Monthly Archives: May 2025

05.30.25
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Day 6, Dust up in Texas

Thursday started in Amarillo Texas with an IHOP for breakfast, which usually precedes interesting storm activity and today was certainly interesting!

Our target area is Brownfield TX. An easy drive from Amarillo.

Another 5% tornado risk day made choosing a target area fairly straightforward

On the drive down, we stopped for gas just north of Lubbock, and had an impromptu airshow with KC-135 tankers doing touch and go’s and an AC-130 gunship departing.

An AC-130 gunship, the targeting pod being the giveaway that this isn’t your everyday Hercules.

KC-135 air to air refueling tanker

As we arrived in our target area 2 storms were visible on radar one to our North heading towards Lubbock and another to our West that was seemingly heading into better territory to chase in and good air.

We chose the storm to the West as our initial target knowing we could relocate to the Northern storm once it cleared  Lubbock and if it still looked good on radar.

In position on our first storm of the day
A panorama of our storm, looking very blue!
For a momment, it looked like we were going to have a nice lowering wall cloud.

A true wall cloud didn’t develop but we did have a pretty brilliant lightning show

2 minutes of rumbling Thunder
After my hair started standing on end we decided it might be prudent to get back in the car…

We decided to relocate to target the Northern storm and found ourselves in a race against time to get far enough East to get on the right side of it to view the area of interest.

As we drove East we started to get strong crosswinds, and alot of dust

As we drove east, the storm continued to move South and it was becoming a race against time to find a road that would take us South, out of the way of the oncoming storm and get us into a good position to view the area of interest for tornado potential.

Stormchasing is often a game of fine margins, we want to be close enough to see interesting structure and tornados, but far enough away to be safe. This means a mile or 2 of progress down a road can be the difference between getting to a good view and finding ourselves in the thick of the action. On Thursday, the unexpected wildcard was the dust being kicked up by a powerful rear flank downdraft. Had we been just a little further east we would have missed the worst of the winds and dust that made the following videos one of the more adrenaline inducing momments of my Stormchasing career.

One of the more visceral moments of my storm chasing career, downed powerlines 60+mph  winds and debris crossing the road.

When we found ourselves in this situation, the key to getting out safely was to be cautious and make data driven decisions. The temptation to turn around immediately is strong, but before you do, you need to be confident that the road behind isn’t worse than the road ahead.

The radar as we paused to make a decision

The plan had been to reach Lamesa and drop South on highway 137. But it became very clear that wasn’t possible

Screen capture of courtesy of Dave! When we saw these flashes, it was time to turn around

We paused briefly to get our bearings on the storm, before making the decision to either proceed or turn around. The radar made it clear there was no tornado risk ahead or behind, but visually, we could see flashes from transformers being blown ahead, so regardless of tornado risk the safest way to proceed was to backtrack until the next opportunity to turn South.

We managed to find a fast South road and escaped this monster of a storm.

We tracked a bit East towards Big Spring TX to see if we could get one more chance at viewing the storm.

Getting back in position on our way to Big Spring TX and our escape along I20.

Unfortunately, the light was starting to fade, and a long line of storms had formed, so we decided to call it a day and escape along I20.

Torrential wind and rain with lightning all around while we made one last pit stop before home.
Sunset on one hell of a stormchase

Overall it was a truly incredible day, and about as close to danger as I ever want to get!

05.29.25
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Day 5, Storm whac-a-mole

We started the day in Odessa, TX. so had a long set up drive to get to our target area in Western Kansas and straddling the Oklahoma and Colorado borders.

The forecast was looking promising for storms forming mid to late afternoon, with all right ingredients for tornado activity present. The only concern with the days forecast was a strong cap,a layer of warm air that storms need to punch through in order to get interesting. A strong cap acts like the lid of a pressure cooker, the challenge for us can come when the cap weakens everything goes up at once, making for a difficult chase.

A 5% tornado risk in our target area

As we reached the end of our initial setup drive, we stopped to see how things would develop, and also happened upon our friends and fellow chasers with stormchasing.com.

It’s always fun to bump into chaser friends, particularly when you are in the middle of nowhere and a place where few people ever have a reason to be!

The location of our impromptu reunion and some forming storms at a rail stop in Kansas.
Our initial target for the day

Unfortunately, as the storms developed it was turning into quite a messy system, making forecasting very difficult and choosing a target almost impossible.

Multiple storms had formed, and you can see several bases
The best bits of structure of the day
A really nice view of the updraft on this storm

Unfortunately, as the day went on, more and more storms formed, which meant they were interfering with the development of each other. The overall effect was good air for storm development, was increasingly hard to find.

We kept moving in the hope of finding a storm with good air but ultimately couldn’t find much other than messy bases and scary looking but harmless clouds.

Severe warned storm, but unfortunately it was running into the back of another storm
A drive through the storm
A very messy radar before we decided to call it a day

We headed South back to Texas, putting in some mileage to be in a good position for Thursday’s storms in the Southern Texas panhandle.

As has been a pattern on this trip, the lightning show on the drive to the hotel offered a great show to round off the day.

Slow motion lightning capture on the drive home
Several bolts turned night to day.

Overall Wednesday’s chase was frustrating but still delivered some brilliant momments. The ingredients were all present but unfortunately didn’t lead to the isolated super cell we are looking for, that is the nature of this hobby though and days like Wednesday are all part of the experienc. Thursday’s forecast looks promising so fingers crossed for another good day on what has been a very active week!

05.28.25
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Day 4, Scenic Squalls

We had a much more leisurely start to the day on Tuesday, with the forecast predicting a later start, and the potential for storms along the Mexican border.

A 2% tornado risk over West Texas and Mexico.

We had time for brunch and a bit of sightseeing in San Antonio.

The Alamo

After a leisurely morning, we drove West towards Del Rio, Texas, to get in position for the storms forming in Mexico that would have the best tornado potential of the day as they moved into West Texas.

Some brewing storms in the distance, viewed from the Pecos river.

We had to wait for the storms to get organized, so picked a scenic spot over the Pecos River to wait, a much nicer situation than our typical gas station hangout!

The impressive Pecos bridge

Unfortunately, as the day went on, the storms we were waiting for in Mexico were not looking like they would get organized in time to be chaseable during daylight. We decided to head North to put us in a better position for Wednesdays storms and catch the tail end of a few severe warned storms on the way.

Driving into a moody sunset
Some Mammatus starting to form
Driving through the storm, and some decent lightning bolts were striking around us!
The first Mammatus of the trip
The base of the storms we were catching on our drive north
Double Rainbow!
The sun setting behind the remnants of a storm
Some impressive Mammatus outside Fort Stockton, TX
One last look at some Mammatus to close out the day.

Overall, we ended up with a very pleasant day with some nice photos and recharged batteries for what promises to be another exciting chase on Wednesday.

05.27.25
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Day 3, Tornados, Lightning and a Snooze

We started the day in Wichita Falls and targeted San Angelo TX as our initial area of interest.

Our 3rd day of stormchasing had very good potential again

Our initial set up drive took us towards Abilene TX with storms expected to get going around 2pm. Like our chase on Sunday however things started to fire earlier than expected and our leisurely drive to our target area turned into an almost immediate start to our storm chase as we left Abilene.

Reed Timmers “Dominator”
This offers a little more protection than our Yukon!

One of the challenges of Monday’s chase was the difficult terrain. This part of Texas has a lot of hills and trees and doesn’t have the typical grid of roads that we usually rely on to navigate to the area of the storm where interesting things will happen.

By the time we were on location the storm had received a severe warning and was starting to get organized.

The base of our storm as it developed

Nothing exciting yet but it was looking good for some tornado potential

We relocated trying to stay in a good position which was not made easy by the roads and terrain.

It was obvious geography was going to play as much of a factor as meteorology on Monday’s storm.

The view of our storms base viewed from a hill on the side of the highway.

We relocated again in search of a view, navigating along gravel roads and farm tracks to stay in position.

As the storm developed the lightning strikes picked up pace, a sign of a strengthening storm.

It was starting to look really good both to the eye and on radar
The same view as the photo above but zoomed in on the base

We stayed on the storm and managed to stay in a good position to view tornado activity just as the storm received its first tornado warning!

We are right in the notch where a tornado would form if there was going to be one

We were in a great position as a rotating wall cloud crossed in front of us, with rapid circulation and significant lowering this is where a tornado would form if there was going to be one.

The rapidly rotating lowering wall cloud
Momments before the circulation on the ground  could be seen

In the following videos, you can see the circulation on the ground caused by a tornado. While not the most photogenic its another one for the tally!

Tornado on the ground
Twisty winds
Some more rotating wall cloud action!

As the storm moved away from us we relocated through the town of Menard to the sound of tornado warnings.

Tornado sirens sounding in Menard TX
The storm stayed tornado warned as we relocated South

With a fairly long drive, we found a great vantage point for one of the best lightning storms I have experienced. The photos that follow don’t really do the storm justice. As the storm approached, we were surrounded by lightning in almost every direction. There were several strikes per minute with many within a couple of miles, meaning the sound was like a cross between cannon fire and the rumble of a jet engine with its after burner running. Unfortunately, the microphone on my phone can’t compete with the wind to pick this sound up!

After enjoying the show for around 30 minutes as the storm approached we felt the tell tale cold blast of outflowing air and could see oncoming hail and rain heading towards us. It was time to leave and stay ahead of the storm.

Heavy precipitation approaches!

Moments after the preceding photo was taken this is the drive-through the storm

As we navigated through the storm, we had to somewhat thread the needle staying ahead of the storm behind us, without driving into the hail core in front of us!

Some tactical waiting!

The storm was forming into a line behind us, so it was time to head for our stop for the night in San Antonio. The chase ended with one last pit stop in Fredicksburg, TX, and another intense drive through the storm.

Another successful chase of what is turning into a very active week of storms!

05.27.25
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Day 2, Structure, Lightning and a fair bit of adrenaline

Sunday started in the aptly named Weatherford, OK with another fairly obvious target for Storms forming in the late afternoon in Texas. Our initial target was Childress, TX.

We started the day with breakfast at a route 66 diner and a brief stop by the Stafford Air and Space Museum, which was unfortunately closed until 1. But did have some pretty excellent aircraft parked outside.

F-105 Starfighter
A-10 Thunderbolt II
F-15 Eagle

After leaving Weatherford, it was on to our target area for the day, initially heading for Childress TX.

Our target area was right inside the enhanced risk into Texas

Unlike Saturdays storms, today started to get interesting early with our first target firing up  by 2pm.

After an easy set up drive we stopped for our first look at the developing storm.

Our ride for the week!

Our first storm of the day
An early severe warning for our storm

As the storm grew in strength, we relocated to a rather convenient picnic spot with a brilliant view of the  storms updraft.

The convection on our storm continued to grow!

As we watched, we saw a whole convoy of storm chasers. Chasing storms on a weekend means you are rarely alone!

A doppler on wheels from Texas Tech
Our storm and an impromptu stormchasing convention!

As the storm continued to develop we relocated to get a closer look

The approaching rain and hail with an eerie blue glow

As the storm developed, we relocated again to stay on the right area of the storm should it show tornado potential.

Minutes later that’s exactly what it did.

Our first tornado warning of the trip
Tornado Sirens as we drove throughDickens TX! Video courtesy of Linda Wilson

As we relocated to stay in a good position, the storm moved into some challenging terrain that made it difficult to keep track of without running the risk of interacting with this storms 4-inch hail!

The last view of our first storm

Dan did an excellent job forecasting and was able to make an early call to move on to our next target of the day. One of the hardest parts of stormchasing is knowing when to leave a storm, particularly one with an active tornado warning. Dan made the call at exactly the right time, allowing us to move to our next target, leaving behind the stormchaser  traffic and to a brilliant spot to observe our next storm!

Target number 2 with a severe warning

First stop for storm number 2 and it’s quite incredible structure starting to take shape.

After another quick relocation, we found a spot with a perfect view, and our storm moved at less than knots across the ground, allowing us time to observe at our leisure.

The following videos are all from the same location as the storm continued to evolve.

Time-lapse of our storm
Lightning highlighting a rather ominous shadow (almost certainly rain)
I’m quite proud of this. There’s no cheating, just a quick trigger finger, and a lot of luck!
Possible dusty tornado
Some lightning portrait photography…
Tornado warning on our storm shortly before we observed a brief tornado.

Dave was the first to spot what would be our first tornado of the trip!

Tornado on the ground very briefly 🌪

After an incredible lightning show, at least one and probably 2 tornados, it was time to relocate as the light started to fade.

Driving into the storm!

As the light faded we paused for one last photo stop.

The storm illuminated by a lightning bolt!

After saying farewell to the storm, we had quite an eventful drive to our stop for the night in Wichita falls.

Driving through the storm home, video courtesy of Linda Wilson

The drive back was one of the most challenging I have ever experienced, almost zero visibility, flooding, and constant lightning! It was challenging but a major thrill as well!

Sunday’s storm chase was one of my all-time favorites and embodied everything I love about this hobby!

05.25.25
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Nightriders of the storm

Stormchasing 2025 has begun, and it was off to a good start with a very obvious target in Oklahoma, meaning an early start to drive over 500 miles to our initial target in Seiling OK.

The SPC tornado probability for our first day

We were definitely going to get storms but the big question on Saturday was when. Early models had the storms firing up between 4 and 5 pm but as the models were updated through the day it looked increasingly likely that they would get interesting after sunset.

Some people are better equipped than others
A time-lapse of the first storm of the trip trying and failing to get organized
As the sun set there were still no signs of the storms developing into the severe warned supercells we are looking for
Some iredesence in the clouds being highlighted by the setting sun
Convection on the second storm of the day
Finally, as the sun set the convection really got started, and our storm of the day got going.

Unfortunately, as we had feared, Saturday’s storms only got going after we had lost the light. The chance of seeing a Tornado was over for day one since we don’t want to risk chasing in the dark.

On the bright side, we had the perfect setup for a nighttime lightning show and the storm delivered.

Our storm received a tornado warning but we stayed well clear of any risk area.
Lightning with the last of the evening light!

As the storm tracked East we relocated South to stay in a good location to view the lightning show and stay out of the 2+ inch hail.

After relocating this slow moving storm put on a spectacular show and the following photos are my best captures!

It was a great first day, and we found ourselves in a great location for day 2, heading to Texas, and hopefully, storms starting much earlier in the day!