A very interesting day on May 26th. As often occurs, storms formed on the north side of the Del Burro mountains in northern Mexico. As they became supercells they right turned and never came across into the US. However, another supercell formed on the northeast side of the supercell cluster in Mexico. This storm quickly developed a strong velocity couplet and dropped a substantial tornado not far from Acuna, Mexico. As it finally approached the border, it became outflow dominant and still produced significant winds. It’s such a shame that we had to wait in the US side for this tornadic supercell to approach. It’s just too difficult to try and chase in Mexico. The tornado pic here was from a local resident of Acuna. What an amazing shot!
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 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!!!
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!
