June 26th was the final day of our annual lecture tour. Needing to stay close to Colorado, nature decided to throw us a pretty supercell! A line of storms exploded on an outflow boundary south of Limon. A moisture surge came in the from the east and allowed the tail end storm to become quite intense. Structure was pretty and it spun hard. Hail fell the size of baseballs, but a wall cloud formed in the notch and really started cranking up. A cone funnel formed and descended and ascended a couple of times. Finally, it touched down before lifting back up and dissipating. We stayed with the supercell to Eads where outflow from another storm pushed north and hit our storm, causing it to become tornado warned. Another wall cloud developed and had the look. It tried hard to develop a tornado but just couldn’t get the job done. It eventually became completely undercut by outflow and diminished. A fun day and we got a lot more than what we thought we’d get! Enjoy the pics!
June 23, 2026 Plainview, Texas Tornado Warned Supercell
June 23rd we chose to chase the Texas panhandle were a stout dryline, good shear and instability were present. It was a long drive to make it there in time, but we did, intercepting 2 supercells, one near Happy and the other near Plainview. The latter supercell became tornado warned and had some interesting structure as well as great lightning, a couple gustnadoes, and a lot of mammatus clouds under the anvil. A lot of New Mexico smoke from wild fires covered the area and often gave the updrafts a yellowish tint to them. Cool coloring! A fun day and a couple really pretty supercells.
June 22, 2026 Northeast Colorado Tornado Warned Supercell
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 21, 2026 Northwest Kansas Tornado Warned Supercells
Marginal moisture, but strong shear would be present this day. Nonetheless, we intercepted 2 different supercells with tornado warnings, one near Colby and another north of Leoti, Kansas. Both storms were quite HP in nature, but the storm structure and “hail core green” colors were quite impressive. Neither storm produced tornadoes, however the radar presentation on both suggested it could have certainly been possible. Due to lack of roads in this part of Kansas, we weren’t able to get close enough to see what was going on in the notch of either storm. Still a fun day and more than we planned on witnessing!
June 11, 2026 Western Illinois Tornadoes
June 11, 2026 was a big day forecast in Illinois and it certainly lived up to its billing! Monster CAPE, shear and moisture were in place. By mid afternoon, an outflow boundary was the spot where initiation occurred. It didn’t take long for a supercell to form west of McComb and become tornado warned. As the storm moved closer to town, it produced a tapered elephant trunk tornado that was on the ground for a couple minutes before being interfered with by a supercell to its south. We left the first storm and headed south to catch the next supercell. As we cleared the core of the first storm, a big mothership shaped supercell came into view. It started getting a clear slot, then a bowl, then a funnel formed. It touched down in the town of Ipava causing some damage. It was a pretty tapered elephant trunk that was on the ground several minutes. The rope out stage was quite pretty with a snaking white funnel against a dark background making it quite the sight! After it dissipated, the supercell was absorbed in the line, which effectively ended our day. Amazing day, but our heart and prayers go out to those who suffered losses in Illinois and Indiana.
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 26, 2026 Del Rio, Texas Tornadic Supercell
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 24, 2026 Tabor, South Dakota Supercell
A long drive was in store for the Prime Time Minitour for day 1! Supercells were forecast to develop over southeast South Dakota. Tornado threat wasn’t much, but it was sure to be a structure day. It did not disappoint! The group left at the crack of dawn for the 650 mile drive up to South Dakota. They were able to see the entire development of the best storm of the day near Tabor. Structure got better as the storm matured, drifting slowly southeast. After a few hours of viewing, it was time to call it a day and get ready for another chase. Just a beautiful higher based supercell! Worthy of the trip!
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!!
