5,600 miles of driving and 6 days of nonstop chasing and traveling brought me and my storm chasing partner Nic to dozens of tornado warned storms, multiple states, and many new landscapes. I have been making this trip to the midwest since 2010, and each year I chase the peak of storm season more determined, more skilled, and better prepared than the year before. Tornado season still is not over and I will continue chasing around the East Coast and Southeast, but I wanted to go ahead and share a gallery of photos and a link to a video that I produced. All of the photos in the gallery were photographed between May 5 and May 9, 2015 in the midwest.
Lessons learned from this trip:
- Always bring twice as much gas money as you budget for
- Chasing HP (High Precipitation) tornadic supercells is still only fun for only about 30 minutes
- Kansas has a section of rolling sand desert referred to as ‘Little Sahara’
- Chasing LP (Low Precipitation) supercells provides endless photographs
- Having a cooler & ice is still the best way to save money on the road
- Oklahoma police officers & locals get very excited around tornadoes so be extra careful
- Great organization will increase your ability to get a quick picture or video in an unexpected situation
Tornado and cumulonimbus clouds near Sterling, Colorado 5/9/15.
5/5/15 Texas storm, stars and lunar rays
Colorado supercell 5/9/15.
The tornado producing HP supercell North of Wichita Falls, Texas 5/8/15
Tornado warned storm in Roscoe, Texas, May 5, 2015.
Oklahoma mammatus clouds and blue hail core 5/7/15
Low precipitation supercell 5/6/15.
Fairview, Oklahoma supercell 5/6/15.
Tornado warned storm near Enid, Oklahoma 5/6/15
A base of a tornado producing storm near Hays, Kansas, where we observed multiple tornadoes, although it is difficult to tell what is on the ground in this picture.Video:
Exploring NC 