APOD: Tornado and Rainbow Over Kansas (2011 Aug 14)

[Mikey]

It looks like powerline wires are down and the roof is off the structure. Are we looking in from behind the tornado after the funnel has passed?

Thanks, RGW

That's what it looks like to me too. Zoomed in you can, definitely, see downed power lines going all the way across the circular drive. There, also, appears to be a snapped tree trunk in the front yard.
Maybe the smoke column is the orphaned tip of the tornado as it receded into the cloud.

[bystander]

It looks like powerline wires are down and the roof is off the structure. Are we looking in from behind the tornado after the funnel has passed?

That's what it looks like to me too. Zoomed in you can, definitely, see downed power lines going all the way across the circular drive. There, also, appears to be a snapped tree trunk in the front yard. Maybe the smoke column is the orphaned tip of the tornado as it receded into the cloud.

The garage is definitely leaning to the right, and it looks as if the left side of the house is collapsed.

[bystander]

Usually the click-through image is of higher resolution than the embedded image. This time it is reversed: 900x1100 vs. 540x810 px. It seems the higher resolution version is a blow-up of the smaller one, and original aspect ratio wasn't maintained (a bit stretched horizontally).

And chopped vertically.

[Anthony Barreiro]

Thank you Neufer for posting the clip of Judy Garland singing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Clearly *that's* where the apod editors are slipping, in the selection of wry tangential links!

Seriously, I enjoy seeing the occasional picture of an earthly atmospheric phenomenon. Unless you're using a space telescope, you're looking through Earth's atmosphere. And Earth's atmosphere can teach us a lot about atmospheres more generally. And, some of these pictures, like this one, are either hella cool, or beautiful, or both. And, like Scoop Nisker used to say, "if you don't like the news, go out and make some of your own."

[saturn2]

The study of the atmospheric phenomenos on Earth is more important.
It can to help for to save people life.
We remember that the planet Earth is part of the Universe.

[DavidLeodis]

It was sad to read through a link in the explanation that "Eric Nguyen passed away on September 9, 2007 at the age of twenty-nine".

[neufer]

It was sad to read through a link in the explanation that "Eric Nguyen passed away on September 9, 2007 at the age of twenty-nine".

<<Eric Michael Nguyen (January 2, 1978-September 9, 2007) was an American professional storm chaser, meteorologist, and photographer from Keller, Texas, United States. In 2008 Nguyen (pronounced "win" is the most common Vietnamese family name) released his first book of photography titled Adventures in Tornado Alley: The Storm Chasers with co-author Mike Hollingshead.

Eric Michael Isbell (last name changed to Nguyen after marriage) was born in Newport Beach, California near Los Angeles, California in 1978 and raised in Keller, Texas after his parents relocated soon after his birth. Eric was strongly interested in severe storms and tornadoes as a child and became heavily intrigued with mobile instrumentation systems for weather data collection. Eric began studying meteorology at the University of Oklahoma in 2001. He graduated with a BS in Meteorology in May 2005.

In 1994, Nguyen began chasing storms in Texas and soon expanded his range to the larger area of the central United States commonly known as Tornado Alley. Nguyen began publishing images regularly in Accord Publishing's popular annual Weather Guide Calender series, Smithsonian Magazine, NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day, as well as Weatherwise, Storm Track, UCAR Quarterly, textbooks, and other venues. His Mulvane, Kansas tornado/rainbow image is one of the most frequently licensed tornado images of all time and several other of his photos have appeared in publications and presentations around the world. Nguyen's storm and tornado photography was considered among the most expressive in the field, with a particular emphasis on unusual palettes and the use of foreground elements to create dynamic line structures in the composition. On April 21, 2007, Nguyen and his storm chasing partner, Amos Magliocco, were struck by a tornado in Tulia, Texas. Nguyen's scientific grade weather instrumentation survived the hit and measured the sharpest pressure fall ever recorded on Earth. Upon his death, hundreds of weather enthusiasts from around the world praised Nguyen's skills as a photographer and chaser in the online journal Storm Track The University of Oklahoma hosted a memorial tribute ceremony in the National Weather Center on September 22, 2007. The keynote speaker was Dr. Charles A. Doswell III. An endowed scholarship for graduate and undergraduate meteorology students was created in Nguyen's name at OU's prestigious School of Meteorology.>>

[RickM]

The physics of rainbows require the sun to be behind the observer, not on the left side. Therefore, this picture must be a superimposition of several shots.

Since we're seeing the left end of the rainbow, the sun is obviously behind and left of the observer. It could easily enough be peeking through (unseen) clouds to illuminate the buildings.

[mtbdudex]

re-booted.....