Storm Chase 2009

Just returned from a 5 day storm chase, through TX,CO,WY,NE,MO,KS, back to CO. Kept my 10 year streak of seeing at least one tornado alive, depsite what has been so far a pretty lame season. WIll eventually get a webpage up, but heres an initial sampler.
This is the Lagrange tornado in extreme SE WY friday, as i mentioned on ESS there is really cool up close video of the tornado posted on Youtube, Discovery Channel. I would have loved to get closer but didnt want to total my new car in the baseball size hail that was falling around it.

Heres one of the giant storm taking on a 'mothership' appearance towards sunset.

The next day, did some lightning photography in Missouri.

On the couple of 'off' days, i did, what else, more photography! I caught these antelope driving up from Branson CO (from TX/NM); since no cars were in sight i was able to drive with my knees while shooting the antelope at ~30 mph--no panning required! Overall, a real cool trip!

The second and third shots are really sweet and I have to admit that I've always wanted to shoot from the car while driving with my knees -- I'm tall, which helps

Cool shots, Stan. The mothership cloud is fantastic, and the lightning is beautiful.

Wow Stan. The second shot "Mother Ship" is way cool.

Nice work.

Jim

Number 2 is outstanding. You can almost feel the storm growing...

Great stuff, Stan. #2 is mind blowing! I also really like the lightning shot.

These are all terrific!

Love the story on how you got the antelope shot.

The storm cloud is amazing. How many miles did you drive on this trip?
Thank you very much for sharing these with us, and please post the link to more photos on your website when they are up.

Love the shelf cloud! We had a good one here last week, but none of the pretty scenery you had.

Wow!! The second and third shots are my favorite. Just curious, where did you take the second shot?

The mothership shot makes me knees shake! Really like the lightning as well.

Thanks! Momo, i went almost 1700 miles, pretty grueling drive for sure. Brian, the second shot is in Nebraska, cant give you the exact location but it had to be northwest of Kimble in the NE panhandle.

Nice Stan! Sorry I couldn't join you. We had a fair amount of local activity as you projected but I could not get away except for a weekend trip to the Dunes. It was too windy so I did not venture into the dune field I did get some nice cloud shots at sunset on Saturday evening (along with lots of mosquitoe bites)

Those are amazing and scary!

that second shot is awesome, Stan!

These are great Stan. I'm really liking the mothership! I'm thinking about going out this afternoon to look for a shot similar to that one. Nice job!

Jack

All are great, but the Mothership shot is simply awesome!

Sounds like an incredible trip and you came away with some amazing images! Mother Ship is a winner!

Great shots all around! The "mothership" photo is particularly impressive.

Nice chasin' and shootin' Standune! The second is my fav, extremely menacing.

Stan, number two is absolutely awesome. Great shots. I love the antelope at 30 mph.

All are fantastic. Mothership is a wall hanger.

RichieV

The mothership is simply awesome! I'm afraid of tornadoes so I don't venture out to try and catch these kind of shots. I'll just let you do the work and I'll enjoy the photos in safety

Nice stuff Stan, one of these days I will have to go out and chase some storms.

Man the mothership photo is just amazing. About the only I miss from living in Kansas was chasing these things every summer growing up, and watching those big thunderheads come rolling in. Although we have had some interesting weather up here in the Denver area the last few days, it's just childs play compared to what happens out on the plains.

Really cools shot!

Brian

Good images, Stan.