An elephant-trunk tornado near McLean, Texas.
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Kathy Velasquez and I targeted the north-central Texas Panhandle on May 22. Two tornadoes, including a large one that went from a wedge/fat cone to a multivortex beast, were the payoff for a crazy day of colliding storms and camera issues. And we got to film while being blasted with wind and rain and dodging peril as rear-flank downdraft winds knocked down telephone poles (watch the video for the grungy results).
Photography was challenging to say the least, but it was a visceral experience in person.
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My Honda Element has a great viewing spot.
On May 18, Kathy Velasquez and I aimed for the point where extreme western Texas met New Mexico, in the only warm air on the front that wasn’t in Mexico.
We went to El Paso and then north into New Mexico to chase the storms there. As a bonus, we saw a variety of scenery along the way.
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The storm structure was dazzling this day.
On May 16, Kathy Velasquez and I targeted the western Oklahoma Panhandle with an eye toward seeing a storm that might produce a tornado.
Despite a lot of cloud cover and relatively cold temperatures, we saw just that – plus beautiful storm structure as we chased storms into the Texas Panhandle.
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The shot of the night! A great lightning crawler spun out of the storm before I fled the core.
Sometimes, as a storm chaser, I take a chance on a marginal forecast rather than chase a higher likelihood of severe storms in a place I don’t want to chase.
On May 11, I targeted an area with decent upper-level winds and dewpoints – where Colorado meets the Oklahoma Panhandle and the northern Texas Panhandle. I refined the target to a storm coming out of New Mexico, and after driving in a rather frustrating loop (road network issues), I ended up in front of a storm coming out of Clayton, New Mexico, that just got prettier and stronger until it ended up being warned as severe.
This storm and its sister storm had incredible lightning that I chased all the way back to Amarillo.
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As it got darker, the colors shifted.
I chased storms on my own May 29, 2015, targeting east-central New Mexico, hoping for an isolated storm.
Instead, there were many storms growing and dying in rapid succession, but it was still a great photography day, with wildflowers, storm structure, mammatus and a wonderful sunset.
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I separated from the group, hoping to escape the rain, and stopped on the bridge to check out the circulation. Whoa! A huge cone on the ground!
Incredibly, the storms not only went up there, but one tornado-producing storm there barely moved all day. At one point we just set up and watched it spin out one funnel after another.
But the main show was the large tornado, which we all filmed from different angles. I watched it from the highway bridge over the river, filming the tornado as it churned beyond the wagon bridge that had always captivated my imagination in spite of its sometimes gloomy history. Unfortunately, the twister reportedly caused injuries.
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The group was happy after seeing a tornado in open country – the best kind.
I chased with Mark Robinson, Jaclyn Whittal, Michel Millaire, Matt Grinter and Brad and Dayna Rousseau. We targeted the Lubbock area and ended up moving a little east to intercept a small line of storms. The southern one surprised us by producing a classic tornado despite a relatively weak storm that was nothing special on radar.
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I followed storms east in the Oklahoma Panhandle to be treated to a great rainbow and mammatus. This is “The Rainbow and I,” with my shadow.
On May 9, I chased storms on and off with Mark Robinson, Jaclyn Whittal, Michel Millaire, Matt Grinter and Brad and Dayna Rousseau. We targeted southwest Kansas and ended up in the Oklahoma Panhandle, witnessing beautiful storms along the way.
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The hail core on this storm was beautifully green.
On May 8, 2015, I chased with The Weather Network’s Storm Hunters crew – Mark Robinson, Jaclyn Whittal and Michel Millaire. We ended up on the tornadic storm at Throckmorton, Texas, where I got a nice lightning photo later in the evening. It’s always fun to chase with friends.
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