The date was May 21st, 2016; a day situated within the peak of severe weather season in the Central Plains of the United States. Storm chasers from across the world flock to these vast prairies during the months of May and June to chase Mother Nature's most violent and turbulent skies.
I raced out of my hotel room that morning in a frenzy to load up photography equipment in the car and race to the target area for today's chase: western Kansas. Surface winds were absolutely screaming out of the southeast; a good indicator that ingredients for severe weather were coming together.
But I was not expecting to witness the most jaw-dropping supercell I had yet witnessed in my storm chasing career. And this is such a huge component of what makes storm chasing so incredibly addicting: you never know what the skies are going to deliver.
This storm sat nearly stationary for hours. Truly, hours. I could not process what I was witnessing; storm chasers refer to a structured supercell like this as a mothership. And, I'm sure it's understandable why! Every layer of this storm is being sculpted by the winds changing speed and direction with increasing height in the atmosphere: this is called wind shear. And when it works just right, it creates unbelievable magic.
I have previously shared the above image in my Introduction post here, but I did not get a chance to tell the story behind this chase, so I am only re-sharing for the purpose of doing so now.
The above shot is especially classic because of the leading lines, and the truck driving into the storm. It was truly an iconic storm; these photos are widely recognized in the weather world of storm chasers and meteorologists. These are the images that truly put me on the map in the storm chasing community.
But more importantly, this was the moment that I realized my storm chasing dreams were becoming a reality. As I braced myself against my car to combat the screaming inflow winds (forget using a tripod in these conditions), and fired rapid bursts of my shutter while getting pelted with mud, rain and hail, I realized how crazy this passion of mine really is.
And that there is nothing in the world I would rather be doing. JessMy Links