April 2nd had potential but there were a few flies in the ointment. First would storms form ahead of a surging front? Second would they form north of a warm front? The answer to these questions was soon resolved. An isolated supercell formed ahead of the front/squall line near Ottumwa, also south of the warm front. As it moved northeast, it strengthened and soon became tornado warned. Several times it produced funnels and even a couple of brief tornadoes as it moved just east of Iowa City. Eventually it was absorbed in the surging squall line. Structure on the supercell was decent, and it had low and mid level striations. Wall clouds were persistent the entire time it was tornado warned. It also produce hail to golfball sized. Fun chase day, but it is always difficult to stay up with storms moving at 60 mph!!
March 10, 2026 Northern Oklahoma Severe Warned High Based Supercells
Having to be in Great Bend, Kansas on March 10th kept us from going to Illinois for that event. Instead, we played a stationary boundary near the Kansas/Oklahoma border area. Storms formed mid afternoon west of Woodwards, OK and intensified as they traversed the boundary. By the time they got north of Alva, OK, they were producing copious amount of hail up to pingpong ball sized. We drove through the core a few times to see what it had in it and got some decent hail stones! We eventually let them go as they moved north of the boundary and became elevated supercells. We headed to Wichita, KS for the night and were greeted with tons of lightning and hail at our hotel. A fun way to spend the day on our way to get the new customized van for 2026!!!
August 2-8 Desert Thunder Tour Images!
Each year we conduct lightning tours in Arizona during monsoons. This year we were there the first week of August. Despite a far from favorable weather pattern nature provided some pretty storms with excellent lightning! We traveled over southeastern Arizona and occasionally into southwestern New Mexico on various days. However the majority of the time we spent in Cochise and Santa Cruz counties this year. Temperatures were extremely hot with daytime highs from 105-115. Moisture was on the marginal side with dewpoints in the upper 40s to mid 50s. However enough was available to generate some instability to produce these storms. Enjoy the pics!
August 4th Kim, Colorado Tornado Warned Supercell
When you have nothing to photograph during our Desert Thunder tour, you go where there are storms, even if not in Arizona. Models were consistent on the set up in southeast Colorado on August 4th. We headed out and drove from Tucson, AZ to Springfield, CO. One lone supercell formed on the “LaJunta Low” just southwest of Lamar and right turned all the way to the New Mexico border. Structure was great and the lightning was amazing! We even watched a semi truck’s trailer get a direct hit, glowing it a bright orange in color! As the supercell turned into better moisture and instabillity, it steadily strengthened until it became tornado warned for 2 hours. It slowly took on HP features as the RFD cut around the updraft with a lot of precip and hail, blocking our view of what was happening under the base. A couple of times there appeared to be a cone shaped funnel that persisted for several minutes. Eventually though, the precip became too dense to see under it anymore and we had to admire the beautiful structure! A long way to come for a storm, but it was well worth it! Enjoy the pics!
July 1st Hyannis, Nebraska Supercell and Sunset Beauty
I wasn’t expecting much on July 1st and what we got was a lot better than I was hoping! A north/south dryline was over western Nebraska, however limited moisture and instability were present which would limit the severity of storms. We encountered a nearly stationary high based supercell near Lakeview that had decent structure, nice lightning and hail the size of golfballs. We eventually got cut off from the storm due to poor road options, so we moved east and south of Hyannis to watch a new cluster of severe storms at sunset. What a show they put on! It’s been a few years since we’ve encountered such an amazing display of color at sunset. Intense lightning, sun setting through the core and luscious green rolling hills made this a winner to me!! Please enjoy the pics, some beauties!
June 29th Edgemont, South Dakota Supercell
Modest amounts of moisture, wind shear and CAPE would lead to storms forming along the Black Hills. One storm latched onto an outflow boundary and spun southeast along the southern side of the hills into northwest Nebraska. We encountered some intense hail up to tennisball size! The structure was nice and the cell had that classic “hail core green” look to it. It made for some nice photos ops with the structure, colors and pretty scenery of the Black Hills. We pushed around the supercell towards Chadron, NE where numerous storms formed and weakened the supercell due to too many cell interactions. A fun day, nice supercell, broken windshield from the hail and pretty colors!! Since this was the photo tour’s first day, they thoroughly enjoyed it! Enjoy the pics!
June 25th Southeast Minnesota Tornadic Supercells
June 25th was an unusual day to say the least. Very high dewpoints in the mid to upper 70s were present along a boundary in southern MN. This boundary slowly moved north through the day. As it did, storms formed along and just north of it from around Alber Lea north and northeast. We intercepted one such storm that was tornado warned. As it rode the boundary, it spun hard. It had a good velocity couplet on radar and developed low level rotation quite obvious! Soon a broad rotating lowering formed with condensation fingers rising into it. Then a funnel formed that we could not confirm touched down. There were tornado reports from other locals that were right near it. These types of set ups are extremely difficult to chase, let along witness a tornado with numerous storms along and north of the boundary. But it was a pretty fun day, with decent results!
June 16th Dickens, Nebraska Once a Decade Tornado!!!!!!
June 16th, a day that is now etched our my mind forever. Two targets were evident in the morning, the warm front in Minnesota and the front/theta e axis in Nebraska. Minnesota produced a few tornadoes, but nothing compared to the long lived photogenic beauty in Nebraska. After chasing in Montana the day before, we had a long drive to make Nebraska in time for storm initiation. Over 4000 CAPE, moderate shear and near 70 dewpoints present, we knew we had no time to waste! We blasted towards the target south of I-80 between Ogallala and North Platte, as we approached Lake McConaughy, strong updrafts started forming south of North Platte. We jumped on I-80 headed east as one updraft took over the show! It looked like a nuclear bomb had gone off! Within 20 minutes a tornado warning was issued and almost immediately a tornado was reported on the ground. This was a landspout that last 8 minutes. Soon after that a supercellular tornado formed, and firmly planted itself just east of Dickens. We were finally in a position to blast south on the back side of the supercell and could see this tornado 25 miles away! About 20 minutes later we arrived near Dickens as the tornado became a huge cone/stovepipe shaped tornado, barely moving! We sat up our cameras and camcorders and captured this 45 minute long EF2 tornado as is barely moved, only traveling 3 miles in it’s lifetime. Sitting up on a hill gave us a great view of the tornado and the sun lighting it almost white with a rainbow was a sight to behold! One of the prettiest tornadoes this decade! It eventually roped out, moving slowly southwest and tried a couple more times to produce. It was amazingly electrified during this phase as well, with a classic liberty bell shaped structure! A day we’ll never forget! Enjoy the pics!
June 13th Potter, Nebraska Surprise Tornadic Supercell
June 13th looked poor on paper. Modest shear, moisture and CAPE along the Cheyenne Ridge between Colorado and Nebraska. We started west towards Cheyenne where moisture was really quite meager. Much better and deeper moisture and instability existed further east, from near Sidney, Nebraska eastward. Strong easterly winds were pushing that moisture westward, but it didn’t look like it would make it in time before storms collapsed. Outflow surge from Cheyenne storms blew east and when it interacted with that deeper moisture, a line of storms, some supercells, exploded. Near Potter, NE on I-80 an updraft anchored and spun hard. It became incredibly electrified! It also produced a 5 minute multivortex tornado before it produced a tapered truncated cone tornado right near the interstate. Staying down wind a few miles allowed us to get out of the intense lightning threat, but also limited the view we had. But we were able to see the tornado and structure of the supercell together. It was very nice! Quite the surprise ending to a marginal day. Once in awhile nature gives you those surprises! Enjoy the pics!
June 10th Marfa, Texas Supercell and Weak Tornado
June 10th took us deep into southwest Texas in the Davis Mountains. One of the prettiest places in the state. Northwest flow aloft and southeast surface winds provided decent shear, and dewpoints in the low to mid 60s, fueled 3000 CAPE. The ingredients were there for severe storms and supercells. What we didn’t expect was to see a tornado, albeit a weak one! Mid afternoon we were near Alpine watching storms come off Mt Livermore and move southeast. The struggled mightily, so we left there and headed west to the surface triple point just west of Marfa. A supercell had formed and was anchored so we knew it would be spinning. As we arrived, a big blocky wall cloud was present with intense cgs raining down to our west. Soon a clear slot formed and you coudl see the RFD wrapping around the mesocyclone. Within another 15 minutes a dirt column formed and a small funnel was visible at cloud base. This persisted for about 8 minutes. What a surprise! The storm became outflow dominant due to weak flow at anvil level, and soon a tornado warning was issued (for the one we saw, but reported by another storm chaser!). We stayed with it for a bit longer until the outflow surged out from the supercell and it collapsed. A nice end to a day that we though would produce a decent storm. Enjoy the pics!
