As we neared the supercell located just south of Bassett we watched a tornado develop under the flanking line which was located south of highway 20. Normally, this would have been an easy shot for a 200 mm telephoto lens, but the dense haze was destroying the visibility. The images I got were low contrast and won't be inclued. While driving, we watched the tornado grow into a trunk then complete it's life cycle as a contorted tube and rope funnel. We were only a few miles away when it dissipated. A spectacular wall cloud and twin stacked tail clouds covered the highway ahead of us. The show was far from over.
A second tornado developed northwest of Newport and proceeded northeast over open country. During this time only the bottom third of the tornado is obvious in the images, but the funnel and it's accompanying structure extended almost to the top of the picture frame. Again, the haze kept all the structure from being shown. A few chasers did get favorable views of the funnel with good backlighting. We were reluctant to move north after the tornado for two reasons. First we would lose our contrast and second, we were told that the road was a dead end. This was a tough decision.
