APOD: A Supercell Thunderstorm Cloud Over... (2013 May 05)

[APOD Robot]

A Supercell Thunderstorm Cloud Over Montana

Explanation: Is that a spaceship or a cloud? Although it may seem like an alien mothership, it's actually a impressive thunderstorm cloud called a supercell. Such colossal storm systems center on mesocyclones -- rotating updrafts that can span several kilometers and deliver torrential rain and high winds including tornadoes. Jagged sculptured clouds adorn the supercell's edge, while wind swept dust and rain dominate the center. A tree waits patiently in the foreground. The above supercell cloud was photographed in July west of Glasgow, Montana, USA, caused minor damage, and lasted several hours before moving on.

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[Ann]

The storm in this picture looks otherworldly, like a storm that could have been raging on Jupiter. I bet there is a difference between this Earthly storm and a Jovian one, though: there wouldn't have been any liquid H2O coming out of a Jovian storm.

(And the Jovian storm would have been so much bigger, unless there are small storms on Jupiter, too.)

Ann

[orin stepanek]

I see people eating here!

Click to view full size image

[Psnarf]

I can't imagine how such a structure forms. I'm grateful for this image. The last time I tried watching teevee, the tagalong cameraperson focused on the stormchasers, their wows and exclamations, how fast the base was rotating, but there was no movie camera on a tripod with a telephoto lens to zoom in on the details of the base of the supercell. I guess that sort of nonsense sells advertising time, since that is, after all, their prime directive. It's not impossible, news cameras of days long gone could set up, get the footage, then escape to safety, their work featured on the newsreels shown in movie theaters instead of goofy coming attractions.

[RonDavis]

"photographed in July" but it doesn't say July of which year. I have had this exact same picture, with the exact same description, in my Webshots wallpaper collection for at least 4 years. Much though I like this picture, I hope APOD does not degenerate to reruns.

[yasgur]

I was at an Air Base in Glasgow back in the 60's. On the flight line there was constant snow about 6 inches deep blowing along the ground. Snow was piled up on the north side of buildings, but open ground was clear. It seemed like there were huge fans in Canada sending it across the border. Now this picture looks like the middle of the ocean rather than Montana prairie.
Cool looking storm though. It's too hilly around here to see those types of scenes.

[Dataman]

I've often wondered if Ezekiel's awesome "visions of God" in Ezekiel 1 were ultimately inspired by atmospheric phenomena such as this.

[Ann]

"photographed in July" but it doesn't say July of which year. I have had this exact same picture, with the exact same description, in my Webshots wallpaper collection for at least 4 years. Much though I like this picture, I hope APOD does not degenerate to reruns.

Yes, there is a rerun every Sunday. That's because the APOD people need one day off every week.

I don't know about you, Ron, but I would sure hate working seven days a week!

Ann

[eesinc]

The photo of the super cell dated 5 May 2013 is a a fake. At least as far as the date taken is concerned.
I have the identical picture on my computer with a date of 30/11/2010
I received this photo sometime in early 2011 along with a batch of other storm related photos.
I don't remember the source but it is certainly the same photo.

[owlice]

This image first appeared on APOD on November 30, 2010.

From APOD's FAQ:

Q4: Have some APOD pictures been run more than once?
A4: Yes. Many of our readers have been with us less than a year and are unaware of some really spectacular or important astronomy pictures. New information about old pictures is becoming available over the WWW. The text and links for rerun pictures will make use of this newly available information. So although the picture might be old, some of the text and links of each APOD will be new. Also, more web surfers have larger bandwidth connections, which allows us to post higher-resolution image files that can be transferred conveniently. Software to handle more sophisticated image file formats has also become more common, so the picture's size and/or format might be new. Lastly, rerunning APODs saves us time and helps us update our archive. In general, our rerun policy currently is to only rerun APODs more than one year old to keep the pictures relatively "new" to new APOD viewers. We will almost never rerun more than two pictures in any given week. So when you load the current APOD,it is still, most probably, a new picture.

[gmPhil]

Am I the only one who cannot see a tree, waiting patiently or otherwise? (Don't tell me: it's behind the bear!)

[LocalColor]

Wonderful photo - and we enjoy the Sunday re-runs at APOD - sometimes we miss them when they were originally posted, but more often we just enjoy seeing them again.

We need rain, but not that much rain!

[Chris Peterson]

The photo of the super cell dated 5 May 2013 is a a fake. At least as far as the date taken is concerned.
I have the identical picture on my computer with a date of 30/11/2010
I received this photo sometime in early 2011 along with a batch of other storm related photos.
I don't remember the source but it is certainly the same photo.

If you follow the links to the source, you'll see that the image was made July 28, 2010.

[5052349912]

This picture reminds me of another one that became so notorious on the young Intertubes that many a site rewrote themselves to show the full URL of a posted link.

[owlice]

Am I the only one who cannot see a tree, waiting patiently or otherwise? (Don't tell me: it's behind the bear!)

[gmPhil]

If you say so... my money's on dirt on the lens... (now you know why I haven't got any!)

[bqfinpivot]

This is my favorite APOD of all -- thanks for re-running it.

[Beyond]

I'm wondering why the posted posts are missing the--> 5) <-- part of the date?? I don't remember this happening before.

[geckzilla]

Post titles can only be 60 characters long. Once you reply to it the "Re: " is inserted at the front. If the title is too long the end gets cut off.

[Beyond]

Ah, i didn't know that. Thanks.
It took me a couple of times counting to 'get-it'.

[neufer]

Ah, i didn't know that. Thanks.
It took me a couple of times counting to 'get-it'.

They could hold the May 0 as well.

Operator: [Captain Oveur is on the phone with the Mayo Clinic] Excuse me, Captain Oveur, but I have an emergency call on line five from a Mr. Hamm.

Captain Oveur: Alright, give me a Hamm on five, hold the Mayo.

[Beyond]

Neufer, you're just simply complicatedly amazing

[tomjeff76]

Thanks for my current wallpaper.

[Beyond]

Thanks for my current wallpaper.

Make sure you have a roll of Bounty handy in case it leaks.