creates this amazing photo outside Dodge City, KS...
On May 30th, I began driving to southwest Kansas around dawn to chase an enhanced-severe weather risk that was being forecast. It looked for several days that this day would provide a good chance to catch some supercells that would later morph into a possible derecho across the southern Great Plains. By early-afternoon, I had already crossed into Kansas along U.S. 183 after several hours of driving west on I-80 through Iowa and Nebraska punching through some elevated convection along the way. This convection was actually already severe-warned with hail being reported along I-80. I set up shop most of the day south of Rush Center, KS along U.S. 183 awaiting convective initiation along a differential heating boundary as an approaching shortwave would eventually erode the cap. This area was characterized by nearly 3,000J/kg of CAPE, 0-6km shear at 50kts, a supercell composite approaching (12) to the southwest, and the presence of a moistening boundary-layer with dew points near 60°F. Winds were also locally backing along this boundary leading me to believe this was a decent spot to wait for storms to initiate in a few hours. Around 1:30pm some convection tried to develop as the cap was already slowly weakening however this convection was elevated along the boundary at this time as I had just arrived to my target. I sat here most of the afternoon until storms began to initiate after 3:00pm just to my northwest. I watched (LP) supercells initiate in this area off to my northwest for about a hour. I shot many photos here and some time-lapse video as well southeast of Ness City, KS along KS Rt. 156. These supercells were initially (LP) low-precipitation, but quickly began to morph into severe-warned (HP) high-precipitation blobs throughout the evening which later formed a substantial Mesoscale Convective System (MCS). This MCS that was tornado-warned blasted me on U.S. 50 with 65mph winds, dime-sized hail, and torrential rain east of Dodge City, KS. I was able to get a few pics and brief time-lapse of some great structure this MCS featured before it knocked me around a bit along the highway. I actually took shelter at a gas station to get the vehicle some protection from any hail damage. Once the MCS passed I headed west to Dodge City, KS as I could see the sun already starting to peak back out under the anvil on the back-side of the severe convection. This was a very rewarding decision! I was presented with one of the best sunsets I've ever seen with on-going convection off the my south. The mammatus overhead was absolutely breath-taking with lightning (crawlers) mixed in. While I was here shooting photos, I witnessed one of the strangest things in years of chasing I've ever seen. This MCS had some insane chaotic motion going on as the convection began to move away. I watched lots of spin in the clouds to what seemed to morph into a white condensation funnel. It sure was spinning which caught me off guard at the time being in a location of the storm where you wouldn't expect to see something like this, but it definitely was not a tornado. Who really cares though? This thing created a spectacular photo to my south with a rainbow in the background and for me is just as good. The turbulent and strange motion going on behind here was a head scratcher to say the least for myself! For me it was amazing to watch and it bugs me to this day I didn't have my video camera in my hand. Oh well, I sure made out like a bandit with the photo(s) though! After snapping nearly an endless amount of photos I called it a chase and picked up a hotel room at a Best Western in Dodge City, KS and called it a night. I've added several photos and some time-lapse video from this chase day below:
Initial elevated convection along the differential
heating boundary...
Spectacular shot here with convection initiating in
the background as my chase vehicle awaits
to chase the approaching convection...
An orphan anvil off to my west-southwest!
The chase is on...
A nice (LP) supercell initiating to my northwest!
I have a damn good view at this point...
Wide-angle shot of the rotating updraft
of this supercell!
This supercell becoming more HP-ish along U.S. 183
(looking north)...
Supercell and a typical Kansas wheat landscape!
Beautiful wide-angle shot as the Kansas wheat give you
great insight of the inflow into this supercell...
Portrait-shot of the stormy
skies at this point overhead...
Supercell yet again, but this time I'm farther north on
U.S. 183 south of Rush Center, KS as the supercell
transitions to outflow dominant...
Stormy skies loom in the background behind
Wide-angle view of the developing MCS along
Another view with some nice mammatus here as well
(looking north)...
Some very nice structure here as I'm moments
away from getting 65mph straight-line winds!
Oh boy, here comes a core-punch (not by choice)!
I punch through and find this
Mammatus present here as the sun begins
to create some dramatic scenes...
Chase vehicle, mammatus, and rainbow all in one shot!
Close-up shot of the rainbow amidst the rain to my south...
A crawler sneaks into this portrait-shot!
Another great shot!
Lots of "spin" forms what "appears" as a
white condensation funnel a few feet off the ground here
with a distant rainbow in the background what
a crazy shot! (before-shot)
Lots of "spin" and rapid motion present!
This is what I was referring to that was
absolutely insane to watch... (after-shot)
(Looks like horizontal tubes present as well (right))!
The song paradise was playing on the radio at this time!
"Lying underneath those stormy skies, this could be paradise"
I couldn't have said that better myself...
"Lying underneath those stormy skies, this could be paradise"
First time I've been able to photograph blue-lightning...
Some crawlers can clearly be seen sneaking
into this sunset shot!
One more of the rainbow with the chase
vehicle in the foreground...
Wow, what a sunset!
(Canon 70-300mm telephoto-zoom lens)
Beautiful shot here as well!
A beautiful golden sunset which marks the
end of an active severe weather day
across southwest Kansas...
One more shot of some anvil crawlers along U.S. 50!
I've added a YouTube time-lapse (above)
I've added a short YouTube time-lapse of the MCS (above)
I've added a GoPro video (above)
Overall, this was quite a rewarding chase! Kansas sure didn't disappoint me on this day with some great photogenic supercells and a beautiful sunset! I got some much needed rest later that night and actually drove back to Illinois for a few days as their was a lull in the severe weather threat over the next day or two before I headed back out to the Great Plains for the rest of my vacation. More to come...
