In this incredible photograph by Mitch Dobrowner we see a tornado in North Dakota dying out. These tornadoes are said to be “roping out”, or becoming a “rope tornado”. When they rope out, the length of their funnel increases, which forces the winds within the funnel to weaken due to conservation of angular momentum [Source: Wikipedia]

A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. They are often referred to as twisters or cyclones, although the word cyclone is used in meteorology, in a wider sense, to name any closed low pressure circulation [Source: Wikipedia].

This amazing capture was recently featured as National Geographic’s Photo of the Day. It is also a part of a July 2012 feature story entitled Epic Storms that contains an incredible gallery by Dobrowner of black and white storm photographs. You can see the gallery here on National Geographic.

The feature story and accompanied gallery were the result of a collaboration between Dobrowner and storm chaser Roger Hill. Over a course of three years, the pair have stalked some 45 weather systems over 16 states and 40,000 miles. Dobrowner works in black and white because, “color seems too everyday”. The gallery on Nat Geo is a must see!