Ringer Of A Horseshoe

A horseshoe-shaped shelf cloud was becoming more defined in the now-increasing outflow-dominated HP supercell in the Texas panhandle at 7:33 pm CDT on Monday, May 16, 2016. The above image looks north from the junction of Highway 51 (foreground) and Highway 760, about 7 miles south of the town of Spearman. Storm was moving left-to-right in the picture.

West facing at 7:39 pm. Location is alongside Highway 281 at Highway 1, a little over 9 miles southeast of Spearman. The shelf cloud is low and menacing, packed with hail inside its core. Note the circling birds at upper left.

Panorama image at the same location and time. The abandoned farmstead in the foreground appears to be on the verge of being swallowed by the monster. 

Radar screen capture from this moment. White curve indicates area of the horseshoe. Target icon shows our position relative to the supercell, lavender color is hail, and the white arrows indicate storm movement.