Most Memorable Chases and Outings

I try and only put memorable and worthwhile outings on the site as it is, but these would be the favorites or most rewarding from all those listed in the images by year section. There are a few that are more memorable, but I never got any images worthwhile from those. Heck there are lots of those that never made the images by year section. There are a few tornado days that aren't on here. Anyway, basically this is just a favorites of my favorites section. All outings I've deemed worthy enough to put online(including these) will always be found in the *IMAGES BY YEAR* section. I thought this might make an interesting section, weeding through all those and selecting a few "best of" chases.

June 20, 1996 Supercells Blair, Nebraska

Before my chasing days, but simply one amazing storm that surely helped push me along with the desire to start chasing.

May 16, 1999 Magnolia, Iowa First Chase and Tornado

My first chase and I get a tornado. A pretty eventful first chase for sure. It sucks that 2 women died this day, just south of where I wound up having to take shelter, about 3-4 miles away. It could have been a lot worse, this large and violent tornado(the one I never saw, following the one I did) did not miss the town of Logan Iowa by very far at all. It was the graduation day for Logan seniors too. I'm sure it would have destroyed the majority of the town had it been a couple miles further north...including myself. It did some sick things to cars, as well as some houses and the land.

April 30, 2000 Olney, Texas Tornadic Supercell

A memorable HP beast in northwest TX on my first real far chase outing. It's funny just how bad I was a newbie then. I need to remember how I thought of things back then, so I can have half an idea how most see storms(non-chasers). Hell I had a fair amount of knowledge back then too, yet still was soooo clueless. I constantly think people should get things right away now. I guess it does take seeing things in person for a good while before most of it clicks together...even if it seems sooo simple now(the signs of how a storm is doing....not how tornadoes form of course). Now I know when 99% of storms have no chance in hell and all the early signs that they won't soon. Back then, pretty much any storm at any point of its life had some hope lol. That and every nasty line had potential to flip my car, something so laughable now, and if anything wished would actually happen. I'm game for wind blowing my vehicle over, just not while I'm driving and not lifting me into the air like a tornado would....obviously! The only thing with any real chance of doing so is a tornado.

July 24, 2000 Ainsworth, Nebraska Tornadic Supercell

A beautiful tornadic supercell out in the sandhills. Too bad I didn't own a still camera yet. The tornadoes on this one meant a lot as they were my first catches since my lucky first chase tornado intercept. This would be the first great storm in what would become my favorite area of tornado alley. I've gotten the majority of my tornadoes in that middle strip of Nebraska. I've missed plenty there too.

July 16, 2001 O'Neill, Nebraska Storm, Hail, Wind, and Dog

A chase I'll never forget. I hope that dog was well cared for. It seemed well fed and friendly. It just didn't seem to know where to go and settled for the seat in my truck...a move it is likely glad it made.

July 26, 2002 Falls City, Nebraska Supercell

A jaw dropping encounter and I had a still camera, finally. This was essentially my first chase with a still camera. I sat just north of the supercell's base as it moved east, dropping cg after cg in the area. The setting sun added color to the crazy scene.

May 10, 2003 Hannibal, Missouri Tornado

One of my favorite tornadoes and from pretty close range. If I have a most amazing tornado moment, it would be from this one, as I drove next to it on the west side and looked up at it. Just an "oh my god" moment. This was another storm moving very quickly and extremely hard to stay with or catch up to. It hit these trees as I snuck up behind it and seemed to stop moving east all the sudden. I remember looking to the side for how I was going to flip the car around and get the hell out of there. And at the same time I was video taping it, I was dying inside since I couldn't take a freaking still photo of the scene AND shoot video(no mounts nor time). So I just made sure to shoot the video and at least get that right. It then vanished very quickly. I drive around the corner into falling grass and a couple pretty large tree branches(one might have been a whole tree). It looked like someone released a big lawn mower bag in the air.

June 9, 2003 O'Neill, Nebraska Tornadoes

The O'Neill supercell was one of the meanest storms I've ever seen, still. It's not conveyed very well in the account though. I need to recapture the video frames and adjust the midtones on them as many are pretty washed out. I did not take enough stills during it either. It was just a vicious storm. O'Neill is very lucky as it barely missed the town to the north. As it was tearing up the land outside of town it was also pelting it with softball sized hail.

August 5, 2003 Arlington, Nebraska Storm and Moon

Just a favorite storm and moon combo.

May 16, 2004 Amelia, Nebraska Tornadic Supercell

This was a sweet tornadic supercell out in the sandhills, my first of the oh so busy 2004 season. I was certainly not expecting this storm to come out of the rain and look like it did. I was like, holy crap, what a barrel of an updraft. Adding to it was a 100% constant roll of thunder. Then right as it produces a tornado it was like a flip was thrown on the lightning and thunder. Went from as active as it gets to nothing in a very short period of time. It did this as some smaller vortices touched down. I thought it was dying or something. Then next thing I know, I noticed this big bowl shape coming out of the rain just west of me and the highway. The same time the rfd winds start racing north. Then bam a nice cone is on the ground behind me. I really wished I'd sat there and taped it instead of moving. It's hard to have the nerve to sit still when something forms close and you aren't yet sure where it is going. It's a lot like the April 6, 2006 close tornado formation. Just not enough time to really see it's movement and know you can hang around. One thing I've learned isn't a fun feeling is having to race east as a tornado is to your southwest moving north or northeast. It's hard to keep an eye on it out the south(passenger) side of your car.

May 22, 2004 Schuyler, Nebraska Supercell Hailer

Even the wrong storms May 22, 2004 were beasts! This was slightly north of a pretty cool boundary, but was still a beast. The Hallam Nebraska beast(widest tornado on record) happens a couple hours after this one, a couple counties to the south. Had I stayed where I was longer, instead of moving to this storm, I'd have been on the Hallam one when it fired.

May 24, 2004 Chester, Nebraska Tornadic Supercell

Lots of tornadoes this day. One point there were 3 on the ground at the same time. Other times there were 2 at once. I'm still not sure how many I saw, 7 or 8 in the 2 hour period. I was never thrilled with this day for some reason. Probably because I was never very close, other than maybe the weaker later tornado in Kansas(one could have had a picnic in its debris whirl it was so weak........second thumbnail from the left above).

May 28, 2004 Sioux City, Iowa Supercell

One of the most striking supercell structures I've seen, if not thee most. It was just a treat to watch unfold over a couple hours. It was also nice enough to track right down this highway(I think the river deflected it....I'm joking....I think it liked Nebraska).

June 11, 2004 Ft. Dodge, Iowa Tornadoes

Another day with lots of tornadoes, the last one from a fairly close distance. I did not think the later storms this day had a chance in hell at producing a Tornado, but I saw two from them.

June 13, 2004 Alvo, Nebraska Tornadic Supercell

One of the strangest looking storms I've seen. It even produced an odd tornado with vortices apparently twisted around each other. No this isn't hurricane Katrina, lol.

July 12, 2004 Bartlett, Nebraska Tornadic Supercell

Perhaps the tallest/biggest supercell I've ever seen, with tops of 65-70,000 feet indicated by radar for almost an hour. It produced a beautiful tornado west of my location, which barely moved for the next 20 minutes.

August 26, 2004 Coin, Iowa Tornadic Supercell

This wasn't too memorable, but enough so to include on here.

November 7-8, 2004 Extreme Geomagnetic Storm Blair, Nebraska

It's hard to beat watching an extreme class geomagnetic storm. The colors/vertical beams are pretty much more fun to photograph than to watch. What is cool though, and crazy to watch, were these barely visible horizontal waves flashing in and out as they RACED from north to south, beyond overhead. I still don't have a name for what those are.

May 10, 2005 Grand Island, Nebraska Supercell

This storm had good structure before the sun went down, then amazing structure after dark. It made for some interesting twilight lightning images. It was fun to chase it with friends as well.

May 14, 2005 Extreme Geomagnetic Storm, Blair, Nebraska

What can I say. I thought it would take forever to top the November 7-8, 2004 Geomagnetic storm I saw. I never dreamed something even more insane would happen 6 months later.

June 9, 2005 Hill City, Kansas Tornadic Supercell

Simply an amazing tornadic supercell. I am not sure I'll ever top the scene this storm had, when it looked like a gigantic alligator head just north of the big tornado, apparently wanting to eat Hill City. It's probably my all time favorite storm. I shot video from this one location for over 20 minutes as it approached, then after that tornado finally dissipated, got two more, one going around and behind of the other, then shortly after that smaller one died, another formed briefly just north of the main one. Being directly in the path of this fun, for such a long period, left me with a strange feeling of wanting nothing more to do with the day's storms. After that first large one I was stopped at road construction with the storm moving in, then a bit later let that other tornado start to get in close, then racing into town just ahead of things and out the other side. It's strange, it's not that scary being close to a tornado if you sneak up on it from the back or side or have time to see it's moving left or right as it approaches. It's stressful when you can clearly see you are directly in the path of the thing. Thing is, that location usually provides the best view available.

November 12, 2005 Woodward, Iowa Tornado

November...Iowa....Tornadoes???? I surely never thought it would happen while leaving home to chase. An amazingly fast paced chase. Without breaking speed limit laws too badly, this was one tough storm to stay with. If one could do 100-120 mph in a 60 it would have been a bit easier. This is the same tornado seen over and over on the news, with the guy in his backyard watching it go through the neighborhood...leaves chasing it between houses. The right thumbnail above is right about that time. This was a very rare time when I actually see damage. Most storms don't do that much, and the majority of the time I'm ahead of the storm, so I never cross the damage path.

November 27-29 O'Neill Nebraska Intense Blizzard

This was my first real blizzard chase requiring me to leave home and get a motel before it hit. It was a very amazing and memorable storm. Winds gusting to 74 mph in the area with about a foot of snow. It was fun until I break the door of the SUV I was driving(wind) and until the power goes out in my motel. Boy is life boring fast with no power and no wheels. It probably saved me from being stranded out on the roads I guess.

March 12, 2006 Kansas, Missouri, Illinois Tornado Outbreak

I wasn't sure I should include this one or not. I surely didn't get any great images from it. It was however a memorable chase, starting with storms at 8 a.m. and ending a bit before midnight. I've never chased so many different rounds of storms in one day. Then add in the fact one of them was a very rare long-duration supercell. The storm fired in northeast Oklahoma and didn't die till it crossed into Michigan! Now that is a storm. I was on it as it crossed the border into Missouri. Too bad it was moving 50mph or more. I think I was on a tornado warmed storm before noon at St. Joe, right after one storm just moved through the north part of town(another tornado producing storm had already moved through the area earlier), then a bit afternoon on another moving into MO as it flew by, I dropped south to catch another tornado warned storm crossing into MO...then after dark I was dodging them with one producing a long-track tornado right about where I'd been parked before.....then as I finally get my room around 11pm they are taking shelter as another tornado warmed storm moves into town...all that and I never saw a tornado.

April 6, 2006 Hanover Kansas Tornadic Supercell

My only tornado day of 2006. When it formed I was surely closer to it than any tornado to date. It was yet another high speed storm. I taped it and shot stills as it went by, not bothering to try to keep up with it, and instead opting to catch the other right behind it...which sucked. I was just utterly amazed it produced a tornado in the first place, as it was so high based and rather linear before it reached the Hanover area.

August 1, 2006 Local Lightning

This was just a fun, long night of lightning photography in town. Usually things move on by or are raining on you too much to shoot stills. This area just sat south of town for hours, mostly leaving dry shooting conditions. It's great to shoot around cities as you can do longer exposures and get colorful images, thanks to those lights on the clouds.

December 14, 2006 Eastern Nebraska Auroras

Not as good as the previous two auroras, but any time you can see the reds this far south it's rare. Actually they were pretty strong early on with those clouds in front of them, but by the time the clouds moved far enough south, the show was fading. I'd managed to see auroras here in 2004 and 2005, and wondered if I could be lucky enough to get a third year in a row. With 2 weeks to spare it finally happened in 2006. 2007 however I was unable to see any shows.

December 30-31, 2006 Extreme Ice Storm, Southern Nebraska

This ice storm was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. I chased the snowstorm, staying in Cozad NE just west of the ice. I drove through the ice on the way back and had to drive out the next day to tour the area some more. It was sick the amount of ice and damage done by this storm. Needless to say it is a rare event to get over 2 inches of ice on objects, let alone in such a large area.

March 28, 2007 Grant, Nebraska Night Tornadoes

This was the first time I've ever seen a tornado in March or a tornado at night. I don't have a problem chasing at night, but most times storms aren't worth it by then. Odd as it is, I've gone this long without ever seeing a tornado in the dark. This thing got huge as it was passing west of the small town of Grant Nebraska. Oh yeah, it started off with two large tornadoes at once, a wedge and another tornado just about the size of a wedge....right next to each other. Then as it is producing another smaller tornado after this you could hear loud geese, obviously troubled by the atmospheric violence around them(large numbers of them did not make it). This was on the day of what I assume was the biggest tornado outbreak of 2007.

June 16, 2007 Devil's Tower Sky and Lightning

For never seeing a storm worth a darn, this was an amazing day for me. I love it when the "impossible" happens. When leaving home for this one, I dreamed of getting lightning(or even a decent storm) with Devil's tower to some degree, though I surely never expected it. It's completely nuts the garbage convection these bolts came from, the fact they were over Devil's Tower, behind a line of storms...at twilight....and I was still around. I was going nuts as they popped away for 10 minutes or so. Those few minutes as they decided to pop away for me, I was the happiest of any time the whole year. Whenever I think about this one(like I am right now), I'm just extremely shocked at the odds. I'm wide angle on these, these aren't far away bolts, and I'm right by Devil's Tower! There was no reason for these to even be happening, behind the line of storms so far. A couple towers wanted to fire right in this skinny area and were very cg happy, which is really amazing because of how pathetic they were and how high based. There were a crapload more bolts hitting very close just behind me than the ones in the shot. Some of those were close enough to be scary lol.

July 7, 2007 Blair Fireworks

This was just another amazing experience, watching the fireworks show from below, only 75 feet from the mortars. I finally bought a 10-22 EF-s for this and wound up with some cool perspectives, showing the mortars ejecting as well as explosions directly overhead, or even beyond in some cases.

August 21, 2007 Creighton Nebraska Mammatus

It can be kind of funny how you can see tornadoes more often than things like intense mammatus or very large hail. I suppose with mammatus it's mostly because one doesn't take the time to look behind the storms at sunset. I had a feeling they'd be big this day so I took the time to drive behind the storms before sunset.

August 25, 2007 Murray Hill Iowa Fog

I'm now hooked on chasing fog thanks to this one morning and a big hill in western Iowa. Clouds are hands down the coolest things on the planet, it's that simple. Think of how this place would look without them. Boring!

December 10-13, 2007 Mound City Missouri Extreme Ice-Storm

I chased another huge ice-storm, documenting it from Mound City Missouri over 4 days. This wound up being my most time consuming chase and account of it. Overnight the first night and into that next day, Mound City got over 2 inches of rain, all while being below freezing. It's a bit disturbing seeing it rain like it was, into temps in the upper 20s. I lost power rapidly, and was kept awake the first night by snapping tree branches. A location in se NE I found on the final day was trying to rival the extreme ice-storm from 2006 in southern NE, the one with over 2 inches of ice on things. This area around Dawson NE was pushing two inches and that was in the afternoon of a day of melting. The rapid rate of rain made for some very cool ice "claws" which formed as the branches sagged lower. The link for this one is to the first day entry. There are 4 days and 8 pages of images.

January 24, 2008 -20F Icy River Steam, Steamdevils, Halos, Sunrise, Bald Eagle

This was just one of those outings that felt like photo ops were being thrown at you over and over. I've had a lot of cold days I was out taking photos in, this one probably takes the cake. It was -20F as I got to the river at a little before 6 a.m. You know it's COLD out when you have a river full of mini icebergs and you are getting massive amounts of steam off the water. Anyway got some cool twilight images with the moon, then an amazing sunrise, then more river steam shots, then finally a good sun dogs show. I was already happy and content with what I'd seen, when all the sudden I see a big steamdevil coming at me. I then see there are really two with it. They came right towars me as they lifted into the air. They were very tall to begin with. I was laughing by that point, forgetting it was still about -15F or so. Then as I leave this Bald Eagle sat in the tree above me and let me take his picture, as he glanced down at me from time to time.

For the rest of the other memorable outings visit the Images by Year section.