Wednesday, August 3, 2011

07/26/11 Summer Convection

Summer convection blossoms
near Camp Grove, IL

About a week ago I shot some picturesque convection in rural-Stark County, IL looking southeast toward Camp Grove, IL. All of these photos were shot with my Canon telephoto-zoom lens (70-300mm) and my newly acquired Canon 7D. The late-July heat and humidity sparked off some summer convection near sunset on this evening as convective temperatures were reached in the local-area. The isolated nature of this convection provided some excellent photography near sunset. I've added some photos of the bubbling convection near sunset below:

Beautiful shot of my new ride this year as
"she" just got washed and waxed just prior...

Awesome shot here as the sun sets behind a distant
anvil creating a "shadow effect"

Got to love CAPE!
(Convective Available Potential Energy)

Towering (Cb) Cumulonimbus cloud
Sun dips below an anvil casting a shadow on the
updraft in the background...

Prime example of isolated convection!
What goes up, must come down...
Moderate instability + convergence = thunderstorms
An example of what deep moist convection
looks like in the summer months...

Distant thunderstorm looking east toward Elmira, IL
Convection at sunset near Geneseo, IL
A distant severe thunderstorm
along the Mississippi River...

That wraps up this post. I actually storm chased last week in far eastern Iowa and northern Illinois. Stay tuned for a future post in regards to that chase day...