Strange weather question [Archive]

View Full Version : Strange weather question

cavelamb himself

June 4th 07, 10:49 PM

A few weeks ago, driving back toward Dallas from San Antonio I think I
may have seen something very strange... possibly.

I'm not completely sure.
Nut it did seem like it...

It was a bizarre weather day.
Snow on the blooming blue bonnets the day before.

Somewhere just north of Waco I hit a huge storm cell.
Visibility down to about 100 yards in heavy rain.
Traffic was light (gee?) and down to 25 mph or so for a while.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something that looked like a black
stripe - going UP!

My first thought was "twister!", but it wasn't.

When I glance that way, it happened again.

It looked sorta like the after image of a lighting bolt - but no bright
flash of light.

And it went from the ground up.

The same way a lightning strike looks like it comes from the sky
down...

I've seen film of the blue and red jets that sometimes spurt out of the
tops of clouds when lightning is around.

But I've never heard of this phenomenon before!

Darkening????

Anybody have a clue???

Richard

Gig 601XL Builder

June 4th 07, 10:54 PM

cavelamb himself wrote:
> A few weeks ago, driving back toward Dallas from San Antonio I think I
> may have seen something very strange... possibly.
>
> I'm not completely sure.
> Nut it did seem like it...
>
> It was a bizarre weather day.
> Snow on the blooming blue bonnets the day before.
>
> Somewhere just north of Waco I hit a huge storm cell.
> Visibility down to about 100 yards in heavy rain.
> Traffic was light (gee?) and down to 25 mph or so for a while.
>
> Out of the corner of my eye I saw something that looked like a black
> stripe - going UP!
>
> My first thought was "twister!", but it wasn't.
>
> When I glance that way, it happened again.
>
> It looked sorta like the after image of a lighting bolt - but no
> bright flash of light.
>
> And it went from the ground up.
>
> The same way a lightning strike looks like it comes from the sky
> down...
>
> I've seen film of the blue and red jets that sometimes spurt out of
> the tops of clouds when lightning is around.
>
> But I've never heard of this phenomenon before!
>
> Darkening????
>
> Anybody have a clue???
>
> Richard

WHat you probably saw was a shadow. As you moved the area in the shadow
moved up.

cavelamb himself

June 5th 07, 01:30 AM

Gig 601XL Builder wrote:

> cavelamb himself wrote:
>
>>A few weeks ago, driving back toward Dallas from San Antonio I think I
>>may have seen something very strange... possibly.
>>
>>I'm not completely sure.
>>Nut it did seem like it...
>>
>>It was a bizarre weather day.
>>Snow on the blooming blue bonnets the day before.
>>
>>Somewhere just north of Waco I hit a huge storm cell.
>>Visibility down to about 100 yards in heavy rain.
>>Traffic was light (gee?) and down to 25 mph or so for a while.
>>
>>Out of the corner of my eye I saw something that looked like a black
>>stripe - going UP!
>>
>>My first thought was "twister!", but it wasn't.
>>
>>When I glance that way, it happened again.
>>
>>It looked sorta like the after image of a lighting bolt - but no
>>bright flash of light.
>>
>>And it went from the ground up.
>>
>>The same way a lightning strike looks like it comes from the sky
>>down...
>>
>>I've seen film of the blue and red jets that sometimes spurt out of
>>the tops of clouds when lightning is around.
>>
>>But I've never heard of this phenomenon before!
>>
>>Darkening????
>>
>>Anybody have a clue???
>>
>>Richard
>
>
>
> WHat you probably saw was a shadow. As you moved the area in the shadow
> moved up.
>
>

Ok, but twice?

And - shadow of what?

OldPhart

June 5th 07, 03:56 AM

Ron Wanttaja

June 5th 07, 04:09 AM

On Tue, 05 Jun 2007 00:30:21 GMT, cavelamb himself >
wrote:

>Gig 601XL Builder wrote:
>
>>
>> WHat you probably saw was a shadow. As you moved the area in the shadow
>> moved up.
>
>Ok, but twice?
>
>And - shadow of what?

What, no mountains in Texas? :-)

http://www.wanttaja.com/sunrise_shadow.jpg

Ron Wanttaja

Gig 601XL Builder

June 5th 07, 02:25 PM

cavelamb himself wrote:
>>
>> WHat you probably saw was a shadow. As you moved the area in the
>> shadow moved up.
>>
>>
>
> Ok, but twice?
>
> And - shadow of what?

A really thick cloud.

cavelamb himself

June 5th 07, 10:22 PM

Ron Wanttaja wrote:
> On Tue, 05 Jun 2007 00:30:21 GMT, cavelamb himself >
> wrote:
>
>
>>Gig 601XL Builder wrote:
>>
>>
>>>WHat you probably saw was a shadow. As you moved the area in the shadow
>>>moved up.
>>
>>Ok, but twice?
>>
>>And - shadow of what?
>
>
> What, no mountains in Texas? :-)
>
> http://www.wanttaja.com/sunrise_shadow.jpg
>
> Ron Wanttaja

None that look like that!

Nor any that look or move like a lightning bolt...

Hey, if I could have easily explained ir away I wouldn't have mentioned it.

Very strange looking thing.

FWIW

Richard

wright1902glider

June 6th 07, 05:35 PM

> None that look like that!
>
> Nor any that look or move like a lightning bolt...
>
> Hey, if I could have easily explained ir away I wouldn't have mentioned it.
>
> Very strange looking thing.

I think I may have seen something similar here in CO a few times. If
it was a fairly narrow black / bulish / purple stripe that shot up
from the ground about as fast a lightning. Did it last more than a
second? The first time I saw something like that, I assumed that a
radio tower had been struck, and some wire had just vaporized leaving
a black trail of smoke. But then I saw it again off in the distance,
and there's nothing out in that direction taller than a cow. Very
odd.

We get a lot of mixed, isolated conditions in the front range corridor
between Denver, Boulder, and Ft. Collins b/c of the mountains (14k)
and passes. On most days, you can see it raining 30 miles away by the
telltale rain shafts and shadows. Those are usually wide and last
quite a long time... on the order of 10-15 minutes or more. The sunny
areas look like someone is shining a spotlight down on them. I agree
that what you saw wasn't a shadow, but I dunno what to call it either.

Harry "watchin the skys" Frey

cavelamb himself

June 6th 07, 11:17 PM

wright1902glider wrote:
> > None that look like that!
>
>>Nor any that look or move like a lightning bolt...
>>
>>Hey, if I could have easily explained ir away I wouldn't have mentioned it.
>>
>>Very strange looking thing.
>
>
> I think I may have seen something similar here in CO a few times. If
> it was a fairly narrow black / bulish / purple stripe that shot up
> from the ground about as fast a lightning. Did it last more than a
> second?

Yep and yep!

> The first time I saw something like that, I assumed that a
> radio tower had been struck, and some wire had just vaporized leaving
> a black trail of smoke. But then I saw it again off in the distance,
> and there's nothing out in that direction taller than a cow. Very
> odd.

Same here.
But the cow was hiding under a bush.

> We get a lot of mixed, isolated conditions in the front range corridor
> between Denver, Boulder, and Ft. Collins b/c of the mountains (14k)
> and passes. On most days, you can see it raining 30 miles away by the
> telltale rain shafts and shadows. Those are usually wide and last
> quite a long time... on the order of 10-15 minutes or more. The sunny
> areas look like someone is shining a spotlight down on them. I agree
> that what you saw wasn't a shadow, but I dunno what to call it either.
>
> Harry "watchin the skys" Frey
>
>

Thanks Harry.

Richard