A couple of weeks ago, we published a “primer” on outflow boundaries. I hope you read it and learned something (if not, you can find it here), because yesterday morning the grand-daddy of outflow boundaries strafed the Memphis metro as it headed south ahead of severe storms that moved through in it’s wake. Though it was early morning, we were fortunate that the sun had risen or this beauty would have been missed! It’s not often we see a shelf cloud this “clean,” with such a well-defined leading edge.
I’ve posted a few pics below from MWN followers who were as amazed as we were. A couple of “apocalypse” references were even witnessed on social media as the shelf cloud (the visible incarnation of the outflow itself), and what appeared to be boiling black skies behind it, passed overhead. Click each to enlarge.
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Panorama taken by Mark Roberts in Collierville |
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Panorama taken by Eric McKenzie in Lakeland |
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Taken by Christina Morgan Purkey, MWN Facebook fan |
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Underside of the shelf cloud as it passed overhead Bartlett. Taken by MWN meteorologist Erik Proseus. |
And my favorite, one taken by Tom Rose and shared by tens of others on Twitter:
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Amazing structure on the shelf as it crossed into Southaven. Photo credit Tom Rose. |
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