April 26, 2026 took us to Osage county, Oklahoma to chase a tornadic supercell from Foraker to Herd. Strong shear, a dryline and extreme instability would set the stage for supercells. One such storm formed near Blackwell and intensified as it moved east. It became tornado warned as it moved east towards Foraker. Due to poor, muddy roads, we had to drop south to highway 60 and east to Pawhuska, then north to get in front of it. During this 20 minute process, of course, fate would have it that it produced a tornado! However, it was on the ground for less than a minute. As the supercell approached us a broad, rotating wall cloud was evident, and multiple funnels formed over the next 30 minutes. This storm had great structure and intense cloud to ground (cg) lightning! As it approached our location, a large bowl formed under it and soon a cone funnel descended to the ground. It persisted for a few minutes. We stayed with the storm in the dark as it moved east and eventually dissipated near Bartlesville. Fun day, frustrating at times as is often the case in Osage county, but good end results! Enjoy the pics!
April 25, 2026 Southeast Oklahoma Tornadic Supercell
Day 1 of the Close Encounters tour kept us very close to Oklahoma City. A warm front/dryline triple point was just south of town. Models show extreme instability developing during the afternoon, with isolated supercells forming. Mid afternoon we drifted to Sulfur as storms formed close by. As they moved east the weakened moving north of the warm front. Eventually one storm anchored on the boundary and started spinning. It produced and bog cone funnel that just could stay consolidated, and fell apart after a few minutes. Due to many storm interactions, we dropped south to the tail in cell near Mill Creek. As we arrived a tornado formed. We saw the debris cloud from a rock plant and were able to stop in time to take photos and videos. It was on the ground for about 5-6 minutes. This day was a ton of hard chasing but in the end we managed to see a tornado. Enjoy the pics!
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 14th Northeast Iowa Tornadoes
April 14th kept us in the northern plains. The same synoptic warm front/triple point from the 13th, was evident on the 14th centered northwest of Des Moines, Iowa. By mid afternoon storms formed there and intensified as they moved northeast. Near Eldora, Iowa, one supercell cranked up quickly and spun like a top. A rotating wall cloud formed, spinning wildly, and dropped a tornado that skipped across the ground for about 10 minutes causing some damage to farm buildings. After the storm occluded, the cell moved east towards Waterloo and kept having cell mergers which interfered with it’s ability to produce more tornadoes. East of Waterloo, near Masonville, it cranked back up and became tornado warned. A lowering/truncated cone funnel formed and wrapped quickly with rain. It touched down producing some minor damage as it stayed on the ground for several minutes. After it lifted, the storm became rain clogged as more cells developed merging with the parent supercell. At this point, having to be back in Denver the next day, we dropped south to Iowa City and headed west to Lincoln, NE for the night (arriving after midnight!). As did dropped south, another supercell developed a hook and became tornado warned as well. We could see the lowering, which 30 minutes later produced a pretty 3 minute tornado, as we headed westbound for the night. Overall a fun day, great storms, messy tornadoes, but everyone enjoyed it! Enjoy the pics! Video coming soon too!
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!!
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!
