The best part about chasing, especially when the storms let you down, is hanging out with friends. By May 19, 2025, Alethea and I had met up with Dave Lewison, Scott McPartland, George Kourounis and Jason Persoff. After a yummy barbecue lunch in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma, we headed south toward the Red River, where a storm headed over the border into Texas, dumping huge hail along the way.
We got the best view from behind the storm, in Ardmore, Oklahoma.
We avoided the hail and ended up getting our best views from behind the storm as it moved west. A spectacular anvil with pouchy mammatus caught the sunset light, so we stopped near athletic fields in Ardmore to get some shots.
The puddles offered a great opportunity for reflective photography as the colors got more dramatic. Then they shifted and changed and became more muted as the sun sank below the horizon and the storm moved off to the east. The nice sunset photos were our consolation prize after a somewhat frustrating chase.
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