Our storm chasing target on May 25, 2025, was the Texas Panhandle, which meant we were able to swing by one of my favorite Route 66 stops, the U Drop Inn in Shamrock, Texas. Jason Persoff took the opportunity to shoot another “album cover” of our chase crew in front of the old gas station.
We continued south, expecting storms to go up early and line out early. But we were in for a treat – not one but two spinning supercells and an incredible lightning show.
We headed south and west out of Childress. Soon we were east of Matador along with a bunch of other chasers, watching a developing supercell to our west. Structure and radar indicated it had rotation, and it cranked up into monster mode. Hailstones up to 6 inches in diameter were reported with this storm!
A map shows our route May 25. Click on it to see a larger version. Each “POI” or point of interest marks a photo stop.
We all got separated during the chase, which often happens, especially since Alethea and I tend to get farther out in front to capture the structure (and avoid the hordes and hail). We got some nice structure shots ahead of the storm, along with a few cows in the foreground. And I spotted what looked like a possible tornado near Afton, though we were quite distant from it – it was reported by another chaser. Yet even our friends who were closer weren’t sure of what they saw.
Fleeing the hail in the conga line of chasers!
And in spite of our best intentions, we ended up in a slow-moving traffic jam anyway as the hail core munched toward us. We successfully evaded it after a few tense minutes and moved farther south to chase another storm near Stamford. This photogenic supercell prompted more tornado reports. There was certainly visible rotation from our position and, even more terrifying, some of the most intense lightning I’ve ever seen.
A dramatic black-and-white edit of the lightning storm.
I stood outside the car for short time, shooting branchy cloud-to-ground bolts with no lightning trigger, using exposures of just under a second to maximize my chances. I caught several bolts before the rapid-fire barrage scared me enough to return to the car.
We stayed with the storm (or storms) for a while. Later, our party said goodbye to the northern chasers under lightning crawlers on an isolated road. What a way to end a spectacular day!
Click on any photo to see a larger image and start a slide show.
