(Updated Video)4/23 Texas Chase Report

Link to video courtesy of my chase partner, Jon Merage.


A frustrating day. We woke up in Clayton, NM after driving through the night. We slept in when we should have been on the road at 8 am heading south down to I-20. We had lunch at Chili's and wasted even more time. We werent counting on the main round of storms firing so early after the grunge-fest moved out so we were planning on a 6 or 7 p.m. initiation. The storms didnt wait and there was tornadoes on the ground as we were coming through Lubbock. We blasted south to catch the LaMesa storm. We must have missed the tube by only a few minutes judging by the incredible structure and severe rotation.


This is the view we got as we emerged from a precision core-punch into the middle of the hook. We only encountered quarter sized hail as GR2 was estimating 3.25 inch hail sizes.

This thing had amazing structure.

The LaMeso!!
I only managed snapshots on this chase due to driving and lots of rain.

Strong rotation almost overhead.

Pretty awesome looking storm in its decaying stages (note the dual level inflow).



Nice little sunset storm as we headed back north to our south KS target for the next day. I would have stopped and tripoded but this thing refused to put out any CG's

The next day yeilded no pictures but only video. Jon Merage is reviewing the video to verify if we saw the tornado near Bogue, KS. It looked like a nice tube for sure but we are not certain that it was on the ground due to hills and no line of sight. We were also late to this storm as we missed the spectacular daytime structure while holding out on our south target near Medicine Lodge, KS. It was a bad call but we couldnt convince our selves that the NW, KS storm would produce based on low surface dews and weak surface winds. The storm of course moved into better air and turned into a monster. Im looking forward to more successful chases in the near future.

Sunday 3/30/08 Storm Shots!!!

Well, what can I say? It was an awesome first chase of the year. Only a few possible brief tornadic circulations were observed but we will have to check the video. Overall, it was a fantastic trip for photography, at least the 30th anyway. Our targeting was precise and our choices were strong. The 31st was a really frustrating day and the 15% hatched tornado risk did not verify. We were right infront of the only tornado reported in Oklahoma but could not verify a touchdown due to poor visibility through trees and hills although witnessing damage in the area. I will have pix from that up later. Im going to skip a lengthy chase report here. These shots are in no particular order.


Killer Sunset with a mini LP Supercell in the distance.

This is the main supercell shortly after initiation.

This is well after dark here shortly before the cell was tornado warned as an increasing low level jet strengthened the storm. We flirted with several supercells in the area after dark.

The first supercell beginning to go outlow dominant

Several of our friends including the Carlsons, and Tony Laubach, sampled this core as we were listening to the hail roar from a safe distance.

3/30/08 Chasing Update

Today, we chased in Western Oklahoma just south of I-40. Im proud to say we targeted around 10 miles away from the main storms of the day. We chased a few different supercells well into the night and observed several wall clouds and funnels but no tornadoes. We will chase Central and Eastern Oklahoma tommorow before bolting back to Denver in an attempt to make class the next day. Pictures from today's chase will follow when I get back to Denver.

Luongo Pulled During AV'S Ownage!!!

This is a slideshow depicting the struggles of the Canucks. All of these are shot from the 3rd level with my 200mm f/2.8L and a 1.4x tele-converter. I really need a camera with a spot meter to get consistent exposures. These are roughly edited.

Milan Hejduk had 2 goals and an assist tonight, earning 1st star of the game next to Peter Forsberg and Paul Stastny. Ben Guite scores a goal as Luongo flops in his net.

Cody McLeod goes 5-hole on Luongo to continue the 4th line production.

The AVS celebrate the timely goal by #55 Cody McLeod.

A late scrum shows the frustrations of the Canucks.

This pretty much sums up the night for a HOSER!!!

3/20/08 Possible chase next week

The longrange GFS model is hinting at a possible setup in w/c OK or north TX. Quality moisture will begin working northward by early next week. This is right on time with last year's March 28th setup. hopefully this will pan out unlike the last time I looked at the GFS this far out.

2/22 Snowboard Shots

Nothing seemed to be going on today so I headed up to the Ruby Hill Snowboard Park to get some shots for my photojournalism class. My buddy Kyle tagged along so I could get some shots of him on the boxes. Overall it was a pretty decent shoot despite crappy light and a severely cramped park. It was tough to isolate my subjects from the ample distractions in the backgrounds. I utilized my Sigma 10-20mm and Canon 200mm 2.8L lenses. I tried a few with fill flash against the sun with little success.