WOW, that is really impressive. Great work getting into position to see and record these twisters, and great photographic work as well.
I admire your tenacity and photographic talent, but most of all I admire your stones. Dan Matyola http://www.pentaxphotogallery.com/danieljmatyola On Mon, May 9, 2016 at 1:47 PM, Darren Addy <pixelsmi...@gmail.com> wrote: > 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.
