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storm gallery: May 12, 2009

May 12, 2009: What a crazy drive today. I started in Woodward, Oklahoma, and at first thought about an Oklahoma panhandle target. But as the day wore on, the models' meager forecast of precipitation there evaporated, and it seemed like the southwest Texas panhandle would be more likely. Thanks to Steve Sponsler for data updates. Share

Click on the thumbnails to see a larger image, or view these photos as a gallery. From the gallery pages, click the "up" arrow to return to this index.

01-051209 02-051209 03-051209
I drove to a location east of Perryton, Texas, first, and went south from there. A sign on the way to the southwest panhandle - "Pampa: Where wheat grows, oil flows and wind blows!" A severe-warned storm approaches Tulia, Texas.
04-051209 05-051209 06-051209
The storm was a dust machine as it rolled over Tulia. Though it looked ominous, the storm appeared linear and unlikely to produce a tornado. Another view. At this time, a cluster of storms was forming.
07-051209 08-051209 09-051209
I followed the storm east, looking for organization but not finding much. Me and my shadow outside Turkey, Texas. Convection fed into the cluster of storms west of Turkey.
10-051209 11-051209 12-051209
Wow, the storms were pretty. An impressive hail core falls, with a touch of a hailbow. The rainbow/hailbow wasn't the only color.
13-051209 14-051209 15-051209
More flowers and another rainbow near Estelline, Texas. The light at sunset was incredible. A rainbow closeup.
16-051209 17-051209 18-051209
There it goes. Sunset set the clouds afire. Flowers and storms complemented one another.
19-051209 20-051209 21-051209
Unreal reds and oranges! Sunset lit up the mammatus in the anvil. Red earth, red (and yellow) flowers.
22-051209 23-051209 24-051209
Detail of the growing field of mammatus clouds. As the color faded, the lightning kicked up. More mammatus, with wildflowers.
25-051209 26-051209 27-051209
Mammatus and lightning northwest of Childress. Lightning crawlers got better and better. Lightning over Childress, Texas. This is where the ubiquitous Vortex 2 armada stopped for the night.
28-051209 29-051209 30-051209
More lightning over Childress. And another one. Was that an exploding cloud? As I followed the storms northeast, I tried some dash-cam time exposures. Here's a lucky catch.

2009 reports and photos

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