The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
-Psalm 19:1

Do you know that God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash?
-Job 37:15



Tuesday, March 18, 2008

THE PICTURE of the downtown Atlanta tornado...

The historic "Atlanta tornado photograph" by Shane Durrance can be purchased through this link... http://www.atlantatornado.org/.

THE PHOTO HAS BEEN REMOVED BY THE REQUEST OF SHANE DURRANCE (AND TO RESPECT COPYRIGHT LAWS)... VISIT HIS SITE LINKED THROUGHOUT THIS BLOG. ACCORDING TO SHANE:

I am working hard on getting a new website up and running for prints to be ordered. Prints will be able to be purchased from www.shanedurrance.com hopefully as early as next week.
Well, I have seen this photograph in several places now, so I decided to share it a little more openly. Alabama Mike gave me the link to the photograph that was taken by Shane Durrance of the downtown Atlanta tornado on March 14. The link I have offered here is the location where I copied the image from. Apparently, Mr. Durrance was photographing lightning at the time (according to the Weather Channel, where they showed this photograph this morning), and he just happened to catch the tornado in the far left side of the shot as it was in the downtown area. You can see what appears to be a debris cloud at the base near the tall buildings, but with it being nighttime and a still shot, it is difficult to be certain. Here is the interesting part that I find rather humorous... When I went to check out 11Alive WXIA's website (since the site Mike shared, referenced them as the source of the photograph) to see what the deal was, they have a slightly differently cropped shot of the same picture of the EF-2 tornado that tore through downtown Atlanta.

THIS PHOTOGRAPH HAS BEEN REMOVED AT THE REQUEST OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER, CLICK ON THE ARTICLE LINK TO SEE WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT.

You can see where 11Alive almost cropped out the tornado... and they refer to that gray section in the center as being the tornado... and I quote:
Shane Durrance's shot of the tornado that hit downtown Atlanta on March 14. The tornado is the light-gray vertical strip in the center of the picture.
An interesting point with this is that that light gray vertical strip in the center of the picture doesn't even appear to be touching the ground, and there is certainly no associated debris cloud, which there obviously would have been in light of the fact that it was tearing through downtown Atlanta and debris (including HUGE debris) is now covering the streets there... Did they even bother to have a meteorologist look at the pic before posting their nonsense about it online??? On that same 11Alive website... I did find this blog posted by one of the 11Alive staff, Paul Ossmann, where he contradicts the writers on the other page by saying...
An image of the tornado that hit downtown Atlanta on Mar. 14, 2008 by Shane Durrance. The tornado itself is on the left side of the image.
Anyways, I just wanted to shed some light on the whole tornado shot. Kudos to Shane for the terrific photograph! Talk about timing...

Oh, and I should share that since I am an NBC Augusta spotter, I get handy dandy newsletters with cool information... They shared in that this photograph of the Wrens EF-2 tornado on March 15th, and they shared this image with me of the tracks of the various tornadoes. They also sent a summary of the tornadoes in that CSRA:
Saturday, March 15th, 2008 will be a day to remember. Five tornadoes covered ten counties over the CSRA. Here's a summary of the historical Georgia-Carolina tornado outbreak.

Tornadoes:
1) Northern McCormick County rated EF-0, moved into northern Edgefield County increasing in strength to an EF-1.
2) North McDuffie County rated EF-0, moved to northern Columbia County still at EF-0, then to northern Aiken County (near Belvedere, Clearwater) strengthening quickly to an EF-2 tornado, then continuing east through Barnwell County as an EF-2, and into Bamberg County reaching EF-3 strength entering Orangeburg County.
3) Jefferson County (near Wrens) rated EF-2, moved into northern Burke County (near Keysville) still as EF-1.
4) Central Burke County (Burke's second tornado) near Waynesboro moved southeast as an EF-1.
5) Allendale County from the town of Martin to Fairfax as EF-2.
It looks like Peachtree City National Weather Service has the Preliminary Storm Reports posted for the March 14th and the March 15th tornadoes, including the Polk/Floyrd/Bartow County EF-3 tornado that took two lives. Feel free to check those out.

Now, onto current weather, it appears that the Texarkana (Texas/Arkansas/Louisiana) region is under fire today with the SPC having placed that region under a MODERATE risk for severe weather, discussing the massive shear values expected to be the dominant dynamic contributing to the potential for
LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WIND GUSTS...AND TORNADOES...WITH POTENTIAL FOR A FEW STRONG TORNADOES.
A public severe weather outlook has been issued there for today, so folks in that area of the country should be vigilant in watching the conditions around them. The threat spreads tomorrow into almost all of Georgia and Alabama, all of the Carolinas and Virginia and part of Tennessee. Although instability is forecasted to be extremely weak, the shear along the warm sector (did I mention it is forecast to hit 80 degrees today?), will support the development of supercells and bowing segments, which would suggest a strong possibility of a few tornadoes and some damaging winds... these storms are expected to race through the area.

Should be an interesting day tomorrow locally, but today things could get bad for those to my west... Stay tuned...

Tornado watch for Texarkoma issued this morning...
THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION... DESTRUCTIVE TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER... THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.
Toodles,
~Dewdrop

17 comments:

  1. Interesting picture….I wish I knew what direction I was looking in the photo. The storm in that picture doesn’t look at that well organized. Kind of looks outflow dominant. Hard to tell if were looking at the far right side of the storm and the more well organized portion of the storm is just out of view to the left. You would think that the photographer would have a few more angles if out shooting that evening of this storm. Have you seen any other angles or shots?

    Interesting picture though indeed. Thanks for sharing Dew.

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  2. I would imagine that he set up somewhere and just sat shooting the lightning if he was after that, probably got way more than he could have ever expected with the tornado... I have not seen any other shots, but I have sent an email to the photographer. I will update if I hear back from him. I agree though, very interesting shot.

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  3. Cool keep us posted...Good post. You have cover this event very well.

    Now I’m off to film the blustery beaches and beach erosion today…Tight pressure gradient roughing up the early Spring Breakers with rip currents and jelly fish. I’d rather be in Southeast Texas / Louisiana playing in the swamps and tree’s with convection. TTYL

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  4. You know I will. Thanks for the compliment about the post, too. I really appreciate that.

    Have fun with the rip tides and jelly fish... perhaps, you could just imagine that you are somewhere exotic, playing with moderate risks... ;O)

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  5. I just think it is too difficult to tell from this photo. We learned in spotter training that this one would have to be watched for its appearance for at least a few seconds before jumping to conclusions.

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  6. I am with you on that one, Mike. It is still an awesome shot!

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  7. Terrific critique of the photo. I was looking at it going, "where IS the tornado?" until I read your explanation. that had to be terrifying in that densely populated area. The other tornado just looks like a big fluffy low cloud to us non-weather people. I hope one day you get to take a SAFE photo of one yourself!

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  8. Oh yes, and why is there always a little arrow RIGHT across me on the US weather maps like the one you posted here????

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  9. Wow, that is an amazing shot!

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  10. btw...sometimes I leave your page open to listen to your music. lol :)

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  11. Annie, THANKS! I thought it was important to shed some light on it, since the media (even just one media group) was so utterly confused and perplexed by the pic. Of course, if you ask 10 meteorologists about the pic, you will get 10 different answers most likely, but that meant that further explanation was sufficiently warranted. As for the thin brown line that frequently cuts through Central FL, that is the 10% and greater probability thunder line. It is usually drawn in expanded area outside of the severe weather area, meaning that you have chance thunderstorms, but they are not expected to go to severe parameters.

    Beth, It truly is a fascinating shot, and if it is in fact the actual tornado that ripped through downtown Atlanta on March 14th, it is the only known photographic documentation of that historic tornado. BTW, I am so glad you like my music. Anytime you have suggestions for other weather related songs that you would like to have included, just let me know. :O)

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  12. Atlanta Tornado Photographer:
    I would like to thank everyone for all the support and positive comments about the pic I shot last Friday night of the Atlanta tornado.
    I want you to know that this has been one crazy week; and I am working hard on getting a new website up and running for prints to be ordered. Prints will be able to be purchased from www.shanedurrance.com hopefully as early as next week. Also, this image has been copyrighted; so if you haven't purchased usage, please remove it promptly. I am sure everyone understands this. My contact information is
    shanedurrancephotography@gmail.com
    www.shanedurrance.com
    studio: 678-523-8837

    Thanks

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  13. Well, it appears that I need to take these pics down... since I am a poor storm chasers without any desire to purchase rights to someone else's photograph.

    Please visit Shane's site for the images. Thanks for stopping by Shane!

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  14. Atlanta Tornado Photographer:
    I would like to add on other thing. I have had some comments about the image being a creation of photoshop. Let me say this, the only photoshop this image has seen is contrast and brightness so the tornado would be visible. If anyone would like to see the RAW image I would be glad to show them. Please feel free to email me with any questions. Thanks,
    shanedurrancephotography@gmail.com

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  15. Shane, I saw that in the forum, but I doubted that was the case. It truly is a phenomenal picture, a truly lucky and historic capture. Again, kudos to you.

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  16. A good song to add would be Noah's Song by Phil Keaggy. It is a classic and is beautiful. :)

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  17. Thanks for the suggestion! I will have to look it up and see if it is available.

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Dew comment, please...