CSSS: Storms - Tornado Alley
View allAll Photos Tagged tornadoalley
My chase partner Eric Goodman and I did indeed see a real live tornado on April 29th. We decided on our own dry line target area, stuck with it, and actually got out that way early enough to see the storms initiate for once. Even though we missed out on the Andover tornado, we were happy with our little dust cloud of ground circulation under a beautifully backlit high based supercell. Not to mention we didn't have to fight Friday evening traffic through Wichita to get there.
This broke my 3 year and 13 day tornado drought, due in part to my typically sporadic schedule with the railroad, lack of decent setups within spur of the moment striking range (see sporadic schedule), and the overall boring local season the past two years.
For the first time in a while it looks like we might actually have an actual severe weather season ramping up, so we'll be out more this spring. The grain elevator at bottom left is located in downtown Dillon, Kansas. A bustling metropolitan area; it is located along the ROW for the Missouri Pacific Pueblo Line, abandoned in the 1990's.
4-29-22
Dillon, KS
After 2 days of driving through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and finally Minnesota, we reached the risk area; this was the shelf cloud on the edge of the storm that moved quite quickly over our heads. Not a spectacular storm in the end but we did see yet more lightning. We then drove to New Mexico, through South Dakota, Nebraska and Colorado.
THANKS FOR EVERYONE's COMMENTS!!!
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Eric and I stayed in pursuit of this storm which had earlier dropped a tornado near Dillon. The wall cloud reorganized a couple times and looked particularly menacing with highly visible rotation and several other funnels, but never put down another tornado but carried a warning for well over an hour. I did get a lightning bolt right in a series of rapid shots, so I decided to include that one for review as well.
4-29-22
Navarre, KS
A supercell thunderstorm developed near North Platte, Nebraska right at sunset. The intense colors mixed with lightning as the monster slowly approached. (Explored # 333) www.rossellet.com
This is taken just under the shelf cloud of a fast moving storm, the heavy precipitation and the dust are a sign of the cold outflow. To give you an idea of scale, the visible outflow picking up dust is at least 100ft high.
Texas panhandle.
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A small supercell near Channing in Texas. Not advisable to stand near railway tracks in a thunderstorm.
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This was about as good as it got regarding storms in tornado alley in early June 2016. But we still chased regardless!
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A shelf cloud moves over us in the Texas Panhandle.
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All images are copyright © John Finney Photography.
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A tornado warned supercell churns eastward across Kansas in the vicinity of Hollyrood in the early evening. We hoped this storm would produce, but instead just gave us beautiful structure.
Other storms to the west did put down tornadoes, but due to time constraints we couldn't get all the way over there. We didn't leave too late, but I had to stay within 2 hours of Kansas City in case I was called to work; and was first out. The joys of working for the railroad.
Either way, we didn't want to miss out on the first halfway promising setup of the season for this region, and were still glad we made our way over.
5-26-21
Hollyrood, KS
A lowering of a wall cloud with an interaction with the ground is a sure sign there is about to be a tornado, but in this case there was not enough sheer to give it rotation.
But it still made some dramatic pictures.
Texas panhandle.
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Storm chasing in Colorado, 2014.
Doing 70mph off road while stood out of the sunroof holding a camera gave some interesting results.
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Double rainbow with a lightning bolt at sunset, just south of the town of Superior, Nebraska, but taken over the state line in Kansas.
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Tornado near Patricia in Texas. (we was on the run).
May 26th 2014.
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A rare view of a typical hail core on a small isolated supercell thunderstorm cell, moving across the great plains of Nebraska. Print..
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Today we had an amazing storm in northeast Oklahoma. Shelf clouds appear as an arch across the sky. A few minutes later, extreme wind hit, followed by thunder, lightning, and hail.
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We had intercepted a Tornado warned storm near Waynoka before we headed south towards Enid. This remarkable supercell was heading towards Enid, Oklahoma when we caught up with it. This storm gave some amazing structure with lightning bolts coming straight out of this rotating mesocyclone.
If you would like to chase storms across America and learn how to capture images like these, we will be running a 10-day photography tour in June 2020, with www.weatherholidays.com This will be Tour 5 of the 2020 chase season starting in Denver.
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All images are copyright © John Finney Photography.
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One from my archives. A stunning mesocyclone supercell at sunset. This storm had some of the most photogenic structure and lightning I have ever seen. Taken near Broken Bow. Nebraska. USA.
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4 image panorama of the remarkable Malta, Montana mothership from June 10th, 2021. I still can't get over this storm even a month later.
Lightning strike with an old tree in a crop field. Taken in Tornado Alley near Waynoka, Oklahoma, USA
If you would like to chase storms across America and learn how to capture images like these, we will be running a 10-day photography tour in June 2020, with www.weatherholidays.com This will be Tour 5 of the 2020 chase season starting in Denver.
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All images are copyright © John Finney Photography.
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Dramatic thunderstorm clouds over yellow rapeseed crops at sunset on the high plains of Montana.
Taken on our storm chasing photography tour, why not join us in 2022, see my workshops and tours below.
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Workshops & Tours... My Peak District 1 on 1 workshops are now back on.
Severe mothership shaped thunderstorm races across Kansas, this storm moved at 60mph and picked up stones and dirt that smashed up several towns as well cutting the power, it also produced Golfball size Hail and 85mph straight-line winds.
At least 5 chasers vehicles had their car windows smashed because of the stones and hail near Sharon Springs, we managed to escape the worst but still took a lot of large hail.
NO STICKERS PLEASE.
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Lightning lights up falling hail with a rainbow at sunset, taken south of the town of Superior, Nebraska.
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A supercell thunderstorm floats across the Chihuahuan Desert near Carlsbad, New Mexico.
An image from one of my many time-lapse clips that will be in one of my next YouTube videos in the coming weeks! Please subscribe.
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All images are copyright © John Finney Photography.
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One more image of the remarkable Malta, Montana supercell that roamed over the open prairies of Northern, Montana nearly into Canada!
A burst of rain and hail sweeps across farmland in Nebraska, with a typical flash of lightning. The forward flank is the cold air that rushes down with the rain and hail at the front of a storm.
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All images are copyright © John Finney Photography.
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Tornado warned supercell thunderstorm moving over Wyoming farmland, with the EF2 tornado possibly in this shot, the reason we are not sure is that the previous day, the Doppler radar for this area got hit by lightning, knocking it out of action, so we were storm chasing radar blind this day, which is very dangerous without an experienced guide.
To prove the point, we got hit by large hail about 5 minutes after this shot was taken, it was so severe it damaged the wipers on our chase vehicles, cracked windows and dinted body panels, it also left the landscape an inch deep in hail with thick fog, and all this was happening with an EF2 tornado only a couple of miles away from us.
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An intense thunderstorm on the high plains of Colorado with a windpump and a blast of warm sunlight against the heavy dark ominous clouds of the supercell thunderstorm.
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Workshops & Tours: We are now taking bookings for our new 2021 Isle of Harris Tour!
How would you like some non-stop ACTION? Well that's exactly what we have been having the past few days on our Tornado Alley adventure! It was a real treat to see a tornado touching down for almost 20 mins yesterday. But from a photography standpoint, I absolutely love the supercell storms. I tell you, the intensity you feel in its wake definitely makes you feel alive! We stayed in front of this particular storm for at least an hour as it moved across the plains, always making sure to keep a safe distance away. So mark your calendars for June 14-22, 2024. And join us on our Tornado Alley photo adventure.
Mammatus clouds over Montana. taken near Hammond. USA
I hope everyone is staying safe in these unprecedented times.
I have had to cancel workshops that I have planned until further notice, but our Isles of Harris workshop in October is still open for bookings, you can find out more details from the link below, or drop me a message for more details, cheers 👍
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All images are copyright © John Finney Photography.
Don't use without permission.
Please contact me here before using any of my images for any reason. Thank you.
This Arcus cloud on the front edge of a supercell storm is also known as the Whales Mouth, I took this shot in Minnesota a few years back, the speed and size of the storm were amazing which made it difficult to get a shot like this.
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All images are copyright © John Finney Photography.
Don't use without permission.
Please contact me here before using any of my images for any reason. Thank you.
Workshops & Tours: We are now taking bookings for our new 2021 Isle of Harris Tour!
Extreme weather with an Arcus shelf cloud on the front of a severe warned thunderstorm moving over Wyoming farmland near the Black Hills.
Available as wall art, here...
I hope everyone is staying safe in these unprecedented times.
I have had to cancel workshops that I have planned until further notice, but our Isles of Harris workshop in October is still open for bookings, you can find out more details from the link below, or drop me a message for more details, cheers 👍
………………………………………………………………
All images are copyright © John Finney Photography.
Don't use without permission.
Please contact me here before using any of my images for any reason. Thank you.
Severe mothership shaped thunderstorm races across Kansas, this storm moved at 60mph and picked up stones and dirt that smashed up several towns as well cutting the power, it also produced Golfball size Hail and 85mph straight-line winds.
At least 5 chasers vehicles had their car windows smashed because of the stones and hail near Sharon Springs, we managed to escape the worst but still took a lot of large hail.
THANKS FOR EVERYONE'S COMMENTS!!! : )
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All images are copyright © John Finney Photography.
Don't use without permission.
Please contact me here before using any of my images for any reason. Thank you.
A stunning stormy sunset with lightning, taken on the Nebraska/Kansas border near the town of Superior.
Available as wall art here....
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All images are copyright © John Finney Photography.
Don't use without permission.
Please contact me here before using any of my images for any reason. Thank you.
One I have posted before, but this is the full panoramic version.
Taken in Nebraska on the state line to Colorado.
This Arcus cloud seemed to change between a Roll cloud and a Shelf cloud, I have never seen anything like it and it was very difficult to get the lightning into the panoramic, as the cloud rolled in quite quickly.
If you would like to chase storms across America and learn how to capture images like these, we will be running a 10-day photography tour in June 2020, with www.weatherholidays.com This will be Tour 5 of the 2020 chase season starting in Denver.
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All images are copyright © John Finney Photography.
Don't use without permission.
Please contact me here before using any of my images for any reason. Thank you.
An approaching supercell over a lone tree in the hills of Missouri.
Thanks for scrolling far enough to see my dumb little picture. If you are interested in seeing how I create my dumb little pictures you can head to www.ryandyar.com or check out the link in my profile.
You can actually see this Mothership thunderstorm sucking up dirt and stones with its severe updrafts. This storm raced across Kansas at 60mph which made it very difficult to chase. The storm smashed up several towns as well as cutting off the power, it also produced Golfball size Hail and 85mph straight-line winds.
We managed to escape the worst but still took a lot of large hail. Some other chasers weren't as fortunate as they got caught up in it and had their vehicle windows smashed because of the stones and hail near Sharon Springs, Kansas.
If you fancy a photographic storm adventure like this then we are now taking bookings for the 2021 photography masterclass storm chase tour, which is Tour 5. see this link for more details.
www.weatherholidays.com/stormchase-usa/book.html
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All images are copyright © John Finney Photography.
Don't use without permission.
Please contact me here before using any of my images for any reason. Thank you.
A stunning lightning bolt over the dark stormy skies of Colorado.
If you would like to chase storms across America and learn how to capture images like these, we will be running a 10-day photography tour in June 2020, with www.weatherholidays.com This will be Tour 5 of the 2020 chase season starting in Denver.
…………………………………………………………………………................
All images are copyright © John Finney Photography.
Don't use without permission.
Please contact me here before using any of my images for any reason. Thank you.
You can see my new film here: youtu.be/U0AjeiTSG2A
Watch complex weather patterns explode over Tornado Alley in my second extreme weather time-lapse film. Filmed exclusively on the Great Plains of America in 2022. In this film, there are at least 2 tornadoes, funnel clouds, Mammatus clouds, Asperitas clouds, Cumulonimbus clouds, lightning, Supercells, and one small haboob.
We traveled over 4500 miles across 9 states in the space of just 10 days.
Over 30000 images were used in this film.
In this image: This storm produced 6 tornadoes and this is a single frame straight from my new film. Taken in Kansas near the town of Wilson.
This image is available as a framed print here.
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All images are copyright © John Finney Photography.
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The Devils Tower. Wyoming. USA.
2 image stack.
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Extreme weather on the high plains of Nebraska with this stunning LP supercell mesocyclone, taken near Broken Bow, USA.
9 vertical images stitched.
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On May 16, the second day of the trip, we saw this tornado near McLean, Texas. It's not overstating it to say that it was awe-inspiring to see this tornado form and drop. The clouds were rotating right in front of us as the spout dropped, hesitated, withdrew, then dropped again and touched down. Luckily this all happened in open fields causing no casualties or damage. This same storm, sadly, though went on to form another tornado that did severe damage and killed one person in Elk City, Oklahoma.
In a bit of a departure for me, I tried my hand at time lapse on this trip. If you'd like to see the time lapse film I made, it's on YouTube.
Near McLean, Texas. May 16, 2017.
In May, 2017 I went storm chasing in Tornado Alley. Tornado Alley, which stretches from Texas through to Nebraska, is the area of the U.S. which gets the most severe weather, and the most tornadoes, every spring. Over 8 days, I chased storms through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico with the amazing Mike Olbinski. What an incredible adventure it was!
If you'd like see more images I took while storm chasing, take a look at my Storm Chasing album.