Updraft MOORE CATS AND DOGS PAGE 3 Downdraft
    All images and text © copyright Gene Moore unless otherwise indicated.


Inflow tail to tornado NNW-SSE tornado Castle, OK Truncated funnel as base of tornado lifts.
Inflow tail cloud to the back of a tornadic storm near Castle, OK. Interstate 40 was over the hill. It was one of our best forecasts and intercepts of 1979 that turned sour when we found the tornado. We paced the developing vortex as it moved east at 60 mph. The link shot is our first view of the developing elephant trunk tornado.   The forward high speed of the tornado led to a wild chase, but also blurred stills. We finally got in a good back lit position and the base of the funnel lifted, rats. This shot I must apologize for, but note the wrapped up cloud structure above the blurred tornado.   Shortly after this image the tornado reformed and roped out. To top that off our film was sent to the lab with the wrong designation written on it and came back bright red. Some things are not meant to be, but it was a fun chase.  


Barrel wall cloud on the ground Anvil behind severe storm Four vortices in tornado - Pawnee OK
Barrel shaped wall cloud with violent up motion southwest of Miami, TX. These features often contain tornadoes. A tornado did develop in the rain about 5 minutes later. April 19, 1974   Bright orange sunset following a severe storm at Norman OK. Spring of 1976.   Four dirt vortices spin under a developing tornado NW of Pawnee, OK. Funnel is obscured in black cloud base. August 1979


Orange anvil sunset supercell storm Crosbyton TX wide angle shot of Crosbyton supercell
Anvil and mammatus clouds remain bright orange after sunset across central Oklahoma.   Late day thunderstorm near Crosbyton TX on 17 May 1977. Earlier in the evening it appeared more like a LP storm with visibility through the core. When we approached the inflow area the core unloaded on us and brought the visibility down to zero. We positioned ourselves on the back of the storm shooting the sunlit towers. As the cell moved slowly east we drove south to the inflow area where tornadoes were occurring.   From the appearance in this image I'll bet you would not believe this was a supercell that produced tornadoes for 5 hours. The look of the storm was rather "ragged" through much of its life. Only the area of rising towers on the back remained hard. This image was taken looking southeast at the flanking line area.  


tornado just south of Crosbyton TX Another tornado from Crosbyton area 3 bolts and scribble lightning at sunset
Tornado in the dark just to the southwest of the city of Crosbyton, TX. Chasers observed these funnels through night capable binoculars and could see the debris cloud. Many were seen, but few were captured accurately. One of these tornadoes hit a power plant causing considerable damage. The tornadoes would form and move NE into the rain, then a new tornado would form to the south. This went on for hours.   Another tornado further east of the one in the last image. This storm made the national news by dumping over 15 inches of rain on Crosbyton. Severe flooding and large hail made leaving the area treacherous. Further north there were fatalities in the Palo Duro Canyon from flash flooding.   Storms of the high plains occasionally produce only virga and light rain with lightning. This offers spectacular photographic opportunities in the late evening hours. Here three bolts and scribble lightning light up the evening sky.  

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