Ok-lahoma! Where The Wind-driven Wildfires Come Sweepin' Down The Plain!

I spotted this dramatic footage on The Weather Channel on Twitter several hours ago. I've been in Oklahoma later in the year than this and it was all green. It appears that California is not the only dry and highly burnable part of the U.S. this year. This does not bode well for the national fire season that is now underway. Per media reports this fire has consumed 23,000 acres and one home. This video comes courtesy of Spencer Albracht (all rights reserved).

My Mental Moving Images of Oklahoma

While traveling and working in Oklahoma recently it occurred to me that I only have a handful of mental moving images referring to that fine state and below is my rather eclectic mental list of five such.

Day & Night Thunderstorms

Today we traveled from West Siloam Springs, OK, through Siloam Springs, AR, and up into the very southwestern tip of Missouri and then back across northern OK through the Osage Indian Reservation and angled down to Interstate-40 and stayed then dropped anchor in Amarillo, TX. Over the course of the day I shot the following images.

Severe thunderstorm west of Wichita, KS, as seen from Oklahoma looking north.

Cirrus outflow from a severe thunderstorm on the Texas Panhandle north of Amarillo, TX as seen from Oklahoma.

The Tower Conoco on Old Route 66 in Shamrock, TX.

The same place at night takes on an another dimension of presence.

A strong thurnderstorm with vivid lightning hit town at the same time we did in Amarillo, TX.

Note the cloud crawler lightning bolt behind the Stockman's sign.

Around the time the lightning died down some large rain drops began falling and I felt peaceful enough to finally sleep.

Quite fortunately this storm was not severe so I could relax and enjoy it.

Rocking Tulsa Gem Faire Is A Wrap!

I captured these images the final day of the 2012 Tulsa Gem Faire.

North side of the Rocks & Relics booth

North side of the sprawling Tulsa Rock & Mineral Society booth. Their wonderful spirit and large presence helped not only make this is a better show than otherwise but also got our customers in the mood.

South side of the expansive Tulsa Rock & Mineral Society. They helped educate the crowd which is something we always strive to do at every show so it was nice to see somebody else fight the good fight against scientific ignorance.

The Tulsa Rock & Mineral Society set up some wonderful displays. It was refreshing seeing some new things given that some of the items on display were not the sort of thing we commonly see in California.

Rocks & Relics owner Dave Richter in discussion with prominent TRMS member Larry Waggle.

Rocks & Relics booth rocked and rolled all weekend long.

The club display cases contained some marvelous collections including great regional fossil collection at right.

Today the booth was consistently rocking and rolling.

TRMS-member Larry Wagle just might be my favorite Oklahoman I've ever met.

Another TRMS member who fits that bill is Virgil Richards.

The ductwork of this building in which we did the show this weekend.

I find the patterns of the ducts strangely soothing and yet eye-catching---I'm weird that way!

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Tulsa T-Storm #2

Despite being a bit blurry I like this image I captured of last night's electrical storms over Tulsa. Photo by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Tulsa Gem Faire Booth-Building

Today was set-up day at Gem Faire and we showed up early and got in to begin setting up the Rocks & Relics booth as early as was allowed (10 a.m.). The top two images below show the booth-building process occurring even while members of the Tulsa Rock and Mineral Society became increasingly attracted to the booth and were being drawn into it. The bottom image below shows the booth-building completed.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Tulsa T-Storm #1

During the night electrical storms raged over Tulsa, OK, where we were staying on the east side of town. This storm was merely the garden variety for this part of the world but it was exciting for me, a storm-starved Californian.

Torrential rains and...

...and lightning flashes!

Both photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).

Panhandling In Texas

Today, Day Three of my journey to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to help my friend Dave do a Gem Faire event we traveled from Grants, New Mexico, to Tulsa, OK, traversing the entire East-West width of the Texas Panhandle. Below are some of the things I saw.

Monumental cross near Groom, TX, adjacent to I-40.

Downtown Shamrock, TX, on the US Route 83 drag of town.

Eastward view of I-40 from the US Route 83 overpass in Shamrock, TX, showing clouds that shortly thereafter formed into severe thunderstorms, some of which became tornado-warned. A short before we were here some tornado chasers were in town.

Large calcite boulder weathering alongside US Route 83 in Shamrock, TX.

Windmills in Western Oklahoma just over the state line from Texas.

All photos by Kim Patrick Noyes (all rights reserved).