The setup this day led me south of DFW, trying to pick something out amid and ahead of early, ongoing convection. It was mostly an exercise in transiting one town to the next, looking for a vantage through the trees to pick out something other than featureless, drizzly, scuddy skies.
What did show up at intervals was mostly mushy, semi-shelfy gust fronts. That doesn’t mean there wasn’t any scenery to take in and photograph, and I did my best with what revealed itself.
Loose shelf north of Dew, Texas — 2135Z.At least a semblance of a rain free base near Donie — 2248-2255Z.More Shelf structure east of Buffalo — 2315-0011Z.Field decorations seemed worth a try near Flo — 0011-0012Z.
As the sun went down, I finally let things blow by before grabbing some anvil crawler scenes east of Marquez (0316-0337Z).
My target this day was northwest Kansas after a long drive up the entire Texas Panhandle overnight. I was hopeful for storms to fire up there, but they just couldn’t get going. Further into the Nebraska Panhandle though, things did take off so I kept hustling north trying to get at least something since my original target didn’t fire.
By the time I got near Mullen, Nebraska, a cell near Hyannis had exploded, was tornado warned, and was already producing an enormous wedge tornado in the Sand Hills. All I could do was keep hustling north to try and get lined up with it.
About to pass into the anvil shadow of this huge tornado warned cell near Hyannis, NE. Too bad so sad Northwest Kansas:,(looking west at actively wedge producing storm from a painful distance — 0056Z.
I finally got to a spot north of Mullen with a view of the approaching storm and a little reflective pond in a hollow. The tower was alive with lightning, but rather soft with distance and haze. It made for a fun time lapse though and at one point sported a conical funnel beneath the base before I needed to reposition.
Inbound storm loaded with lightning north of Mullen, Nebraska — 0237-0244Z.Pointy lowering 9 minutes prior to the next tornado — 0244Z.
I found a new vantage a couple miles further north that revealed a wedge profile that corresponds to an ongoing tornado surveyed by the National Weather Service.
wedge profile lurking behind the hills — 0300Z.
Five miles further north, I took an unpaved side road to try to get another view. A new lowering had formed that corresponded to another tornado that was later surveyed. I tripoded one of my cameras to shoot video while I took stills with another. Inflow winds gusted and knocked the tripod over, landing the camera lens-first into the grass. A big, chunky grass stalk wedged in between the lens barrel and zoom ring. No broken glass, but zoom was now tight and compromised with embedded vegetation. That turned into an unfortunate repair bill later on.
Pointy lowering from N. Falls Rd. as new tornado forms — 0317-0318Z.
Further north near Merry Land Park, the storm was getting ready to start crossing SR97. I stopped for a few shots, trying to capture some structure. But looking at it later, an apparent funnel and debris cloud was showing up beneath the base and corresponding to another tornado cycle that got surveyed.
Looking north near Merry Land Park during next tornado cycle — 0340Z.Apparent funnel and debris cloud — 0339-0340Z.
One last push up toward Merritt Reservoir led to a look at some brief multivortex spinups beneath the base, followed by a tight, lightning-silhouetted, elephant trunk tornado descending into the hilltops just ahead. I think this was identified as a separate satellite tornado in the damage survey, although the time is off from either ongoing tornado report by about six minutes.
Time lapse and video of the nocturnal supercell and tornado.NWS Damage Assessment toolkit map with associated photos.
I followed the storm for a bit longer, just across the South Dakota border near Sicangu Village, before letting it go. I missed the main, daylight wedge on this one by a wide margin, but was very happy with how the nocturnal show turned out.
Another day of modest 25-30kt H5 flow over the Texas Panhandle this day serving up 40-50kt of effective bulk shear and MLCAPE reaching 2000-2500 j/kg by late afternoon. There was an outflow boundary drifting across Lubbock and arcing to the northwest that would be great for storms to latch onto.
I got another late start, this time because I wanted to stop by an excellent Lubbock camera store, Armadillo Camera, to pick up a new ball head mount to improve on the messed up situation I had with tornado video the day before. I got just what I needed, but was now running late.
If I had gotten to the target area sooner, I might not gave gotten distracted by a competing storm. A big cell got rolling near Sudan as I moved in. As I got closer, another one formed off its forward flank to the east. In my haste to figure out the best option, I figured that the outflow boundary was in play for both cells, and with new thoughts about storm nudgers helping the downstream storm out, I opted to hang out with the eastern storm near Amherst.
It wasn’t the right call. The eastern storm did not hang out on the boundary, but gradually moved deeper under the anvil of the Sudan storm’s forward flank. By this time, I was far out of position for the western cell and just hoping that some sort of nudge magic would still happen for my eastern storm.
Sudan, Texas cell at lower left with downstream storm closer on the right by Amherst — 2048-2057Z.
The silhouette of the Sudan storm kept getting better and was now hinting at dust beneath the base. RFD surge or something more interesting?
Sudan storm (left) solidifying its base and kicking up dust while Amherst cell (right) tries to gel its own — 2059-2100Z.
Within a minute the dustup had consolidated as a funnel descended above it. All in distant silhouette while I tried to figure out which camera to quickly swap on a telephoto lens.
Sudan storm spinning up a tornado — 2100Z-2102Z.
With the 70-300 lens finally in place, I managed a few shots as the tornado churned up the landscape. Only later did I realize how amazing that would have looked closer in with good light. But it was still a catch.
Dusty tornado in silhouette — 2103Z.Churning away — 2103Z.
As that distant event faded away, my failed storm continued to drift into the forward flank of its buddy and get all the outflow feels to it. So what happened to my storm nudger hopes? Task saturation for one. Which led to not noticing how fast the downstream storm was surging north of the boundary. As it moved north, it got buried further and further in the forward flank of its upstream partner. Still noting that a tornado was reported on this downstream storm while it was tucked in there, but a fail mode is that this is an area with terrible contrast and increasingly getting seeded by the other storm’s forward flank. Visibility is just not at all good in that configuration.
The other issue, I think is that this downstream storm formed AFTER the main upstream cell, so I think that setup just wants to overwhelm the downstream cell rather than help balance its rear flank. The other thing worth noting is that the original upstream storm did not get nudged by another cell prior to forming its tornado. It got everything it needed from the outflow boundary it was latched onto. So hopefully I get some pattern recognition on that situation for next time around and not get fooled into targeting a doomed cell.
Amherst storm getting ingested into the Sudan storm’s forward flank — 2106-2108Z.
With both storms merging, some reorganization had to take place as I drifted south of Littlefield to see what it would do next.
Both storms consolidating behind an abandoned homestead south of Littlefield — 2132Z.
As the new cell consolidated, the rear flank made a quick surge to the east and got reorganized. The base and vault lofted spectacularly overhead with ominous green color and tight focus for the RFD. Radar and NWS damage survey indicated a tornado wrapped up inside the rain as that happened. But nothing that I could pick out even after torturing my images for contrast.
Fully merged cell now surging east from south of Littlefield — 2157-2211Z.Surging RFD gust front with tornado embedded in the rain at this point. Looking 3 miles to the west from southeast of Littlefield — 2215Z.Rain wrapped circulation with tornado still embedded. Looking west from southeast of Littlefield — 2219-2223Z.
After that burst, the storm seemed to drift north of the boundary and go elevated for a bit as I wound up west of Anton.
Momentarily elevated storm recycling behind a farmstead west of Anton — 2232Z.Trying to reorganize west of Anton — 2239Z.
After about 15 minutes, it managed to hop back south far enough to tap into fresh air and go surface based again with some fun, drilled down structure.
Cell managing to hop back south of the boundary and get surface based again — 2241-2243Z.
Not long after that, the RFD filled in, developed a tighter couplet, and then opened back up, revealing some faint, thin needles in the circulation, followed by dusty spinups beneath as it surged southward. NWS Damage Assessment Toolkit plots a radar indicated tornadic circulation at that point and time.
RFD filling in behind another homestead southwest of Anton — 2250Z.Thin funnels (right side of left photo) followed by dust whirl (right photo) beneath circulation — 2257-2300Z.
The storm had been pushing me south and east, but at this point, it was starting to go back elevated and hold position north of Smyer. Structure and light across the landscape were an enjoyable descent from the earlier excitement and gradually transitioned to an evening lightning & structure display.
Sunbeam moment between Roundup and Levelland — 2325Z.North of Smyer — 2344-2348Z. Storm going outflow dominant south of Smyer — 0018-0041Z.Local landscape flavor south of Smyer — 0050-0107Z.Evening structure show west of Lubbock — 0200Z.
After shooting structure and lightning for a couple hours, I was wiped out and booked a hotel on the southwest side of Lubbock. After grabbing a Subway sandwich and heading for the hotel, I saw that CG strikes were now starting to hop out of the storm. By a great coincidence, a bank parking lot near the hotel had a good view of the storm and I took that chance for 15 minutes of relaxed shooting from the window mount with new, sturdy ball head.
CG lightning display firing up from near my hotel in southwest Lubbock — 0323-0324Z.Multiframe lightning stack — 0313-0328Z.
The setup on the 23rd was on the weaker side but still held out hope for supercells. A surface low was positioned at far southeast Colorado with a dryline stretching down the western panhandles beneath 25kts of WSW 500mb flow. Across the panhandles, MLCAPE reached 1500-2000 j/kg with effective shear around 30 kts by late afternoon and rising to 40 kts after sunset as the low level jet strengthened.
After hustling north from Fort Stockton that morning, I caught up with a cell north of Gruver. It danced on the threshold of multicell and marginal supercell as it slowly drifted northeast.
Storm base north of Gruver, TX — 2315-2326Z.
After grabbing some moody shots with a concrete grain elevator, I spotted an excellent broadcast tower just a little bit down the road.
Grain elevator and broadcast tower north of Gruver — 2343-2347Z.
After about an hour of leisurely following it, I wound up with an elevated view along the Hackleberry Creek river valley. About this time, the storm started to look like a weak RFD was trying to take hold.
RFD attempting to sneak over Hackleberry Creek — 0020Z.
It kept trying with whispers of RFD until it was over Hardesty, Oklahoma, when it finally managed to curl fully into the base.
RFD still trying with occasional lowerings south of Hardesty, Oklahoma — 0032-0045ZRFD finally curling into the base — 0053Z.
I followed it for another 20 minutes before letting it drift off and dissipate. Back to the west, new cells had gone up and were setting up a beautiful sunset lightning display. No CG strikes, like whatsoever, but the anvil crawlers were great, especially since they were originating in a small but cohesive supercell.
Original storm dying out north of Hardesty — 0117Z and then sunset lightning flickering to the west — 0139Z.Small but coherent supercell over Guyman, Oklahoma — 0150Z.0157-0205ZDwindling away over Hooker, Oklahoma — 0232Z.
As the storms weakened and moved off, a larger convective complex was ongoing in central and northern Kansas. I set up the camera for some time lapse shots to the north and later discovered a couple frames with sprites. The foreground storms are around 30 miles away but the sprites are coming from the more distant storms that ranged from 150-250 miles away.
Sprites far to the north, somewhere over Kansas — 0436–0446Z.
Another difficult chase in Arkansas along the farm land north of the Arkansas River and then into the Mississippi Delta. I spent a lot of time trying to coax a view out of a road by Gravesville. There are spots to be had without trees, but a lot of them are really dumpy when you need one in a pinch. My first cell of the day at least had a base on it, but not really doing much more as we crossed paths.
East of Gravesville, Arkansas — 2111Z
Next up were a pair of tornado warned storms moving up from the southwest. The smaller cell was first to arrive as I tried to find a viewpoint on windy roads with some spots cut off from flooding. This one had lost strength and dropped its tornado warning as it approached with a tiny bit of a tail cloud. As it moved over and off, it picked up a tornado warning again. There was no point trying to reacquire it given the road network and visibility issues further into denser trees.
North of Damascus, Arkansas — 2221ZNorth of Damascus, Arkansas — 2226ZNorth of Damascus, Arkansas — 2229Z
As it trucked away, it framed up with the counterpoint to terrible storm views, which is beautiful landscape views. It flipped me a little shear funnel as it diminished into the distance.
North of Damascus, Arkansas — 2233Z
I repositioned to see if the follow up storm would be any good, but it too decided it was time to take a snooze and floated on by with a tame, flat base.
North of Gravesville, Arkansas — 2301Z
With that futile exercise out of the way, I hustled southeast, hoping to get a look at a huge supercell heading toward Little Rock. I had the bright idea to set up in the flat farmland east of the city and time lapse the evening show. I scouted out the perfect spot and set up the cameras. The cell of interest of course eased up as it approached and blended with a developing line of storms. There was still hope of a lightning show along a big shelf cloud but that didn’t gel either and a gust front was sending light showers overhead while the main line hung way back.
View of the no-show lightning display southeast of Kerr, Arkansas — 0219Z
The next tornado warned cell was aimed at a crossing of I-57 at Beebe. So I cruised up that way, found a flat, muddy spot to watch it move in. And it started to fall apart with enough gusto to give up a lightning bolt.
Beebe, Arkansas — 0451Z
The line of storms to the west was now well organized and hustling eastward. I opted for Highway 64 as the surfing road and pretty interesting how that worked out. As the line approached Crowley’s Ridge, it started spinning up mesovortices and picking up tornado warnings. I stopped just east of the town of Wynne to watch one of these move in. Shortly after turning around and facing that way I caught a power flash out of the corner of my eye. A couple more power flashes confirmed that big wind was happening behind the approaching precip core. The dash cam and video camera caught those flashes and a glimpse of lightning illuminated core structure.
Approaching mesovortex core — 3 miles east of Wynne, Arkansas — 0650Z
Dashcam frame grabs below showing power flashes and structure. Time stamps are in GMT/Zulu time and accurate within a few seconds.
The image below is a contrast enhanced frame grab from the R6II as it was on high-res video duty.
Biggest power flash over Wynne, Arkansas — 0650Z
I had to cut it short after that last flash and blasted east again. At this point, I was just trying to find the right spot to duck away from the strengthening bowing segment. I wasn’t sure I wanted to cross the river into Memphis and was strategizing the best option to unzip from the line before then. While those mental games were going on, craziness was unfolding directly behind over the town of Earle. The rear dashcam was kind enough to document that scenario as incredible structure and a lowering that turned out to be a funnel took shape with a batch of their own power flashes. Even if I know that was happening, I’m not sure I could’ve found a safe way to stop and get better photos or high-def video. Makes me want to start researching a rear dashcam with better quality. As above, time stamps are in GMT/Zulu time and accurate within a few seconds:
The more impressive of that lot:
Power flash with tornado — 07:05:50ZBrightest power flash with tornado — 07:06:25ZLightning illuminated structure and tornado — 07:06:39Z
I didn’t realize all this had occurred over Earle until the next day when I went back to see if I could find any damage near Wynne. Before I could get there, I came across the downed power lines and trees at Earle. I stopped to discretely take photos of the utility crews working when I saw one of the local residents in his yard running equipment to clean up tree debris in his yard. I pulled up to ask if he would mind if I gathered some photos for a report since this site was not showing up yet on the SPC storm report page. He related the story of his phone waking him and his family up middle of the night. They flipped on the TV and saw the meteorologist describing that spinups in the line can happen on a moment’s notice and it’s hard to predict each one well in advance. He said that the next thing he heard was the loud “freight train” noise that lasted about 15 seconds and then it was over. He shook his head for a second and said, yeah, they always get described that way, but that’s what it sounded like. Fortunately the homes on that road were not damaged, but it was a very close call. The size of the tree that was taken down in his front yard was staggering, besides all the others up and down that road.
Further west at Wynne, the Crowley’s Ridge Country Club, the damage was not as extensive, but multiple trees and a section of utility poles were down. In both towns, the utility crews were making fast work of the repairs.
Just an absolutely insane night after a very slow and frustrating start to the chase day. Damage from those two tornadoes gives me a heightened respect for he quick and dangerous spinup hazards in QLCS setups with dangerous parameters downstream.
UPDATE: After compiling damage photos and video frame grabs from the dashcam, I submitted those to the NWS Memphis and received this note in reply:
I wanted to thank you for the very detailed report you provided for the damage you observed. This helped identify tornado damage that we were previously unaware of. Looked like there was some previous damage on Gaskill Rd, but new damage was certainly observed as well. We were able to trace out a sporadic track over a 5-6 mile length.
That heightens my awareness of the value of reports — whether ongoing events, or damage details after the fact. Track details are available at the NOAA Damage Assessment Toolkit. The Wynne tornado was rated EF-2 and the Earle tornado EF-1.
This was the last day of the 2024 plains chase trip. I started the morning in northwest Kansas and headed eastern, Colorado for storms heading into 2500 j/kg CAPE with 40-50 kt bulk shear.
Boondocking site west of Oberlin, Kansas.
The first storm started dropping anvil bolts before tightening up a bit and dropping a funnel near Last Chance.
The best of the anvil strikes near Last Chance, Colorado — 2051Z.Strengthening cell and homesteads — 2104Z.Funnel as cell draws a gasping breath southeast of Last Chance — 2113Z.
I followed it south of Seibert where it eventually formed another funnel, but this time connected with a debris cloud, giving me a consolation tornado for the 2024 season.
Various moods as the cell gusts out and tries to reorganize — 2122-2235Z.Unnoticed at the time, a column of dust rises under the RFD core — 2236Z.Funnel with dust beneath, from 11 miles south of Siebert — 2238Z.Close-up — 2238Z.Starting to cross the road as it thins out — 2238Z.
It was pretty frustrating to have been parked with a massive row of power lines between me and that dustup, but gotta take what I can get sometimes. After that, I followed it south, as it cycled and tried to stay cohesive.
Collapsing homestead and farm equipment along the way — 2251-2257Z.Last swirl before going linear near Kit Carson — 2310Z.0002-0007Z.Gustnado as things drift south — 0009Z.
I eventually wound up north of Eads as it grew more linear and started spitting out loads of lightning before I finally called off the chase and started heading home.
Setting up for lightning pics on the textured storm north of Eades0012-0028Z.Stack of 20 exposures — 0023-0030Z.
Ooh, the storms that blew up this day were the highlight of the chase trip. I started the day in Woodward, Oklahoma, after a much needed hotel night. The day was setting up to deliver 2000-2500 j/kg of CAPE under 50 kts of bulk shear with a surface low and eastward stationary front over west central Nebraska.
The long haul through Kansas and halfway through Nebraska meant I was running late, as often happens. The first great storm of the day was looming ahead, over Thedford, and I was wondering if I’d be able to position on it before anything especially interesting happened and not get cut off from decent road options.
Big old anvil behind that altostratus.
I managed to get up to Arnold Road before the storm overran it and had a blast hopping from spot to spot as it consolidated some beautiful and ominous structure.
First time lapse spot south of Dunning — 2052Z.
At my first stop, a rancher showed up, trundling out of the hills on his ATV. I wasn’t sure if he’d be irritated I was parked on the side of his field access, but he was just trying to get out of the way of impending atmospheric doom and entrusted me with re-closing the gate as he hustled down the road.
Rancher escaping the path of the storm — 2038Z.Outflow fangs starting to pick up beneath the base — 2100Z.Awesome tail cloud structure — 2107Z.Evolving structure — 2106-2121Z.Approaching Merna at this point with new levels of structure — 2154-2204Z.
As the storm approached Merna, It lost touch with the surface and got absorbed into the forward flank of a new storm north of Arnold. I jogged back west to set sights on that one. As I got eyes on it, it was apparently brandishing a tornado back in the rain from 2219-2223Z. Contrast enhancing my photos doesn’t pick up anything definitive apart from mystery scuds & shadows.
Next cell south of Arnold with a hidden tornado somewhere in the shadows — 2223Z.
In retrospect, after this, I should’ve hopped back over to Merna and set up along Route 2/92. The notch moved in right along that highway and pac-manned it for a good 40 miles. I still got spectacular structure and landscapes though, just with the core obscured by RFD from my southerly vantage.
More structure modes along Callaway & Cumro Roads — 2232-2333Z.
By this point, it was decidedly outflow dominant and growing more linear by the minute. But it still wielded an amazing Sand Hills menace that was impressive to experience.
Hanging in for a closer view north of Kearney — 0020-0025Z.
After dipping in for a close look north of Kearney, I had trouble getting back south as strong winds and unplanted fields lofted huge amounts of dust and made driving away a major effort.
By the time I got south and east of Kearney, it was a stacked structure festival all the way to Red Cloud.
Stacked structure east of Kearney — 0051-0116Z.Roadside wildflowers were a good match for the shelf as it moved in north of Red Cloud — 0205Z.Sunset colored what was left as storms flickered into the night — 0241-0244Z.
Fort Stockton, Texas has been good to us. It was our first chase target and tornado of the 2019 season and wound up being our last chase target and tornado for the 2023 season.
We started near Big Spring, Texas that morning. Convection was going to light early off the terrain. it was only a couple hour drive, but I still nearly missed getting us there in time. Coming into town, a strong storm was already moving in from the west. But I was hungry and anticipating hours of driving, so we pulled into a Burger King drive through for a quick food grab. But quick, it was not. Sitting in a mercilessly plugged-up drive-thru, squinting past various, opaque foreground elements as half obscured lowerings churn out of the passing storm is a sick, sad experience.
Staring longingly at the approaching storm from a clogged Burger King drive-thru. 1807Z
We finally managed to break free and scarf on the run, finding a vantage east of town around ten minutes later. A local pulled up wondering whether we were lost. People driving out from Arizona to watch storms didn’t seem to make sense to him, but he agreed they needed some rain.
Storm regathering itself, looking northwest from a couple miles northeast of Ft. Stockton. 1820 & 1824Z
As the cell moved east, it seemed like we might repeat some vantages from 2019. So we got on I-10 and made our way to the excellent frontage road we enjoyed the last time. Our storm started bulking up with RFD carving a wide swath in the base as it tracked along the highway.
Looking west from the I-10/Hwy 385 intersection, 12 miles east of Ft. Stockton. 1846Z
A tail cloud and embedded wall cloud started to develop as other chasers filtered in.
Embedded wall cloud and tail as chasers move into position. Mike Olbinksi leading the pack in the second image. 1851Z & 1852Z
It looked imminent, and with plenty of easy parking on the shoulder, I kept us notching eastward. About 3 miles further east, just past the RM 2023 exit, the RFD finally cleared out and the wall cloud started lowering a funnel.
Descending funnel. I believe it was a tornado at this point, but no way to tell from this spot. 1857Z
When we stopped here, I was thinking we might need another half mile or so before it produced, and was just doing a quick spot check. So, it was a crummy vantage. The funnel started descending right behind the overpass. I got mentally locked up thinking, what if it’s a quick spinup — if I reposition now, it might be over & done while I’m driving. So I hung in that spot longer than I should have with the overpass blocking a full view. I did have my lightning trigger in play, so it was snagging random shots in between my deliberate shutter releases. It pulled off a decent CG running through the almost-down funnel.
Descending funnel and lightning strike just behind the overpass. 1858ZWhite tour van parking and lining up perfectly with the widening funnel. 1858Z
After snagging a few more just-in-case photos, I retreated back to the overpass/frontage-road intersection to get an elevated view. The tornado fully condensed and spun up a tight debris fan at its base as it drifted right to left.
Finally moving back west for a better view. 1859ZFully condensed and churning up a small debris fan. 1900Z
After each batch of shots, I kept creeping along the shoulder, looking for different views while my daughter shot video. The lightning trigger was going nuts with all the CGs popping off and I wasn’t interested in getting outside the car with all that.
Seemingly strongest point, looking down the frontage road as it drifts to the left. 1900ZLightning trigger caught a pretty good strike at this point as the funnel lifted a bit. 1901Z
As it moved to the left, it approached a mesa and started roping out. It seemed like it was dragging itself upward before whipping around a bit and dissipating.
Roping out as it dragged up along the mesa. 1902ZOne more lightning trigger catch during ropeout. 1902Z
After it roped out, we drifted further east to see if it would cycle and produce another one.
Views along the I-10 frontage road after the tornado roped out. 1906Z & 1911Z
By this point, the storm was moving southeast and we needed to get south of the interstate. So we headed 20 miles east to RM 2886 and went south looking for a new vantage. About an hour later, we made it down to a paved ranch road, Harral Rd., which looked like our best option. Terrain was a visibility issue though and this westward option didn’t dish out the best views, especially with the need for caution to keep distance so we could get back out in time without the storm cutting us off.
Vying for views of the storm off in the distance along Harral Rd. 2009Z-2019ZRanch fence with enhanced stick sensibilities. 2015Z
Hills and mesas continued to block the view as we continued south on RM 2886. A tornado was reported on the storm at 2041Z, but we had no view of it either beyond the terrain or behind the precipitation.
Obscured views of the storm from RM 2886. 2036Z & 2040ZFinally a decent vantage of the HP core of our storm about 3 minutes after the reported tornado. 2044ZWildflowers and brooding skies. 2046Z
At this point, our storm started moving east again while new storms started to fire westward along its outflow boundary. Things got messy and difficult to view amid all the precip cores and embedded circulations. The best thing I figured we could do was look for elevated spots and see if anything would emerge.
Mushy views of precipitation cores along RM 2886. 2046Z-2057Z
We headed southwest and then east on RM 2400 for another chance at seeing something. Some lowerings appeared, but nothing discernible beyond that. Doppler trucks showed up at one point and parked nearby, with me wishing I had their up-to-the-minute views of radar compared to the spotty data I was getting.
Desperately seeking lowerings. From RM 2400. 2132Z-2139ZA tour group completing a walkabout while Becca Furnish snags shots of the passing RFD and scuddiness. 2147ZDoppler trucks and cell approaching from the southwest. 2209Z
By this point, we needed to bail back west, dodging a couple RFD cores along the way to get south on Hwy 285. I was really struggling with decent data and figured things were turning too messy to target precisely. So we stopped in Sanderson to gas up and take a bathroom break before moseying east on Hwy 90 to grab parting shots of the storms and rainbows.
Rainbows, updrafts and misty roads east of Sanderson on Hwy 90. 2318Z-2325ZUpdraft to the east, about 20 minutes before it produced a tornado. 2325Z
As we sat there enjoying the rainbows and dicing against impossible to catch lightning strikes, tornado reports started popping up on the storm to our east. I had missed the chance to get ahead of it before it started coring the highway, so besides being behind, there was the bigger question of whether it would be possible to punch the forward flank without trashing the car, besides whether the cell would keep cycling and provide another opportunity.
I gave the core punch a shot, but poor data hosed my confidence and as hail approached ping pong ball size, I couldn’t justify pushing the ice odds any further, so we held back. As photos started to show up on Twitter/X/Whatever, of a very stout tornado south of the highway near Dryden, my heart totally sank at the missed opportunity. Which in retrospect is ridiculous. We had just seen and documented an awesome, photogenic tornado. The act of flipping through social media while the storm hail-blocked us, and then grousing about missing a second tornado seems pretty thankless. (e.g., remember when you caught Chapman and a bunch didn’t? Quit complaining.) So yeah, the well know perils of social media chasing — something to ponder soberly before next chase season.
That mental drama aside, the sunset show was gorgeous. Kelvin-Helmhotz-ey debris clouds, mammatus, updrafts, and cg lightning strikes were lighting up the sky as the storms retreated eastward. And that put the final touch on our 2023 chasecation. 13 days. The longest we’ve done so far.
Debris clouds to the west of Langtry and churning updraft/possible RFD cut to the east. 0128Z & 0135ZSunset mammatus and puddle reflection. 0142ZCGs on the retreating storm. 0148Z & 0153Z0149ZMoving to longer focal lengths as the lightning recedes. 0154Z-0259Z
Another shelf cloud chase day seemed to be on tap. We set up in far southwest Kansas, north of Elkhart, to watch convection moving eastward out of Colorado. There was a lot of dust getting kicked up with brief gustnadoes here and there. We were eventually treated to a beautiful sunset shelf cloud display. I just couldn’t manage any good CG lightning strikes.
Storms building northwest of Elkhart, Kansas. 0055ZDust kicking up along a developing gust front. 0053Z & 0104ZPart of the line strengthening to our north. 0059ZShelf cloud bulking up as outflows merge. 0117ZPanorama of incoming gust front. 0123ZSunset lighting up the whale’s mouth. 0203Z
As the gust front chased us, we drifted southeast into the Oklahoma Panhandle as night fell and all the tantalizing silhouettes started to appear along the edge of the gust front lines to our north and west. Various gustnadoes paraded eastward and northward as the line of storms crept along, while daggers of scud kept the cameras running just in case.
Night falling as outflow winds kick up dust to our north. 0234ZGustnadoes kicking up to the north and west. 0237Z & 0244ZShelves, whale’s mouths, dust ups and grain silos as we surfed the gust front. 0321Z0325Z
Eventually, we found a spot to park next to a cemetery and let the line pass by. I tried some lightning shots through the window, repositioning the car to aim at likely spots as rain and mist worked to blast in. The day met expectations and was a pretty chilled out chase overall.
One of the few CGs that landed on frame where rain wasn’t shooting in the window. 0425ZStack of 15 exposures as the line moves off to the southeast. 0434Z-0446Z
Another day with meager upper level support. We headed north through Kansas and into southwest Nebraska. It was a long drive and were barely in time to catch a bit of structure on a storm north of Stratton before it was ingested into a southeast-bound cluster of storms.
A bit of short-lived structure northwest of Stratton, Nebraska. 0043Z & 0056Z
The better show waited until after dark. Drifting a bit west, south of Benkelman, Nebraska, gave us a nocturnal view of cg strikes in the mess of surrounding storms.
CG Show near Benkelman, Nebraska. 0311Z & 0313Z
After that, a line of storms seemed to be getting organized in Colorado and we headed down to meet it near St. Francis, Kansas. The advancing line moved in with a beautiful, striated shelf lit by constant, colorful lightning. As it moved in over town, I looked for a spot that had given me some fun shots a few years ago. The grain elevator and surrounding buildings had more glaring lights surrounding them than I remembered. And after a few more shots east of town, we called it off for the night.
Terraced shelf moving in from 6 miles west of St. Francis, Kansas. 0405ZAdvancing closer. 0411ZStretching off to the north as it moves overhead. 0415ZGrain silo and elevator on the east side of St. Francis, Kansas. 0435ZLast look at the gust front from east of McDonald, Kansas. 0520Z
The setup this day was practically a targeting mirror of the day before. We set up again between Logan and Gallegos to watch convection develop on the mesas north of Tucumcari. This time, the developing convection to the west put on a better structure show early on than what we experienced the previous day.
Initial cell northwest of Logan. 0022Z & 0040ZMicroburst dropping. 0045ZAnvil lightning. 0050ZConsolidating updraft base and arcus on recently birthed right split. 0101ZLast view of our right split cell before abandoning it for the newer cell further southwest. 0104Z
As our storm went through a split, another one, right on the north edge of Tucumcari started building. This was where I was expecting to move with time, so we left our north option and headed south. We had to cut through the developing forward flank on the new cell to get south. I hoped we were early enough to avoid large hail, but figured it was worth the windshield risk. We had maybe quarters at max on the way through and emerged on the other side to a fantastically sculpted, round base. I was beside myself, excited by how perfect it was. And the sun was getting ready to dip down and light it up. I wanted to get a great foreground to compliment it, but time was of the essence and the main priorities had to be No Power Linesâ„¢ followed by minimal trashiness. We ran across some decent fields that fit the need.
First view of the sculpted base after clearing the forward flank on the north side of I-40. 0137Z A couple miles further south and slightly better field with RFD getting focused. 0145Z
As the sun dipped below the clouds, it threw beautiful, warm light across a tongue of RFD cutting through the base. After shooting a load of images to grab HDR and panorama options, we repositioned a bit southeast to keep ahead of its slow drift. The base started to elongate as the light softened while RFD and scud painted fanciful forms with the trees and shrubs.
Tongue of RFD lit by the setting sun. 0155ZPanorama mosaic of the underlit base. 0156ZBase elongating and color softening after sunset. 0203ZPrecip and emaciated wall cloud lowering lined up with the trees like calipers. 0204Z
As blue hour deepened, the lightning and color kept throwing out new, stunning views. We made another trip through Apache Canyon after full dark. I tried setting up for shots at the top of the canyon but quickly realized the ongoing traffic and headlights weren’t going to work.
Blue hour lightning further southeast on Rt. 278. 0243ZBlue hour structure and later view from the Caprock southeast of Apache Canyon. 0252Z & 0314Z
We repositioned further east and watched as the storm flickered away, latching onto a boundary and spinning like a titanic gear. Compared to the menacing beast the day before, this was so slow moving and predictable from a positioning standpoint, it was a treat to just take it easy and take it in. My main regret is that I did not position a couple miles further east to get a better perspective on the tower with less interference from a pesky inflow band. A really a minor gripe though.
Terraced structure on the nearly stationary supercell from 3.5 miles WSW of Wheatland. 0253Z 0405ZColor variety with internal lightning flashes. 0408Z
After enjoying the seemingly endless light show, we headed back west to rest for the night. On the way, another supercell revealed itself and demanded attention.
Watching to see what happens in the volcanic field north of Flagstaff. 0000ZNicely sculpted even if lightning is scarce.Holding short of the Navajo Reservation boundary. 0101ZSunset lightning was scarce, but a few CGs made it through. 0106ZSunset was hot! Not a bad lowering either. 0115ZZoomed in at 130mm worked out for at least one strike. 0135ZAnother multicell pulse against the sunset. 0144ZGood twilight color as the next south-moving cell lit up the horizon. 0152Z & 0159Z
Early observations this day were in agreement with models that an organized line of storms would descend into the desert around Phoenix that evening and would be preceded by a couple rounds of potentially strong but more isolated storms in the northern part of the state. I started the chase off near Twin Arrows, south of Interstate 40. Storms were popping up by the time I got there and updrafts strong enough to get some photogenic bases, lowerings and downdrafts.
South of Twin Arrows — 2001Z
A couple cells strengthened west of my location. The one closest to Flagstaff developed a velocity couplet and picked up a severe warning, while the one closer to me seemed to be struggling but also developing transient areas of rotation. I decided to stick with it, since my plan was to keep a lead on developing storms eastward then south toward Phoenix. I do wish I had gotten a better look at that stronger cell though.
Rain free base near Twin Arrows with stronger cell further in the background — 2014Z
As that cell moved overhead, it displayed some beautiful vorticity in the updraft before I had to move to get out of the rain. After that, I headed to Winslow and dropped south on Route 87. The idea was to ride new development moving off the Rim into Verde Valley. However, things didn’t ignite the way I hoped. A line of storms went severe warned off to my east, but were too far off for any decent views.
Storm warned for golf ball size hail looking east from 30 miles southwest of Winslow — 2152Z
So I dropped on down to a hillside vantage on the east side of the Camp Verde and took a conference call while waiting for some activity. Storms gradually started popping again in the general area.
Convective attempt south of Camp Verde — 2350ZConvective attempts west of Camp Vende — 2359Z
Finally it looked like something might be strengthening to the north, so I headed to a vantage on the west side of Camp Verde. As the northern cell strengthened, I scouted around for a good spot to tripod some attempts at lightning triggering. Someone else apparently likes the views in that area and had buried a couple beloved pets in that spot. The general vicinity looked like it had been periodically weed-whacked & kept up.
Unsuccessful convective attempt northeast of Camp VerdeFractured attempt at a tail cloud as the cap pinched it off.
The cell to the north continued to strengthen, picked up a velocity couplet and a severe warning as it gathered what was probably some decent structure on the other side of the precipitation.
Thankfully, I did manage to snag one CG strike out of that one before I had to head further south.
Lightning strike in the hills north of Camp Verde — 0124Z
As I made my way onto the desert floor and headed east, storms over the Sierra Ancha were growing as expected and it looked like I’d be in good position to set up at a site I had scouted on Google Maps just north of Rio Verde. As I approached, lightning was illuminating the tops of the storms and I was hopeful for some good photo ops. But within a mile of my vantage, I saw that my road was closed due to being washed out by flooding over the last few days. I tried to find another nearby spot with a view over the treetops, but failed on that. So I backtracked several miles to another scouted spot and made my way to Tom’s Thumb Trailhead. It was a just-in-time setup, as the storms were quickly rushing into town and were almost on me.
Lightning was constant, but I wasn’t seeing any bolts outside the clouds or rain. The shelf cloud looked pretty good though and I started grabbing shots with the saguaro, palo verde and nearby peak.
Inbound shelf cloud from Tom’s Thumb Trailhead, north of Fountain Hills — 0526Z0527Z0528Z
I had about 7 minutes to get those shots before the gust front was on me and rain was growing heavy. I rushed to get off the dirt road leading there before it got swamped, and made my way to the Phoenix Sonoran Preserve to try and get some more shots, but intracloud lightning was the only thing happening.
Intracloud lightning illuminated landscape from Phoenix Sonoran Preserve — 0611Z
Another couple cells looked like they were firing to the north and I managed a couple cloud-to-cloud bolts out of that before calling off the lightning attempts.
Cloud-to-cloud lightning from north Phoenix — 0705Z
As I headed toward Interstate 17 to head back home to Flagstaff, I had to weave around a few palo verde trees that had been blown down into the road. I stopped to send in a spotter report on those, and then headed home.
Down palo verde trees near Interstate 17 and Carefree Highway
The evening of August 13th looked like a good one to ride a line of storms off the mountains and down into the deserts of central Arizona. I headed south from Flagstaff around 6:30PM as storms were firing along the Mogollon Rim to the southeast. They were beautiful in the setting sun, but I was already behind schedule and didn’t have time to get photographs. I eventually arrived at the Sunset Point rest stop on Interstate 17 north of Black Canyon City. By this time, deep twilight revealed internal lightning strobing in the anvil and cloud tops. Low level stratocumulus was hindering the view a bit, but I hung out and started a time lapse.
As the line of storms grew closer, increased inflow started to take care of the intervening clouds and a shelf at the base of the storms took shape. Lightning was constant, but CG strikes weren’t part of the action. Still, the strengthening line was looking impressive, so I stayed with it up on the plateau instead of repositioning & scouting early for the downhill desert phase.
Cell phone video posted during the chase.
As it drew closer, reflectivity showed a pronounced rear inflow notch developing. I knew it was going to be a rough ride down the hill if I didn’t get moving soon, but really wanted to see what it looked like as it got closer.
Impressive rear inflow jet.
It did not disappoint. Between the orange illumination of the Phoenix sky glow and blueish-purple lightning blazing from within, the storm was otherworldly as it loomed closer.
Moments after that photo, the wind really started kicking up. I tossed everything in the car and surfed an aggressive gust front down to the desert floor. From there, I tried to gain ground on it to the east toward Wickenburg to see if I could catch any decent structure or lightning strikes. But the whole complex was moving too fast to get far enough ahead on available routes. I wanted to hang back and try for perhaps a better chance at lightning behind the line, but needed to get clear of desert washes that were likely to flood and strand me if I hung out in an isolated spot too long. I got down near Interstate 10 about 25 miles west of Tonopah and managed to capture some anvil crawlers. They were okay, but not the CG strikes I was hoping for.
Overall, it was fun to surf my second Arizona bow echo. In hindsight, I could’ve headed home after the Sunset Point encounter and been very happy. But you can’t always tell whether later parts of the show will be worth the extra miles.
This day featured strong instability, but poor low level shear, so boundaries were heightened in value. I started the day heading south out of Kansas toward Elk City, Oklahoma, where I thought I spotted an outflow boundary earlier on satellite running southwest to northeast across the area.
By the time I got down to I-40, convection started to congeal on a boundary further south near Childress, Texas. I figured I might have misread things earlier, so I went after it. As I got closer, convection in that area was dying. So I chased my tail with other cells from Childress to Matador that were struggling against the cap.
Western Oklahoma — 1822ZLooking north from Matador — 0028ZEarly convection that struggled in
I finally wound up on a couple cells blossoming near Paducah. These were struggling too, but by sunset, one of them at least dropped a photogenic precipitation core and drifted off with a decent sunset display.
Ten miles west of Paducah — 0054ZFive miles west of Paducah — 0107ZThree miles east of Paducah — 0136Z0138ZReceding cell and precip core looking east from three miles east of Paducah — 0144Z0149Z
The core was so sharp on this one, its trail caught me by surprise. After it passed, I drove north to get back on the highway, and my unpaved road turned suddenly from great shape to slick icing. The slightest motion caused the car to slide slowly in the direction of the road grade toward a nasty ditch. So I just started working the physics in reverse as best I could, angling the wheels back and forth at just the right angle to gain some minimal traction vs. sideways slide tendencies, backing up in subtle zigzags to keep it as close to the peak center of the road as possible until I got back to sturdy ground. I replanned my way out, warned another chaser down the road, and headed east to see if twilight lightning would get any more interesting. It wasn’t looking great, so I stopped in Crowell for an Allsups break, figuring I was done for the day.
When I got back outside, I was surprised to see a fresh batch of flashes lighting the sky upstream to the west. Radar showed a strengthening supercell moving in, so I headed south outside town and positioned to photograph it as it moved in. This totally made up for the more miserable convective attempts earlier. As it got closer, the CG lightning display got better and better.
Combined stack of 11 images showing lightning display 8 miles south of Crowell — 0346Z
Further south just outside Truscott, the structure got meaner and more impressive. The updraft started to come into view during lightning flashes as sharp glowing tendrils reaching toward the forward flank. As it drew closer, the rear flank materialized as a rugged vertical shelf that have me chills of fearsome anticipation as each flash of lightning illuminated it in unique and ominous ways.
Approaching supercell illuminated by a bright flash of anvil lightning, 8 miles south of Crowell — 0347ZRear flank shelf coming into view from just outside of Truscott — 0407Z0410Z0411Z0413Z0415Z
As I packed up from that spot, I surfed it south and east through Benjamin and on toward Seymour. Two inch hail was indicated, so I didn’t want to let it overtake me, but it made for an exciting ride. Eventually, south of Seymour, I let it go and was able to snag some more lightning shots off it and another storm to the east before calling the day and overnighting in that general area.
CG strike from three miles south of Seymour looking north — 0517Z0519ZReceding cell looking to the east — 0537ZAnother cell passing to the north from three miles south of Seymour — 0656Z
