they ruined every bloom.  (I killed a lot of the beetles last summer, maybe that’s why I haven’t seen any this year )

I’ve seen exactly two magnolia bloom images that really inspired me: one by Russell Cothren of Fayetteville (I own a framed print!) and one by Imogen Cunningham.  Magnolia blooms have petals that are at once reflective and translucent, and it’s difficult to capture the texture between the two.  The simple form is complicated by the complex light play, especially in full sunlight.  Yet these short lived sun lovers are most open and vibrant at mid-day, in full southern sun.

Sasha thought that the flowers needed a little color, and I grew a little tired of fighting the wind with my long exposures, so I thought of a way to make both of us happy.  We took our presently empty aquarium (we have no snakes, spiders, lizard eggs or giant centipedes at this time) and filled it with water.  Then, we submerged a bloom in the water and dripped drops of food coloring in from the top, letting it flow around the curvy petals.  Sasha was very pleased and it made for a fun project!

Here is a short movie of the color flow, 10 minutes compressed into 30 seconds:

Being a fan of texture layers, I tried a few, just in case someone needs a book cover for a book about the south:

I’ve decided to shoot magnolias thru out the summer, so expect some updates to this post…

JB

6/6/10

Yes, I would have prefered the Taj Mahal as a foreground element;  or perhaps an old gothic cemetery or a field of sunflowers or perhaps this, taken by one of my favorite outdoor photographers, the late Galen Rowell.  But in Bentonville, Arkansas we’ve got ballfields, and fleeting rainbows punish the hesitant composer, so a ballfield it is.

JB

5/27/10

Tech notes:

This image is comprised of  15 individual images:  5 vertical compositions, 3 (+1, 0, -1) brackets of each composition.  Each image was processed in Lightroom, each 3 bracket set was then exported to Photomatix Pro and blended.  Final panorama was stitched in Photoshop Photomerge. Shot with a Sony R-1 at 24mm.

I had a photo shoot at the Schmieding Center in Springdale last week.  If you are  unfamiliar with the work being done at the Schmieding Center, you should go to their website and educate yourself.  They have an interesting story and there are some very dedicated people working there, people who are concerned about the care and treatment of present and future elders.  Chances are, you fit in one of those categories.

Among the many goals for the day, we needed to illustrate interaction among elders and their caregivers.  Caregivers can be professionals and they can be family or friends.  The Schmieding Center teaches one and all how to care for the special needs of the elderly in an effective and loving way.

We had some awesome talent, and these are my favorites from the day.

JB

5/25/10

I traveled to eastern Arkansas on the 23rd, hoping for some storm action.  What I got was a grey mess, with almost no texture and, although some of the storms were severe, they were not photogenic.  Mostly, I saw rain and country roads.

Frustrated, I came home with a nice “bust” chase to hang on the wall.

The next day, this same system applied a can of whoopass in Mississippi, with one tornado leaving a 50 mile track of destruction and several deaths.  We avoided any major storms in NW Arkansas, but afternoon storms did fire in SW Missouri, so with my sweet wife’s blessing, I spent the afternoon in the Show Me state, watching as these non-severe but very beautiful clouds formed, dissipated, and formed again.

Southern Missouri, especially around the Noel and Ginger Blue area, is just beautiful!   The plains and the ozarks compromise and complement one another there, a transitional place where each landform takes its turn at dominating the horizon.

The storms, while not severe, were not entirely without energy.  They formed very quickly, and traveled slowly NE, easy to get in front of and to circle behind.

There were some interesting structures and movements in the sky;   I spent a great deal of time sitting and watching.  I’m finding that intuition (experience) is allowing me to anticipate motion and formation, boosting my confidence and allowing for an easier, more relaxed storm chase.

I’m sure there is a name for this type of cloud formation, “gust front” maybe.  Very ominous looking, but maybe not so dangerous in itself.

UPDATE:  It’s called a “Roll Cloud“.  Kinda rare…

Sometimes, things just line up, creation presents itself in a way that we can appreciate and, even without “terminology” to describe every little event, we can still bear witness to this divine place we call home.

JB

4/29/10

Crystal Bridges at the Massey is sponsoring a photo exhibit called “Looking at our Landscape“.  I will have two images in the exhibit, presented below:

You can see a complete schedule of events by clicking on the “Looking at our Landscape” link.

JB

3/21/09

Well the new severe weather season is here…Hurray!

I had my first chase of the season on March 10th, a short but exciting venture covering 4 states (AR, OK, MO & KS) but less than 150 miles.

I drove to Joplin, MO and parked at the Highway 71/I-44 intersection, waiting for the storms to fire in the SW, which they did late afternoon.  I started west on I-44 and then cut north on 400 in KS.  Double score, I avoided the toll booths on 44 and intercepted this little system with a ragged shelf cloud as it passed over Baxter Springs, KS.

From Baxter Springs, I hurried back to the east, trying to get in front of the system that was currently in Seneca, MO.  That cell was traveling NE at 45mph+, and I ran out of county road east before I could get in front of it.  Adding to the fun:  the local (Joplin) radio station reported a tornado on the ground south of Neosho, just two miles from my position and moving directly towards me.  2 miles@45mph= 2 minutes and 40 seconds…hmm.

I was soon enveloped in the hail core and the pea and marble sized hail came hard and fast.  It was very dark and visibility was poor;  I was on the wrong side of the storm.

Luckily, hail and some wind was the worst I saw, but I did have a couple of stimulating minutes.  The core passed me by very quickly, leaving the ground and roadway covered in a thin layer of ice.

I learned some things on this chase, and I now realize how quickly one can become trapped in an unfavorable (and potentially dangerous) position.  Sometimes, it might be best just to “let it go”.  Nah, screw that, I’d do it again.

JB

3/13/10

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Well, my web host (media temple) ate my blog. Every post, picture and tag.  They want $125 to restore it, not gonna happen.  So, we start anew…

JB

3/14/10

UPDATE: I was able to retrieve several posts, in full, through Google cache.  So lots of cut and paste over the next few days as I try to salvage what I’m able to.

JB

3/15/10