Strange, beautiful storms, neato lightning, and a tornadough?
YOU'LL ALSO NOTICE one of many reasons why it was a bad idea for me to switch from iPhones to the Samsung Galaxy S9+.
2018-06-21 21:17:31 +0000 UTC View Post
This is a scene I shot yesterday near Scott City KS. The RFD dropped, wrapped and cut a clear slot around a scud sucking lowering. It looked like a brief tornado might have occurred. A ran into another storm chaser and he said "that was a tornado." But asking a storm chaser if a suspicious cloud is a tornado is like asking a barber if you need a haircut.
TODAY I SPED UP THE VIDEO and ramped up the contrast to try and confirm if this SLC was truly a tornado. (Remem...
2018-06-21 02:06:23 +0000 UTC View Post
I uploaded a pic of today's possible targets using the patreon app. I'm curious if you guys can see it. (Also accidentally changed my avatar to meteo-spaghetti). TARGET AREA ONE is west of Dodge City and closest to me. TWO is up near Hayes Kansas and appears to have more umph. Both ONE and TWO could get messy (factor in tail-end Charlie?). THREE is furthest away south of Limon Colorado (might not have time to make that scene) but appears to have more isolated activity... PLACE YOUR BETS...
2018-06-19 14:45:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Insurance totaled my car so it appears I will start car shopping, but after this week's round of storms. You guys arrived at the right time.
I STARTED EDITING a fun new video where I examine the site of a couple lightning strikes, one seen above. But, that's going on the back burner 'cause it's currently looking like we're gonna have some storms all week with ever-so-slightly more favorable supercell thermodynamics then I've been chasing in awhile. So, Interstate 45 and...
2018-06-19 01:19:20 +0000 UTC View Post
This was happening all over the place for quite awhile. Thank you good night!
2018-06-13 09:53:41 +0000 UTC View Post
Been white knuckling the steering wheel for 2.5 days. Saw a brief camera shy funnel cloud in South Dakota Sunday and some nice mesocyclonic-ish structure in SE Nebraska yesterday. The highlights of this trip has been the charm of the Prairie. South Dakota is probably the most under-appreciated state in the Union in the beauty department. Hope to soak some of it up soon (instead of blazing through, hair on fire). The above photo was yesterday in Nebraska.
NO SPRITE...
2018-06-12 19:13:01 +0000 UTC View Post
Heading to South Dakota for this evenings storms. Tomorrow near Kansas City maybe and Tuesday in the Panhandles. None of these events are looking like prolific tornado producers at the moment, but there's that off chance. THE REAL INSPIRATION for this tour is red sprites. Gotta catch just one decent photo this season! Models are giving me more confidence that a hurricane could strike close to my home June 17th. To be continued...
2018-06-10 15:28:36 +0000 UTC View Post
It sounds way more dramatic than it is, but often during the storm season, high pressure develops over the Plains. This big ol' dumb dome of stable air forces the jet stream up in to Canada.
IN MOST STORM SEASONS we see a ridge-trough-ridge-trough / high-low-high-low pattern migrating across America. The troughs (lows) tend to bring instability and forecastable storm events. The ridges (highs) tend to bring heat and blue skies.
STORM SEASON 2018 has been dominantly characteri...
2018-06-07 17:14:53 +0000 UTC View Post
Fantastic lightning display yesterday in North and Central Nebraska. Last couple years I've been trying to capture great images of lightning in the daytime and yesterday delivered some more goodies to the portfolio.
ALIEN LIGHTNING SIGHTNING
Later that night I witnessed something I've never seen and I'm a little sad that I might not see it again for awhile. Maybe I was in a daze, but it was a cliche alien-esque encounter. I was all alone in the middle of the night on a...
2018-06-02 17:46:37 +0000 UTC View Post
After dozens of attempts (nice way of saying failures) I finally captured some red sprites last night. 4 of them! Dim, yet brilliant red flashes exploding over thunderstorms. The bright full moon made it very difficult to balance the photo settings, thus the sprites are extra dim in the photos. I have invested 3 storm seasons, thousands of dollars and 10's of thousands of miles to capture those little red squiggles in the stars.
RED SPRITES were discovered in 1989 by accident, tho...
2018-05-31 17:58:44 +0000 UTC View Post
Gnarly storm near Waynoka Oklahoma today. Isn't that the town in the movie Twister? Loved the storm colors, the red brick town and the surreal greenage. I was calling the dangle a funnel, but apparently someone caught video of it destroying a roof...??? The Storm Prediction center is calling it a tornado also...
TOMORROW I'll be chasing in the slight risk outlook of SE Colorado to NW Oklahoma. Need decide if I'm gonna chase in South Dakota Friday or if I'm going t...
2018-05-30 08:11:52 +0000 UTC View Post
LAST NIGHT the storm was extremely photogenic. It kicked up a lot of dust around sunset and the whole thing went sepia. The lightning activity and storm structure was fantastic. Looking forward to posting that video eventually.
TODAY was... well, Look above. In Woodland Kansas right now and it just started hailing outside my hotel like a... like a mothah-ship. And holy mole... there's rotation... Gotta go!
OK, I'm still here. Keeping eye on developing storms close by. ...
2018-05-29 03:33:45 +0000 UTC View Post
287 near Vernon TX at 2AM is a long straight dark highway. I was going 70 and the headlights behind were approaching FAST. I braced for impact but right at the last second, the crackhead awoke from his cracky crack, jerked the wheel to the left and of course lost control and smashed into my door. We both ended up in the shoulder and paused. He punched it... I punched it... Grind-Grind-Grind... He got away and lived to smoke crack another day. I couldn't be more grateful t...
2018-05-27 18:37:42 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's some behind the scenes storms and friends from last week in Colorado and Kansas. The crystal ball is suggesting that next week could be interesting. To be continued...
2018-05-25 22:39:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Fellow patron Sean Kirwan had a request... And it was a good one. Hoping to have this video completed tomorrow evening. Found a few tornado clips I've never posted. I suppose that kinda counts as new footage.
IF YOU GUYS HAVE ANY IDEAS or suggestions for a good video, shoot em over. Eventually I'm going to do "How Tornadoes Form" but I'll need to hire a real graphic animator to help with that one.
2018-05-23 01:48:09 +0000 UTC View Post
It's been a whirlwind! Not exactly the kind I've been looking for...
MAY 18th weak storms developed in SW Kansas but when the lights went out, man they were sparky. Snapped a thousand shots of lightning (not exaggerating) from sunset until about 1AM and I think there will be some unique footage outa this chase. Another highlight was a thirsty bull snake I saved from becoming another belt on the highway.
MAY 19th was a rat race in N Oklahoma. Storms fired u...
2018-05-21 01:34:56 +0000 UTC View Post
The watered down decaf I'm drinking is stronger than the storms yesterday in Colorado. I'm not complaining... It was actually nice. Sat on a hill and shot a typical glorious sunset while occasional cloud-to-ground strikes zapped through the orange. The highlight was feeding the dung beetles bananas. Think about it... You eat dung for breakfast, lunch and dinner your whole life and then one fine evening someone gives you a taste of your first banana. How do you go back from there? You could sen...
2018-05-18 18:11:19 +0000 UTC View Post
Followed a fun storm yesterday from Tucumcari New Mexico to Mule Shoe Texas. Nothing unusual... The TIT got sand blasted and ice blasted, but the show was the mammatus clouds at sunset.
TODAY there will likely be storms with a .03% chance of tornadoes south of Lubbock TX. Instead, think I'll cut some ground to Northeast Colorado for tomorrow's storms... Look for some rattlesnakes and horny toads... Maybe do a vlog along the way.
THE REST OF MAY appears to maintai...
2018-05-16 18:25:38 +0000 UTC View Post
The strong upper level flow and 60s dew points that are common this time of year in the Alley have left the building. Weak dynamics continue to bring a whole lotta uncertainty regarding tornado activity through the week, but at least one of those days has potential for a surprise sleeper tornado event (perhaps even today in Western Nebraska).
Friday and Saturday has the moisture, but a STRONG cap currently appears to suppress any storm activity according to the NAM weather model. T...
2018-05-10 18:09:47 +0000 UTC View Post
Here is some Patreon exclusive raw 4K footage from the tornado chase up in Kansas last week.
Nothing in the latest forecast runs screams tornado activity, but the models don't factor in something chasers call "May Magic." Ideal set-up cheery-pickin' is a great way to miss out on some pretty storms, But the latest runs are really telling me to stay home and be patient. Hopefully I'll have some concrete plans to give you guys in the next day or two.
2018-05-09 00:25:32 +0000 UTC View Post
Nothing crazy unusual yesterday, but a lotta fun chasing storms in Western Oklahoma. Spent a lot of time inside hookish echoes, but no dangly bits. I crossed paths with two other storm chasers who were also waiting to see their first decent tornado this year. I hope they don't have to wait too much longer. Gonna post some other grabs in the comments below.
TODAY 5.03.18 TARGET AREA:
The lightning last night dragged me too far away from the highest tornado probabilities today ...
2018-05-03 15:58:05 +0000 UTC View Post
May 01, 2018 Storm chase report:
For five fighting hours I was snuggled up with this storm... Except the 3 minutes it dropped a tornado. 99 good decisions and 1 not so good choice of a road knocked me a mile out of bounds right when this monster made the scene. Here I'm looking through a mile of core hail and rain at a large tornado. The T.I.T. was punished on this chase. Cracks all across the windshield and something's knocked out of alignment. Out here the gravel and silt roads t...
2018-05-02 14:15:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Wanted to extend my sincere gratitude to y'all for taking care of this channel. That means the world to me. We reached our goal of $2500 and I'm looking forward to putting your hard earned money to work. Just so happens it's gonna be a stormy week. Got a short 9 or 10 hour drive ahead of me so I'm going to cut some distance tonight to tomorrow's target area. I never know what I'm gonna see, but if it's good, I'll let you guys in on it asap. If you don't here from me, then assum...
2018-04-30 01:26:44 +0000 UTC View Post
It's been a slower than average year and the latest forecast runs suggest little activity in Tornado Alley until around May 1st. I'm going to take advantage of the downtime and see if I can produce a video. One dreamy evening last June, numerous fireflies flickered alongside a thunderstorm. I included a couple clips in the "Best Tornadoes of 2017" video, But there's still a lot of unseen magical imagery I haven't shared.
2018-04-24 17:09:22 +0000 UTC View Post
Thanks to the EF3's and above for choosing this pic for me. New silly video slated to be uploaded to YouTube tonight at 6:30PM CDT. 6 minutes of BS leading up to that INCREDIBLE lightning strike I captured last Friday.
STORMS FRIDAY AND SATURDAY?
It's now NOT looking very favorable for strong supercells Friday. Good chance I'll sit at home instead of driving to New Mexico. Saturday in the TX Hill Country looks a teeny bit better. Gonna look at the cards agai...
2018-04-19 18:07:35 +0000 UTC View Post
My next video is going to be a silly vlog about superstitions, dove-tailed into last Friday the 13th's storm chase. I think I'm gonna call it "Stupersitious." When I showed my wife the first pass of the edit, her comment was... "When was the last time you looked in a mirror?" I think she was implying that I could do more to look more presentable and professional. So, would you guys mind giving me a hand here? Let's take a vote... Which pic should I use for my next YouTube...
2018-04-18 15:31:25 +0000 UTC View Post
Many weather models have been in agreement over the last few days that the next wave of funderstorms is going to occur Friday in West Texas and vicinity. The first thing I look at while forecasting several days out is the winds up around 18K feet. When you see a cyclone like that moving into the Plains during the Springtime, It's a good bet things are gonna rumble (Cue Link Wray). So I've got a few days to try and churn out a video from the last wave (Cue The Ventures).
2018-04-17 00:59:58 +0000 UTC View Post
For the most part yesterday, I didn't capture any neato footage except this! This is a video grab of an incredible discharge near Tyler Texas last night. Would've been happy driving to Montana just for this one moment. Wait'll you see the video! That same line of storms is sweeping through Mississippi and Alabama right now, but I'm slacking in Houston about to go celebrate with a bahn mi and vietnamese coffee.
In the future, I don't want to buzz your notifications with no news, so ...
2018-04-14 17:44:00 +0000 UTC View Post
Very difficult chase scenario today. Messy modes in horrible chase terrain. Good chance of significant tornadoes somewhere... right now I’m filling up in Nacogdoches TX. Wondering if I should blast Toward Texarkana, or maybe hit the second line of potential storms near DFW, or sit here and wait for possible storms on the southern tail end. cards are stacked against me seeing anything, but I a might hit some luck on this Friday the 13th. For some of the folks living around here... d...
2018-04-13 15:46:08 +0000 UTC View Post