Horsehoe Vortex!

I decided to mosey up to Dalhart yesterday in anticipation of possible Raton Mesa convection firing up and rolling into the NW TX PH under 3000+ CAPE and strong veering profiles. That didn't pan out however as the increasing heights and lack of surface focus kept everything up against the mountains and just marginally severe.

But, on the way up there just north of Channing, I got to see my first real good horseshoe vortex! I've seen small, weaker ones before and small shear funnels as updrafts would shear off from the updraft. However, I've never seen one as in the pics below. They are in fact a fairly rare phenomena considering I always have my head in the clouds and have never seen one like this. ;-)

What causes them? I'm not entirely sure. It does remind me alot of Al Moller's reknowned "garden hose" vorticity demonstration whenever he makes a public presentation on tornadogenesis theories.








I also discovered quite a few sunflower farms too up around the Dalhart area. I had no idea they were grown in this region. It isn't the preferred shot though as they were all facing away from the sun. Still, kind of interesting.