CHASE DAY An image site for tornado chasers,
weather photographers, sky lovers and dreamers

 
   
 

Panorama of a severe storm southeast of Midland, Texas on June 3rd this year. It produced a tornado one county northwest of this location. The tornado had dissipated, but it was still spitting out lightning and hail. We missed the tornadoes on this day, but it turned out to be a great day for storm photography. I've got the set of images posted at the site for June 3rd Severe Storms near Midland.

 

New addition, 2007 Storm Season with images from many chases. More shots will be added in the coming weeks

   
 

The June 6th Kyle SD tornado moved slowly across the open plains of the Pine Ridge Reservation of the Sioux Nation. The tornado lasted for almost 30 minutes. Residents I met and the ones that accompanied us on this chase were Lakota Sioux. I saw concern in their eyes, but never fear. I'm sure there were memories of the tragic tornado of 1999 that damaged or destroyed 150 homes. An overview of that tornado is provided on the FEMA site. As with most links, it's likely time sensitive.

A full set of images can be found at the Allen-Kyle Tornado page.

Images and text © copyright Gene Moore unless otherwise indicated

 

 

The storms have ended here in far south Texas, at least for now. Over the weekend of August 12-13 was the annual Perseid meteor shower which is something I try to watch every year....since I was a kid. This year I stomped out into the desert to set up the tripod. This was the best one of the night and it was so bright it lit up the ground.

 
 

Tornado or not? This rapidly rotating funnel and wall cloud approached Texas highway 70 as both travelers and chasers watched on May 23rd. Rotating condensation did make ground contact, but I never saw debris. The tornado was later listed on the Storm Prediction Center's log as confirmed.

Later this same circulation produced a funnel to ground as it moved past the Canadian River wrapped in rain. This turned out to be a frustrating day for chasers as most tornadoes were well hidden in heavy rain that later led to flooding.

 
 

It was hard to believe the dramatic colors from light shining through a hail vault to our west. While they got hammered we took pictures, then got the heck out of the way before it turned our windshield to Swiss cheese. This was the first of two photogenic, but non tornadic storms we covered on this day.

 

Tornado hidden in the rain

Imagine driving down the highway, rain ahead, would you see this shape in the shadows of the storm? A slow moving supercell formed near Dimmitt, Texas on June 2nd producing two tornadoes. The storm, located on a weak out flow boundary back built to the southwest for hours, net movement was straight south. We missed the first tornado, but did capture the second vortex buried in the rain. At this time we could see debris circulating around the base of the funnel. We weren't far away, but still had a tough time pulling it out of the flat contrast. A few other chasers did a better job on this, not sure of their shooting angle though.

 

The Texas Panhandle does it again. The third tornado event of the year on the caprock and this one caused more damage in populated areas. This tornado hit the north side of Olton. It lasted 38 minutes and became much larger as it moved north. We saw other tornadoes this day near Tulia, Happy and Littlefield Texas.

The image set from this day is now complete and can be found at this link. West Texas Tornadoes of 21 April, 2007


© copyright Gene Moore
 
  stovepipe tornado

On March 28, 2007 tornadoes were seen from South Plains to Canadian. This was part of a damaging outbreak that extended north into Nebraska. People were killed in both Texas and Oklahoma, damage was widespread, but mainly in rural areas. Many of the worst tornadoes occurred at night.

 
 

Illustrated here is the long lived Quitaque to Brice, Texas tornado as it moves north along and west of highway 256. The tornado was getting larger at the time of this photograph. This tornado showed chasers many forms from cone, then elephant trunk, to large stove pipe. Finally it put on one of the longest rope out scenes I've ever witnessed. Many chasers saw six to eight tornadoes during the three hour tornado marathon that lasted well into the night. A powerful tornado in the far northeast Texas Panhandle rolled a box car off the tracks and into a field.

The Chase report from the March 28th Texas Panhandle chase is up and complete.

Images and text © copyright Gene Moore unless otherwise indicated

 

Stock Weather Image Sales by Gene Moore

2000 Guinness World Record Holder - Most Tornadoes

Recent Tornadoes & Storm Chases

 

NEW 2007 2007 Season Summary that includes a sample of many chases

NEW 2007 Allen - Kyle SD Tornado of 6 June 2007

NEW 2007 Photogenic severe storm at Garden City KS - 9 June 2007

NEW 2007 Mar 28th Texas Panhandle Tornadoes

NEW 2007 West Texas Tornadoes of 21 April, 2007

NEW 2007 Hill City, Kansas tornado and supercell 22 May, 2007

NEW 2007 Severe Storms near Midland Texas June 3rd 2007

2006 El Reno OK Tornado

2006 Val Verde TX supercells of 29 April

2006 Patricia TX tornadic supercell

2006 SE Nebraska tornadoes 15 April

Crystal Springs KS tornado 2004

Conway Springs KS tornado and the three simultaneous tornadoes after dark 2004

Dramatic Harper KS night tornado 2004

Freeport - Argonia KS tornadoes 2004

Sharon KS tornado 2004

N'rn Iowa Tornadoes 2004

24 June 2003 SD Outbreak - the last page Spirit Lake

Tulia TX merging supercells

Attica Kansas Tornado 2004

2005 Wayside TX Tornado

2004 Storm Season a collection of images

 

Severe Hail Storms - Tornadoes - Lightning - High Wind

 

Stock Tornado Images- A set of tornadoes from ChaseDay - high speed connection needed

Hail and Hailstorms- A four page look at hail images and hailstorms

Tornado & Storm Archives - select storm days from previous years - goes back to 1973.

Learning Storm Features - Two page elementary tutorial. Originally done for my kids when they were in Jr. high school. Shows basic storm features.

Storm Chaser Links Page

About Me - A few facts about ChaseDay's webmaster

 

Tornadoes & Funnels - Six pages of tornadoes showing shape, color and character. This page gets more visits than any other since I started this site. Another page originally designed for young viewers learning the basics.

Wind Storms - Gust Front Images

Lightning Storm Images- Two sections of lightning images

Updraft Cats-N-Dogs I've Seen on the Plains -Page 2- Page 3- Page 4

 

  Considering a career in weather - try these links first
Map of meteorology schools
Careers in the National Weather Service
 

When you chase --
THINK ABOUT THE CLOUDS

Leave all that other stuff behind

 

 

You may email Gene Moore Mail
with comments, questions, or requests. Please include a valid subject line.

Also, please don't ask where to get a job as a professional storm chaser, there are none that I know of.

  blastin north on #281
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