Dramatic stuff Darren! Hope you have a sharp eyed lookout scanning the skies when you're fiddling with a camera under such conditions.
J ----- Original Message ----- From: "Darren Addy" <pixelsmi...@gmail.com> To: "Pentax-Discuss Mail List" <pdml@pdml.net> Sent: Monday, May 9, 2016 10:47:32 AM Subject: GESO: Yuma County Colorado tornadoes, Saturday May 7, 2016 I had my most successful chase day ever on Saturday (saw 3 tornadoes), but not my most photogenic photographs. I left North Platte, NE at 4 PM hoping to get to Holyoke or Wray, CO to see some Colorado Front Range tornadoes. Got to the rest area at Julesburg, CO (on Interstate 80) and grabbed a free Colorado road map. Then proceeded south of Julesburg on Hwy 385. A line of supercells was already forming just west of 385 and they were moving to the N/NNW as they were close the surface low. My target was the southernmost storm that was moving N/NNE. The cell just north of that one had been tornado warned once already (as I was leaving Julesburg) but I did not want to target it for long, fearing I would be run over by the hail core of the storm coming up behind it. Still, I thought I would keep an eye on it as I went by it on my way to the more southerly cell. I saw what appeared to be a Rear Flank Downdraft (RFD) cut in that storm as I came along side. When it was clear that a funnel was forming I pulled off the highway (there was no shoulder) and jumped out to take pics. Here is the tornado, which I believe is in contact with the ground (but can't be positive because of a hill in between us). https://www.flickr.com/photos/pixelsmithy/26880136486/in/dateposted-public/ While I was taking the photos of this tornadoes entire life cycle, the CSWR convoy of radar trucks went flying north past me up the highway, with a bunch of chasers following them. ( http://www.cswr.org/ ) Their target did not affect mine, I still thought that the storm approaching Wray would be the most interesting of the day. It was. The tornado that made national news began over the city of Wray as a tiny little funnel in the sky that I captured as I was traveling back through Wray after exploring a bit to its west. In the amount of time it took me to reach the intersection of Hwy 385 again, it has already reached the ground with a needle-like appearance: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pixelsmithy/26847394921/ Quickly it morphed into a larger tornado: https://www.flickr.com/photos/pixelsmithy/26309615994/ Fortunately, this part of the front range is sparsely populated, but I did see one house along the highway that lost its roof, drove over downed powerlines across the highway (driving around a 5th wheel trailer that had been deposited directly in the highway) and captured this image of the receding tornado with some parked semi trailers that it tossed around. https://www.flickr.com/photos/pixelsmithy/26915145455/ I later saw a 3rd tornado out my passenger window, but by the time I got off the road it had already lifted. I have no idea how long I was oblivious to it as I drove along side it, but it was a good couple of miles away and moving away from me. All in all, I was very happy with my forecast, my route, and my targeting. I only wish I had gotten some more photogenic images, rather than documentary ones. -- “The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness ” ― Yann Arthus-Bertrand, Earth from Above -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
