It’s been a rough go of it for me getting out there, with only limited opportunities. This is a view I haven’t gotten enough of this Spring, but now that we’re in May I can see the other end of this mid-season break and the heart of what will be my 2026 season. This shot was taken as I approached a soon to be tornado warned supercell near Stonewall, OK.
That time, the heavens were opening up right over me, and I was trying to hold out until the last minute as bolts hit close by. Wide angle lenses really distort things, everything i this frame was much closer than it appears!
While the Midwest keeps having severe setups (what I call setups on Mars because they’re so far from me that I could never chase them) — I’m over here waiting patiently for setups that will produce photogenic setups within reach. This one was exceptionally close, just over the mountains in Willard, NM with a powerful and stationary supercell during mid June.
A simple scene in Northeast Colorado. I'm not yet quite to the point I'm chasing yet this Spring, but I'm looking forward to the simple moments like this as much as the less simple moments!
Some storms know they're not supposed to exist, and they fight anyway.
This supercell near Shattuck, Oklahoma, showed up on a day the atmosphere was already saying no. The cap was winning by late afternoon, and you can see the battle in that two-tiered structure. The bottom layer is the storm clawing at surface air, trying to feed itself, while the bulk of it sits elevated above. It's a storm running on stubbornness.
It held on for another hour before the cap finally won. Still dropped some big hail. It went down swinging to be sure.
There's a lot more of us than there are them.
Today, millions gathered across the country to protest this regime and its abject, total failure. To lower prices, to provide a freer and fairer America, to keep us safe.
This is the most corrupt, failed presidency of my lifetime. I hope they never are more corrupt than this. I hope we never fail as a nation more than we have in the last year+.
Today I'm filled with hope we won't again. It'll take work, but we'll get there.
Canyonlands National Park, one of my favorite parks and a place I have every intention of spending a day or three at to capture monsoon storms this year. The views are 💯
This supercell was throwing out a ton of electricity at twilight near Medford, Oklahoma. The wall cloud at the base of this storm, with a trailing inflow tail, was a menacing sight as it changed shapes rapidly as the horizon lit up in a near continuous strobe.
This storm was fighting against the cap a bit (see the smoothness in the lower levels?). This is not uncommon for the early nighttime hours. When shear is strong enough, some storms can still produce tornadoes despite low-level capping. It's one of the most interesting/unfortunate accidents that this thermodynamic/shear relationship plays out on the Great Plains in the evening, exactly when the low-level shear often maximizes in the nighttime hours.
Ghostly updraft seen at the end of twilight in Northern Oklahoma. This cell was tornado-warned at the time, but wasn't producing much lightning. It made it look almost like a mirage on the horizon set against clear skies in all other directions.
To this day, I wish there had been just one bolt out of this cell at this time...but I also dig how it looks so quietly menacing in this shot.
I think I'll allow it.
