Whew!!! I have been busy chasing lately among other things. I finally got this blog updated. For those that follow me, I apologize for not being more consistent in my posts. For those of you that chase and maintain a blog, you know how hard it can be to stay current.
Now, enjoy my recent chases and photos from the past couple of weeks!
Friday, June 4, 2010
5-31-10 MEMORIAL DAY MIRACLE CHASE IN COLORADO!!!
All I can say is WOW!!! ABSOLUTELY THE BEST CHASE OF MY 12 YEAR CAREER!
Another slight risk and t-storm watch did it for me again! Boy, I'm still all giddy inside! Met up with friend Dan Skoff in Guymon, OK and he left his vehicle and jumped in with me. We actually targeted Campo, CO (believe it or not). Got west of Campo and saw a brief funnel (later found out it was a tornado). The storm looked ok, but never really looked like it was going to put down a significant tornado. We found out differently after we got south of Campo a few miles. We were actually looking at rotation SE of Campo. We pulled over and I happened to look to my NW and saw the long funnel touch down about a half mile or so to our W/NW. It was coming straight at us, so we had to blast south a little ways to get out of the path. At times, we got hit with RFD winds of at least 75-80 mph and maybe higher. We followed the storm to Guymon and saw at least 3 more tornadoes as we followed it back. In 12 years of chasing, it's the best chase of my life. Being a chief met in Fayetteville, AR, Dan hasn't seen a good daytime tornado in 10 years. That came to an abrupt ending today! Everything went absolutely perfect for us today. I took all stills of the event, and Dan took the video. This is the best tornado I've ever seen! Oh, and it's the first tornado I've ever seen in Colorado.
Tornadoes like this make all the negative factors of storm chasing worth every minute.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that is was absolutely great to finally meet Lou Ruh and Dr. Jason Persoff. 2 very genuinely nice guys that make a storm chase even better! Like I've said before...tornadoes are great, but meeting awesome people on a chase is something I'll always cherish.
PHOTO #1 DAN SKOFF GETTING VIDEO OF THE STORM WEST OF CAMPO, CO
PHOTO #2 ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE FROM DAN SKOFF
PHOTO #3 DAN SKOFF POSING WITH A NICE LOWERING WEST OF CAMPO, CO
PHOTO #4 THE FIRST THING IS SAW WHEN I LOOKED TO THE NW. I BARELY GOT IT OUT, BUT I SAID...DAN A TORNADO. I REALLY COULDN'T BELIEVE IT.
PHOTO #5 IT GOT BIG VERY QUICKLY. TAKEN ABOUT 3 or 4 MINUTES AFTER THE FIRST TORNADO SHOT.
PHOTO #6 PROBABLY THE BEST WEATHER PHOTO I'VE EVER TAKEN. I CAN'T THINK OF ONE THAT TOPS THIS ONE. JUST A CLASSIC TORNADO PHOTO IF YOU ASK ME.
PHOTO #7 TORNADO AS IT'S PICKING UP A LOT OF DIRT AND CROSSING THE HIGHWAY
PHOTO #8 A RARE PHOTO OF A TORNADO AND RAINBOW IN THE SAME FRAME
Another slight risk and t-storm watch did it for me again! Boy, I'm still all giddy inside! Met up with friend Dan Skoff in Guymon, OK and he left his vehicle and jumped in with me. We actually targeted Campo, CO (believe it or not). Got west of Campo and saw a brief funnel (later found out it was a tornado). The storm looked ok, but never really looked like it was going to put down a significant tornado. We found out differently after we got south of Campo a few miles. We were actually looking at rotation SE of Campo. We pulled over and I happened to look to my NW and saw the long funnel touch down about a half mile or so to our W/NW. It was coming straight at us, so we had to blast south a little ways to get out of the path. At times, we got hit with RFD winds of at least 75-80 mph and maybe higher. We followed the storm to Guymon and saw at least 3 more tornadoes as we followed it back. In 12 years of chasing, it's the best chase of my life. Being a chief met in Fayetteville, AR, Dan hasn't seen a good daytime tornado in 10 years. That came to an abrupt ending today! Everything went absolutely perfect for us today. I took all stills of the event, and Dan took the video. This is the best tornado I've ever seen! Oh, and it's the first tornado I've ever seen in Colorado.
Tornadoes like this make all the negative factors of storm chasing worth every minute.
EDIT: Forgot to mention that is was absolutely great to finally meet Lou Ruh and Dr. Jason Persoff. 2 very genuinely nice guys that make a storm chase even better! Like I've said before...tornadoes are great, but meeting awesome people on a chase is something I'll always cherish.
PHOTO #1 DAN SKOFF GETTING VIDEO OF THE STORM WEST OF CAMPO, CO
PHOTO #2 ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE FROM DAN SKOFF
PHOTO #3 DAN SKOFF POSING WITH A NICE LOWERING WEST OF CAMPO, CO
PHOTO #4 THE FIRST THING IS SAW WHEN I LOOKED TO THE NW. I BARELY GOT IT OUT, BUT I SAID...DAN A TORNADO. I REALLY COULDN'T BELIEVE IT.
PHOTO #5 IT GOT BIG VERY QUICKLY. TAKEN ABOUT 3 or 4 MINUTES AFTER THE FIRST TORNADO SHOT.
PHOTO #6 PROBABLY THE BEST WEATHER PHOTO I'VE EVER TAKEN. I CAN'T THINK OF ONE THAT TOPS THIS ONE. JUST A CLASSIC TORNADO PHOTO IF YOU ASK ME.
PHOTO #7 TORNADO AS IT'S PICKING UP A LOT OF DIRT AND CROSSING THE HIGHWAY
PHOTO #8 A RARE PHOTO OF A TORNADO AND RAINBOW IN THE SAME FRAME
5-25-10 REPORT
Started off the chase near Hereford, TX and made it north to Channing where a storm showed promise. Some other storms from the south merged with the isolated storm and basically killed it. Zoomed the radar out and noticed a tornadic storm west of Dimmitt, TX. Blasted south and got a brief tornado, and a couple of hours later the cell morphed into a spectacular LP north of Nazareth. A brief tornado and a beautiful LP at sunset...you just can't beat that.
PHOTO #1 STRIATED UPDRAFT WEST OF CHANNING, TX
PHOTO #2 BRIEF TORNADO WEST OF DIMMITT, TX
PHOTO #3 BEAUTIFUL LP SUPERCELL NORTH OF NAZARETH, TX
PHOTO #1 STRIATED UPDRAFT WEST OF CHANNING, TX
PHOTO #2 BRIEF TORNADO WEST OF DIMMITT, TX
PHOTO #3 BEAUTIFUL LP SUPERCELL NORTH OF NAZARETH, TX
5-24-10 REPORT
I didn't nab any tornadoes today, but I still got some great photo ops. Started off near Pampa, TX with Bri Winkler and Will Coffin, as we worked our way down to Lefors, TX. Got south of town and had a great wall cloud develop and showed signs of rotation, but it never dropped a tornado. Fiddled up near Canadian, TX for a while and made the trek back home. On the way home, I decided to go south out of Pampa to catch a few photos ops of a storm at sunset. I wasn't disappointed at all. No tornadoes, but it was still a great day with some great photos to take home.
PHOTO #1 LARGE WALL CLOUD SOUTH OF LEFORS, TX
PHOTO #2 ANOTHER SHOT OF WALL CLOUD SOUTH OF LEFORS
PHOTO #3 NICE LOWERING SOUTH OF CANADIAN, TX
PHOTO #4 NICE SCULPTED UPDRAFT WITH MAMMATUS ON HWY 70 NE OF GROOM, TX
PHOTO #5 ANOTHER SHOT OF SCULPTED UPDRAFT
PHOTO #6 BEAUTIFUL ANVIL COLORED BY THE SETTING SUN NE OF GROOM, TX
PHOTO #1 LARGE WALL CLOUD SOUTH OF LEFORS, TX
PHOTO #2 ANOTHER SHOT OF WALL CLOUD SOUTH OF LEFORS
PHOTO #3 NICE LOWERING SOUTH OF CANADIAN, TX
PHOTO #4 NICE SCULPTED UPDRAFT WITH MAMMATUS ON HWY 70 NE OF GROOM, TX
PHOTO #5 ANOTHER SHOT OF SCULPTED UPDRAFT
PHOTO #6 BEAUTIFUL ANVIL COLORED BY THE SETTING SUN NE OF GROOM, TX
5-21-10 REPORT
Got on the storm SW of Groom, TX after traveling with Jay McCoy for the first part of the day. Got to photograph some incredible structure. What a day! I absolutely love TX Panhandle LP Supercells!!! Most shots from North of Clarendon, TX looking west. The last one is near Groom, TX. This was the most photogenic LP supercell that I have ever seen. Not only was the structure beautiful, but the fading sun behind the storm gave it special character that has made it one of the top storm photos that I've ever taken (PHOTO #2).
I did meet up with Brady Kendrick, Marcus Diaz and Steve Miller(TX) south of Groom to try to see some large hail. Earlier on, the storm produced hail that was about the size of softballs. When I got there (over an hour later) they were still the size of golf balls. Of course LP's are prolific large hail producers, and this one was no different.
I did meet up with Brady Kendrick, Marcus Diaz and Steve Miller(TX) south of Groom to try to see some large hail. Earlier on, the storm produced hail that was about the size of softballs. When I got there (over an hour later) they were still the size of golf balls. Of course LP's are prolific large hail producers, and this one was no different.
5-19-10 REPORT
First of all, congrats to those who scored today...I didn't fare so well. Left Amarillo late because I was at the tv station in Amarillo helping with cut-ins (I ran the studio camera) until 4am. I got up late, but met Bri Winkler at the station at 1:30. We took off and just jetted east on I-40 to make up some time. Never got in great position to see any tornadoes, but we did see some nice structure that was worth the price of admission. I'm one that doesn't have to see tornadoes to be satisfied with a chase. If I was, I'd be disappointed quite often. I can say this...at least I got out and tried, and to me it wasn't a bust. Anyway, enough of my boring summary...now to the photos! :-)
EDIT: Almost forgot to mention this. There was a lot of talk about certain individuals driving crazy on this day in Oklahoma. I had a special guest in my home that did a short talk about the antics of this day. I think you'll enjoy it!
CLICK HERE FOR INTERVIEW
PHOTO #1 SUPERCELL LOOKING NORTH FROM CLINTON, OK
PHOTO#2 SAME STORM AS PHOTO #1, BUT ABOUT 20 MINUTES LATER
PHOTO#3 SEMI TURNED OVER FROM A TORNADO NORTH OF KINGFISHER, OK
PHOTO#4 LOOKING SOUTH AT A STORM FROM WATONGA, OK
PHOTO #5 ANOTHER PHOTO LOOKING SOUTH FROM WATONGA, OK
EDIT: Almost forgot to mention this. There was a lot of talk about certain individuals driving crazy on this day in Oklahoma. I had a special guest in my home that did a short talk about the antics of this day. I think you'll enjoy it!
CLICK HERE FOR INTERVIEW
PHOTO #1 SUPERCELL LOOKING NORTH FROM CLINTON, OK
PHOTO#2 SAME STORM AS PHOTO #1, BUT ABOUT 20 MINUTES LATER
PHOTO#3 SEMI TURNED OVER FROM A TORNADO NORTH OF KINGFISHER, OK
PHOTO#4 LOOKING SOUTH AT A STORM FROM WATONGA, OK
PHOTO #5 ANOTHER PHOTO LOOKING SOUTH FROM WATONGA, OK
5-18-10 REPORT
Hung out at the tv station until things got going. It looked pretty good for severe storms so we were ready to go. Saw a storm firing west of Dumas and headed that direction with my current chase partner Bri Winkler. As we got closer to Dumas, we began to see features of the storm to our southwest. We stopped about 10 miles south of Dumas to get a glance, and it had already produced a decent rain free base and small wall cloud. We got to Dumas and headed west of town to get a better view. It looked really good. It had a large wall cloud with a tail cloud to boot. We waited and watched a few minutes and I decided to go south about 3 or 4 miles. We got a good perspective and it looked pretty good. After a while, the updraft began to get filled in with rain, and it took on more of an HP status. We continued to watch it as Warren Faidley pulled up beside us and chatted for a while.
We watched the cell slowly drift toward Dumas as the rotation got wrapped in rain. We could see some rotation on the back side, and we thought we may have seen a wedge develop for a brief time. We decided it was just a very low hanging wall cloud. If it had indeed been a tornado, Dumas would have had their hands full. We went east of Dumas for a while but were caught on the backside of the storm. Besides, the storm was drifting into an area with very poor road options. We broke off the chase at this time and hoped storms might form further south near Amarillo. That never happened, but it was a great chase nonetheless.
PHOTO #1 LARGE WALL CLOUD SOUTHWEST OF DUMAS, TX
PHOTO #2 STORM FEATURES WEST OF DUMAS, TX
PHOTO #3 UPDRAFT OF STORM FILLING IN WITH PRECIP
PHOTO #4 WARREN FAIDLEY'S CHASE VEHICLE. THE PERSON STANDING THERE WAS NOT WARREN. I THINK IT WAS ONE OF HIS TOUR CUSTOMERS.
PHOTO #5 RAGGED ROTATION JUST WEST OF DUMAS, TX
We watched the cell slowly drift toward Dumas as the rotation got wrapped in rain. We could see some rotation on the back side, and we thought we may have seen a wedge develop for a brief time. We decided it was just a very low hanging wall cloud. If it had indeed been a tornado, Dumas would have had their hands full. We went east of Dumas for a while but were caught on the backside of the storm. Besides, the storm was drifting into an area with very poor road options. We broke off the chase at this time and hoped storms might form further south near Amarillo. That never happened, but it was a great chase nonetheless.
PHOTO #1 LARGE WALL CLOUD SOUTHWEST OF DUMAS, TX
PHOTO #2 STORM FEATURES WEST OF DUMAS, TX
PHOTO #3 UPDRAFT OF STORM FILLING IN WITH PRECIP
PHOTO #4 WARREN FAIDLEY'S CHASE VEHICLE. THE PERSON STANDING THERE WAS NOT WARREN. I THINK IT WAS ONE OF HIS TOUR CUSTOMERS.
PHOTO #5 RAGGED ROTATION JUST WEST OF DUMAS, TX
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