May 9th looked like a day where things just weren’t in sync. Good shear and lift were in place, but poor moisture with moderate CAPE were also in play. We targeted southwest Oklahoma where there was a bit higher moisture, however it was very thin. Storms blew up along a boundary near I-40 and became severe. They were fairly high based, but with good shear and steep lapse rates, they rained down hail to baseball size. We blasted north to catch the tail end storm as it moved into western Oklahoma. It hit the theta-e axis and rapidly strengthened. As it moved southeast towards us, structure steadily improved. We stayed with it till after sunset as it started producing copious amounts of CGs. Finally, it weakened around 10pm so we left and made it to the hotel before midnight. A great day with arguably the best structure of this young 2026 season! Enjoy the pics!!!
May 8, 2026 Chattanooga, OK Tornado Warned Supercell
Good shear, but limited moisture would be the problem this day. Storms formed along a cold front in central Oklahoma by mid afternoon, but were high based. We were watching a cluster of towers west of Lawton and hoped something would form from them. Later in the afternoon, they did just that. A supercell emerged and produced baseball sized hail. Early evening it became tornado warned. It produced a couple of funnels but was moving into capped air and weakened. The setting sun made for a cool image as the updraft evaporated.
May 6, 2026 Garden City to Brookhaven, MS Tornadic Supercell
A crazy day for us and of course the unfortunate good folks of southern Mississippi. Spent the night in West Memphis and targeted south of Jackson, MS. After a cluster of storms formed, became severe and tornado warned, they moved northeast and weakened. We decided to play a new cluster west of Nachez in an environment that was far better than MS. Higher dews, clearer skies and stronger flow would allow the cluster to consolidate into a large rotating storm. We dropped south, south of Sibley, MS to wait for it instead of trying to get across the Mississippi river and not having a return route due to the now tornado warned storm. As it approached us, rotation was seen and the CGs were off the chart striking every 5-10 seconds!!! We soon had to quickly get out of the way as the rfd wrapped around this massive bowl shaped lowering. It raced off east of us across the trees and planted a rather large EF-3 wedge tornado. This tornado became quite strong and a TORNADO EMERGENCY was issued for towns in its path. The supercell produced multiple strong class tornadoes for the next 100 miles as it churned across the southern part of the state. We approached it one other time and could see violent wrapping rain curtains and strong downward motion, showing us the rain wrapped wedge was very close and intense. Eventually due to darkness we called off the chase and went back to Garden City, MS to see if anyone needed help. Many downed trees, power lines and much debris blocked the highway. Several of us jumped in to clear the road and get to a woman who was injured. We had to use chain saws to cut through the trees as another tornado warned storm was approaching. An absolutely insane day and I am very proud of our guides and even some of the guests in getting their hands dirty to help others! Our hearts and prayers go out to those affected by this monster!
April 23, 2026 Central Kansas Tornadoes
As we headed from Denver to Oklahoma City to prepare for our first tour of the season, we caught a few severe storms producing a couple of tornadoes in Kansas near Cottonwood Falls. A boundary was pushing slowly east and fired off supercells along it, so we stayed with them as they moved into better shear. One lone supercell east of the boundary had nice structure and produced a truncated cone tornado west of town. In the distance you could see the line of storms on the front and they started producing landspouts. Later in the evening, 2 supercells south of the KS/OK border became violently tornadic with one strong tornado directly impacting Enid. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those affected it this tornado!
April 13th Southern Minnesota Tornadoes
April 13th took our on call tour north to a volatile set up along a warm front/triple point over southern Minnesota. Mid afternoon we arrived near Fairmont, MN as the atmosphere became extremely unstable. Several storms developed along the warm front, then crossed it into colder air. These were not tornadic, but produced big hail. Soon, our storm formed west of Truman, MN and anchored on the warm front. You knew that the show was about to begin as it ramped up quickly and grew to over 50,000 feet. A tornado warning we issued as the storm spun had and approached our location. We drifted east with it and a huge bowl shaped lowering formed, and quickly dropped a pretty cone tornado. It stayed on the ground several minutes before lifting. Another elephant trunk shaped tornado formed east of town and was also on the ground for several minutes. It was quite pretty! After it dissipated, a third truncated cone shaped tornado formed and was on the ground for about 5 minutes before lifting. We stayed with the supercell past Minnesota Lake where it continued to be tornado warned, but it did not produce anymore tornadoes. Numerous cell mergers would disrupt the low level mesocyclone until it soon died off. An incredible day with a pretty supercell and 3 tornadoes we were only a mile away from! Enjoy the pics!
April 2nd Eastern Iowa Tornadic Supercell
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 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!
