Storm Chasing Diary: Hit the Ground Running

Supercell and Lightning, Northeast Colorado
Sony α1
Sony 12-24 GM
.4 seconds
F/14
ISO 50

What would you think if I told you that, on my 12-day storm chasing trip in the Midwest, we drove from Colorado, to Wyoming, to Nebraska, back to Colorado, back to Nebraska, and finally to Kansas? Pretty nuts, right?

Please don’t judge me when I tell you all that was just our first day. But when weather is your subject, lots of miles and crazy hours are not negotiable. Fortunately, our storm chasing leaders did give us a small break on day-two, when we started in Kansas and finished the day in Texas, via Oklahoma. As I write this, it’s day-three and I’m sitting in one of our two vans in Vaughn, New Mexico, waiting with my group for our trip-leader/meteorologist to decide whether to stay put with the current storm, head northwest to toward an active storm near Albuquerque, or motor east to Fort Sumner to take advantage of increasingly favorable conditions there. (Note: We ended up with, “None of the above.”)

Day-one (Monday) was my first-ever storm chasing experience, and saying we hit the ground running would be an understatement. After a morning orientation at our Denver hotel that included introductions and a lecture that seemed designed specifically to satisfy my inner weather geek, all 16 of us (me, our tour-guide/meteorologist, my co-leader and driver Jeremy Woodhouse, our other driver, and the 12 photographers/chasers comprising the workshop group) piled into our two 12-passenger vans and pointed northeast. Within a couple of hours we were on a storm in southeastern Wyoming, where I got to photograph my first-ever supercell. But spectacular as that was, we didn’t stay long, because (apparently) a better storm was blooming back in Colorado.

After leaving Wyoming, the rest of our day was filled with so much, I don’t have the memory or time to provide blow-by-blow specifics. We’d be racing to get in position for a brewing storm, then see something too good to pass and make a sudden brake-slam/hop-out/click/retreat stop before continuing on our way. Plan changes were routine and came faster than I could keep up.

The weather only intensified as the afternoon progressed. Near Merino, Colorado, we finally got out in front of a storm, enabling us to settle down long enough for the tripods to come out. I set up up with my Sony a1 and 12-24 f/2.8 lens—the only lens wide enough to capture the entire cell as it bore down on us. When I realized how much lightning was firing just to the right of the storm, I quickly attached my Lightning Trigger and went all the way out to 12mm to maximize my lightning chances.

The plan to follow my standard compose/click/evaluate/refine/click workflow went right out the window when I saw how quickly the storm was moving (right-to-left and approaching). Since I needed to be at 12mm, horizontal, with the storm centered to include all of it, there wasn’t much opportunity to add variety to my frames. Since my Lightning Trigger was clicking my camera so rapidly, at bolts seen and unseen, I adopted a new strategy: just let the Lightning Trigger handle the clicking, while I stood back and absorbed the spectacle. My only job was to monitor my exposure and occasionally reframe to account for the storm’s movement. I even had time to capture some video with my iPhone while my “adult” camera did the real work.

This storm actually displayed enough rotation that we thought it might dispense a tornado, and at one point even heard a tornado siren, but no suck luck. Most of its lightning was intra-cloud and out of my frame, but rather than recompose for lightning shots, I kept my composition on the supercell. Though the scene that afternoon was really about this truly magnificent storm, I was thrilled to find a few frames with squiggles of lightning, for accent.

That night we finished shooting in Nebraska (I think) with a different cell that generated several tornado alerts on our phones (picture a van with 8 people receiving slightly out of synch tornado warnings), but never saw one. We finally rolled into our hotel in Goodland, Kansas at around 11 p.m., too late for dinner—a not uncommon experience, I’ve learned.

It’s now day-5 and soooooo much has happened since then. And we still have a week to go. No guarantees, but I’ll try to post occasional updates as time permits. Stay tuned….

Downpour and Lightning, Desert View, Grand Canyon

Supercell and Lightning, Northeast Colorado

Parting Clouds, Half Dome Reflection from Sentinel Bridge, Yosemite

Evening Glory, Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand

Spring in the Foothills, Sierra Foothills, California

Sunrise, Lone Pine Peak and Mt. Whitney, Eastern Sierra

Reflection on the Rocks

Thunderhead and Lightning, Lipan Point, Grand Canyon

Moonrise Through the Clouds, Half Dome, Yosemite

Sky on Fire, Hopi Point, Grand Canyon

Storm Clouds, El Capitan, Yosemite

Fire on High, Kilauea and Milky Way, Hawaii

Out of the Clouds, Half Dome from Olmsted Point, Yosemite

Sunset Triple Lightning, Hopi Point, Grand Canyon

Skylight, Lower Antelope Canyon, Arizona

Sky on Fire, Sierra Foothills, California

First Light, Yosemite Valley

Moonset, Mt. Whitney and the Alabama Hills, California

Night Fire, Milky Way Above Kilauea Caldera, Hawaii

Before Sunrise, Mt. Whitney and the Alabama Hills, California

Twilight Fog, Tunnel View, Yosemite

Winter Storm, El Capitan in the Snow, Yosemite

Flaming Oaks, Sierra Foothills, California

Clearing Storm, Half Dome Reflection from Sentinel Bridge, Yosemite

Sunset Storm, Half Dome from Sentinel Dome, Yosemite

Sunset and Tree, Mather Point, Grand Canyon

Painted Dunes, Mesquite Flat Dunes, Death Valley

Winter Moon Reflection, Half Dome, Yosemite

Reflection, Mirror Lakes, New Zealand

Winter Blue Hour Reflection, Half Dome, Yosemite

Wanaka Reflection, New Zealand

Falling Snow, El Capitan, Yosemite

Grand Canyon Sunset, Hopi Point, Grand Canyon

Alone Together, Oak and Crescent Moon, Sierra Foothills, California

Rainbow at Dusk, Point Imperial, Grand Canyon

Dawn Reflection, Trillium Lake and Mt. Hood, Oregon

Big Sky, Zabriskie Point, Death Valley

Last Light, Half Dome, Yosemite

Sunset Palette, Half Dome from Sentinel Dome, Yosemite

Fire and Mist, Halemaumau Crater, Kilauea, Hawaii

Sunset Fire, Olmsted Point, Yosemite

Spring Moon Reflection, Half Dome, Yosemite

Daybreak, Mono Lake, Eastern Sierra, California

Sunset Moonrise, Tunnel View, Yosemite

Moonlight Magic, El Capitan, Yosemite

Sunset Calm, Mt. Adams, Trout Lake, Washington

Moonrise, Merced River Canyon and Bridalveil Fall, Yosemite

Rain Curtain Lightning, Lipan Point, Grand Canyon

Yosemite Sky, Tunnel View, Yosemite (2016)

Stillness, South Tufa, Mono Lake

Sunset Storm, Half Dome from Sentinel Dome, Yosemite

Twin Peaks, Mt. Tasman and Aoraki / Mt. Cook, New Zealand

Sky Fire, Mesquite Flat Dunes, Death Valley

Surprise Rainbow, Point Imperial, Grand Canyon

Fresh Snow, Valley View, Yosemite

Incoming Storm, Mesquite Flat Dunes, Death Valley

Early Light, Mono Lake

Under the Rainbow, Colorado River, Grand Canyon

Dance of the Veils, Tunnel View, Yosemite

Emergence, Half Dome from Olmsted Point, Yosemite

Starfire, Halemaumau Crater, Kilauea, Hawaii

Day’s End, Ke’e Beach, Hawaii

Winter Twilight, Vestrahorn, Iceland

Before the Sun, South Tufa, Mono Lake

Sunset, McWay Fall, Big Sur, California

Infinity, Lake Wanaka, New Zealand

Sunrise Reflection, El Capitan, Yosemite

Morning Glory, Point Imperial Sunstar, Grand Canyon

Double Strike, Desert View Lightning, Grand Canyon

Sunset and Trees, Half Dome from Sentinel Dome, Yosemite

Mountain Rainbow, Kauai

Rise and Shine, Mather Point, Grand Canyon

Electric Sunset, Hopi Point Lightning, Grand Canyon

Sweet Sunset, Lake Manly and Badwater Basin, Death Valley

Dante’s Moon, Badwater, Death Valley

Sunset Mirror, Valley View (El Capitan and Bridalveil Fall), Yosemite

Sky on Fire, Lake Wakatipu, New Zealand

Moon and Clouds Reflection, Half Dome, Yosemite

Lunar Peek, Zabriskie Point, Death Valley

Sunset Mirror, Lake Manly (Badwater), Death Valley

Sunset Lightning, Desert View, Grand Canyon

Valley Fog, Tunnel View, Yosemite

Autumn Moonset, Oxbow Bend, Grand Tetons

Spring Sunset, Half Dome, Yosemite

Blue Hour Reflection, Vestrahorn, Iceland

Sunrise Mirror, Mono Lake

Electric Downpour, Point Imperial Lightning, North Rim, Grand Canyon