Updraft MOORE CATS AND DOGS PAGE 4 Downdraft
    All images and text © copyright Gene Moore unless otherwise indicated.
Wedge tornado north of Luverne, MN Kansas tornado Swirling midlevel clouds
Huge tornado moving north of Luverne, Minnesota. This tornado formed on the south end of a short line. It was part of a damaging tornado outbreak on June 6th 1993. Unfortunately the excess blue cannot be removed without decreasing the contrast near the funnel.   Tornado over the Flint Hills of eastern Kansas. May 1981. The tornado continued northeast and out of sight.   Dramatically swirling midlevel clouds over northern Iowa. These clouds occurred when a strong shortwave moved over a cool outflow boundary. Numerous hail storms developed during the afternoon. June 1998  


Thalia tornado 10 April 1979 dramatic wet downburst dramatic tail cloud over Russell KS
On the famous Red River outbreak day of April 10th 1979 this was our first tornado. It traveled from Crowell to Thalia along highway #70. We were just behind the Vernon tornado buried in the blackness on the right. As we drove north we watched the Vernon tornado and its suction spots sweep in and out of the blackness. Heavy damage begin to occur near Lockett with debris falling out of the sky and people standing shell shocked in rubble.   Wet down burst descends from cloud base on a supercell storm in southwest Kansas. This cell later produced numerous small tornadoes wrapped up in the heavy rain.   An old favorite from the cover of Chase Day last year. A late day supercell and developing inflow tail is pictured over Russell, KS. You can barely see the city in the distance of this wide angle shot.  


distant wall cloud 2 wall clouds near Foss Res. in OK. beginning strong rotation
Distant wall cloud under a high based flanking line. This autumn storm was near Foss Res. in western Oklahoma.   The wall cloud is getting larger in this image as a second wall cloud develops further to the southwest. I was still driving south at the time of these images.   The eastern wall cloud has taken over in this shot. Dry air is shown breaking up the wall cloud as the right side began to rotate.  


wall cloud lifting scud from near ground strong rotation right side forming tornado
Remnants of the old gust from before the wall cloud formed are seen on the left side of the lowering. The right side is pulling up scud clouds from near the surface.   A funnel was beginning to form inside the right side of the wall cloud in this image. The sides of the lowering are becoming smoother as the rotation becomes violent. Vertical development has increased dramatically over the inflow region of the storm. A hard vertical wall of cumulus may be seen above the well cloud in this image.   The forming tornado is moving rapidly northeast. At the same time a massive hail dump begin out of the anvil over head. The precipitation obscured what I though was a tornado, but I never got a picture of the funnel on the ground.  


life in the hail core south end supercell inflow over old gust front
Hail fall in the wake of the Foss storm. Marble to golf ball size hail covered the ground. During the hail event the wall cloud and funnel passed overhead. I had no road options so I sat out the storm.   Developing supercell thunderstorm south of Wichita Falls, Texas in May of 1978. This storm produced a tornado about 30 minutes after this image. Rain and visibility became a problem with this storm. Note how the anvil is shearing over the developing inflow area of the storm. As precipitation fell from the anvil it became entrained in the circulation. We were still able to see the tornado, but the photograph came out too dark to scan.   Another early stage supercell from May of 1978. This storm developed on the edge of a strong outflow boundary from morning activity. In this shot the new towers are making contact with the base of the old thunderstorm. A tornado warning was issued for this storm as it continued to develop.  

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