The birth of a spectacular supercell thunderstorm was photographed over the weekend as it began to sweep across northeast Wyoming, spinning ominously as storm chasers scrambled to keep up.
The accompanying footage is a time-lapse video using images captured over a period of just more than an hour, as the storm tracked from Wright to Newcastle.
The video was uploaded Sunday by Basehunters, and posted to the group’s Facebook page on Monday. That generated more than 200 shares within the first few hours. The YouTube video surpassed 1 million views by early evening.
Viewers are able to witness the supercell’s ferocious rotation becoming more intense, and torrents of rain drenching the countryside, as the supercell tightens and seems almost ready to touch down.
Reads one of the comments: “Wow! If that touched down it would wipe the earth clean!!!”
Another described the image as portraying “the thumb of God.”
The National Weather Service states that supercell thunderstorms are responsible for the vast majority of significant tornadoes generated in the United States, and can produce giant hail stones and flash flooding, and updrafts that can attain speeds of 100-plus mph.
The footage from Basehunters, a group that is based in Norman, Oklahoma, also reveals somewhat of a glimpse of what it’s like to be a storm chaser.
–Pete Thomas, via GrindTv Outdoor
Comments