Chris Kridler's Sky Diary: storm chasing, photography and rainy-day tales

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storm gallery: May 12-13, 2000

To see a larger version of a photo, just click on its thumbnail image below. Then, to get back to this page, hit the "back" button on your browser. Photos noted as taken from video were shot with a digital video camera.




Not a chase -- a wild goose chase! A rather late start put Dave Lewison and I in Illinois in late afternoon on May 12, 2000, after storms had already started to go up. The cap proved to be no problem at all as a line of storms exploded. The problem for us: Despite multiple tornado warnings, it was impossible to see anything anyway due to haze and precipitation. Image from video.




The lightning was the one fabulous thing we took away from this chase.
Here a bolt branches and then completes its strokes in a bold, bright channel. Images from video.





In Mattoon, Illinois, a tornado siren blared as we got heavy horizontal rain from the southeast. Again, we saw nothing of significance in the haze, rain and clutter, so we paused to watch the storm roll through. Here some marble-size hail streaks in front of the camera. Image from video.




The next day, happy to be back in Oklahoma, we stoppped for a fair-weather sunset. The clouds looked a little like mammatus, but there were no storms in sight. Image from print. Here's another, broader view of the gorgeous sky. Image from slide.




Links to 2000 chase images:

  • April 15-16: Storms and lightning spark the skies over the Space Coast in Florida
  • May 9-11: The Plains chase begins, and a beast of a storm produces damaging tornadoes in Iowa
  • May 12-13: Mushy storms in Illinois are heavy with warnings and hot with lightning; plus an eerie sunset
  • May 16: A storm in eastern Wyoming produces picturesque funnels and a quick tornado
  • May 17-24: A smorgasbord of storms, including a beautiful little bomb in Arkansas
  • May 25-27: Panhandle lightning, a shear funnel, and an amazing white funnel in Texas that really wanted to be a tornado
  • May 29-June 2: A gorgeous, weird storm in Nebraska and a dust storm that blew away a greenhouse in Goodland, Kansas
  • June 24-July 29: Spectacular lightning storms and gust fronts sweep through Florida
  • August 5-20: An ocean rainbow and a trip to the Florida Keys for a waterspout and glorious skies
  • August 25: A night of brilliant lightning in three different locations
  • August 26: A chase across Florida, from Vero Beach to Sarasota, through lots of hot bolts
  • September 4-26: Nifty lightning and a chase of marginal Hurricane Gordon


go to the main gallery page | go to storm chasers
go to reports from 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997