June 22nd took us to the Cheyenne Ridge along the Colorado/Nebraska border near Kimball. Storms formed on a convergence boundary there and immediately started spinning and became severe. One storm became dominant and an intense supercell. It was tornado warned off and on its entire life cycle, which lasted nearly 6 hours! The amount of air this supercell processed was astonishing, as inflow was being drawn in at 50-60mph! Blinding dirt occurred as it was lofted in the air due to dry soil conditions and into the updraft. Several times lowerings formed and spun hard, but nothing was able to focus long enough to produce a tornado. Giant hail softball to grapefruit sized fell as the storm maintained a steady state of intensity throughout the afternoon and evening. At times it became very photogenic as the updraft contained multiple striations showing rapid rotation and had the appearance of a huge soda can. One of the strongest supercells in Colorado in the past few years! Enjoy the pics!
June 17th Illinois Tornadic Supercells
This day had big potential, but one huge problem. Unusually strong mid level winds would cause storms to move near 60 mph, more resembling March than June. Dual outflow boundaries would also wreak havoc on which one to chase, but it became clear the southern one would produce. Tornado warned storms on the northern boundary, would eventually move right and interact with the south boundary and that’s when they became tornadic. With highway alignment and speed limits not being our friend, it was extremely difficult to stay up with any storm. We intercepted 5 different storms that were tornado warned and a couple produced. We started the day near Springfield, IL and ended west of Effingham, IL, chasing like crazy. Fun day, so many close opportunities, so little rewards unless you were able to be in the right place at the right time.
June 1, 2026 Last Chance, CO Tornado Warned Supercell
June 1st took us just east of our house in Colorado. A supercell formed near Denver and slowed moved, developed east and eventually became tornado warned near Bennett. Hail to baseball size occurred. A couple other supercells formed further east along a boundary just north of Last Chance and also became tornado warned. Due to the high based nature of the storms, there wasn’t a great threat of a tornado occurring. However, the structure was pretty and the lightning quite nice. They also produced hail to tennisball size and the moved east towards Akron, CO. Fun day, pretty storms!!!
May 31, 2026 Madison, Kansas Tornadic Supercell
Didn’t think much would happen in the daylight on May 31st. A strong capping inversion in place, as well as a mistimed upper wave seemed to lead to elevated late evening storms. Once in awhile though, nature loves to throw a wrench into things. By early evening initiation occurred along a boundary near Emporia, Kansas. An outflow boundary/dryline intersection would spawn a gorgeous supercell that rapidly intensified and even became briefly tornadic. As the storm slowly drifted east towards Madison, KS, the structure and electrification became quite pretty. Somewhere in the night skies a long snaking funnel came down that a couple of chasers said touched down. We stayed with it for awhile, but had to leave to get to our hotel in Salina, as we needed to be in Colorado the next day. A beautiful supercell, great structure and superb lightning!
May 22, 2026 Abernathy/Floydada, Texas Tornadic Supercells
Interesting set up this day. Old outflow boundaries were present in the Texas south plains and caprock. Although dewpoints were only in the 50s, with temperatures in the 80s, enough instability and shear were present to develop storms. One such storm formed near the Plainview area along a boundary that contained low 60s dewpoints. We knew this was out storm! We stayed with this for a couple of hours as it developed into a pretty supercell with that nice sculpted structure from the east. Later, storms developed near Lubbock and moved north. Other high based storms developed behind our supercell and all 3 collided north of Lubbock. We were on the east side still, with no true reason to go behind the storm (typically not a favorable place to watch!), but a fluke occurred and produced a 2-3 minute dusty, weak tornado behind our storm! I wouldn’t have changed anything in the way we chased this, as this is usually the best view of a supercell. A couple of chasers caught the tornado as they blasted south to try and get around the south side of our storm from behind and basically were fortunate to witness this dirt bomb. Funny day, still like how we chased it but did witness a landspout tornado during its lifetime.
May 21, 2026 Anton, Colorado Tornadic Supercell
May 21st took us to Colorado. Between upslope into the Palmer Divide, as well as an outflow boundary, most models had storms forming near Limon, before intensifying and moving east. That is pretty much what happened. A supercell formed near Deer Trail and moved east, gaining strength and becoming tornado warned. Good shear, but relatively cool surface temps kept this from being a major event, but the storm still produced softball sized hail, several funnel clouds and one brief tornado south of Anton. As it continued to move east, it encountered cold air with temps in the 50s and became an elevated hailer. Eventually near Burlington it weakened as instability waned and nocturnal cooling set up. A fun time was had by all the guests as the structure was quite nice and the funnels fairly close with the road network being sparse. Enjoy the pics!!
May 18th Northern Kansas Tornadic Supercells
May 18th was a good set up in Kansas. An outflow boundary laid across north of I-70 and a dryline stretched north/south along US highway 81. A significant supercell formed north of Salina and moved northeast, producing at least a couple brief tornadoes. Other supercells formed along the triple point and also became tornado warned. We chased SEVEN different supercells that had tornado warnings. The biggest problem this day wasn’t just the fact there was a lot of seeding going on, it was the shear number of chasers that were in the area. Sooner or later there will come a day when a large tornado hits a line of chasers and causes a lot of problems. Sometimes, it pays to stay back a bit and let the chaser hoards get close. But, great shear an 70 dewpoints certainly allowed for numerous tornado warned supercells to form. A few weak tornadoes did occur, and a few look a likes also that were reported as tornadoes, and were not. Enjoy the pics please!!
May 16, 2026 Goodland, Kansas Tornado Warned Supercell
A triple point surface low over northwest Kansas would provide the convergence needed to fire off supercell thunderstorms this day. One storm formed northwest of Goodland and meandered east/southeast becoming a prolific hailstorm. Lack of real quality moisture would prevent tornadoes from occurring, however, as a left split from a storm over Rush county raced north, it collided with our storm and caused it to spin. A tornado warning was issued and a wall cloud formed, also spinning. Due to the higher based nature of the storm, it did not produce a tornado. As it moved east, more storms formed as a complex eventually developed that had winds up to 90mph in it! We raced east to get ahead and were treated to a sunset beast that also tried to become tornadic. An awesome day, great storms and lightning, as well as a tornado warning. Enjoy the pics!!!
May 15, 2026 Western Iowa Tornadic Supercell
May 15th took us into Iowa. An old outflow boundary/cold front intersection would be our target in northwest Iowa. Plenty of shear, modest moisture and instability would support severe storms, with some tornado threat. We caught several storms, but one, west of Ida Grove, would produce a short-lived tornado. This storm was also an electrified beauty! Several CG strikes occurred per minute, and everyone’s cameras were clicking away! I managed to get a few decent ones as well. A fun day, tons of storms and a brief tornado to boot! Enjoy the pics!
May 9, 2026 Sayre, Oklahoma Gorgeous Supercell
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!!!
