Single Handed Storm Chase

Here's my trip highlights--was supposed to be 8 days worth but im happy to have gotten 3 days of photography in after my accident. Sorry for no captions or anything--just wanted to get these posted quickly before i get too busy with doctors and insurance companies etc...

Post here is of an EF-2 tornado that went through the town of Lacrosse Kansas on Friday. I pulled over and used the lightning flashes to illuminate my subject.

http://www.stanroseimages.com/gallery/chase2012/

Wicked.

But were there any casualties in town?

I understand from your earlier post that you got banged up pretty good.

I chase under that feed handle "westernstorms" on chaser.tv during the monsoons out here in the southwest. Got to admit its scary stuff just with the lighting and reasonable size hail. Thats got to be an absolute adrenaline rush doing the dance with the hard core devils.

About how close were you? Did you see a Dominator or TIV-2 whiz by?

This was always the most frightening growing up in Texas. Tornados in the dark. We had one go over our house when I was about 7 or 8. A terrifying sound. And, I couldn't count the nights spent in dank storm cellars waiting for storms to pass. It was kinda fun as the kids played card or board games to pass the time. But, we felt like prisoners being kept underground in humid, hot places.

Excellent representation of only the glimpse you get when lightning flashes to reveal the monster. Not bad for a one handed photog!

Karl--no casualties, the sirens were blaring for some time beforehand too. Just some buildings hit 'downtown'. I didnt see any TIVs friday but i did on Sunday, i usually stop to say hi to Sean or Reed but didnt3 get a chance this trip. I think i was about 2 miles away--would have liked to have gone closer but i didnt know how long it would be on the ground (ended up a good 20-30 minutes!) and i didnt want to miss a shot while driving.

Awesome in all ways, shapes and forms. I love those clouds! On page 2, 4,6,7 are just amazing looking. Glad you kept shooting. Man, I dunno, when I had my accident a couple years back, shooting was the last thing on my mind. Here's to a speedy recovery.

Talk about drawing on your background along with your photog skills....... great stuff. Hope you are mending quickly.

Amazing set, especially considering what you've gone through.

Wow... Incredible shots, and I liked the close-ups of some of those 'bumpy' clouds. Hope you heal up quickly...

I didn't get down to the Southern cell but caught the one NE towards Russell. Also there was one injury. A night tornado passed 1 mile north of me on the South Side of Russell and I wasn't even aware of it! Took out a farm house. According to Tim Marshall "An elderly lady was transported with the house at least 30 feet and survived (somehow) with only minor injuries"!!

Considering E CO tomorrow but liking the outlook for upslope Mon-Thurs next week.

Wow, Stan! Those rock! I am really impressed knowing that you did this with one hand! I am so glad you were able to get such great stuff out of the trip. Fingers crossed that you are able to easily navigate the insurance maze :)

Good to see you out bucking the odds. Love some of those cloud formations in your gallery.

Right, then -- add storm chasing with Stan as one of the things I need to do in life.

Nice work, Stan. Beautiful shot of the mammatus clouds in sunset light.

I hope it's a speedy and smooth recovery.

No stopping you weatherman !!!
I would never even come close to this with both of my hands working well - stunning collection of images

Awesome Stan. Not sure I ever told you this, but when I was a kid, I was fascinated with tornados and wanted to be a storm chaser when I grew up. Tis was back on the 70's before it got a lot of attention. i used to checkout and read book after book about them from the library....well, that along with the Bermuda Triangle and Bigfoot!

Nice series stan, great lightning captures.