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storm gallery: May 8, 2008
May 8, 2008: We knew storms would fire early in Western Kansas today - if they fired - but we didn't know how early. The first tornado reports on one little cell were about 2:30 p.m. Central time, beautiful landspouts we missed. But we caught up to the storm when it really started cranking. I chased with Dave Lewison, Scott McPartland, Mark Robinson and his cameraman Dave, along with a Pioneer Productions crew, though we were separated early in the chase. I also got a much-needed radar update from Bill Hark when I was trying to avoid the hail core at Jetmore.
Click on the thumbnails to see a larger image, or view these photos as a gallery. From the gallery pages, click the "up" arrow to return to this index.
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On May 8, 2008, this storm northwest of Garden City, Kansas, had already produced multiple landspouts before we got on it. It had vigorous convection. |
The cell got a radar-based tornado warning on it, and the base assumed an interesting near-bowl shape. |
The inflow became more pronounced as the storm approached my position on Route 23. |
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The cell showed signs of rotation and insanely strong inflow. |
The storm was beautiful as it moved southeast. |
A look at the southern end of the storm. |
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The mesocyclone showed rapid rotation and I experienced intense inflow winds. I saw a rear-flank downdraft and as the hail wrapped around, I dropped a bit south to avoid it and got this view. |
Here's another view as the dangerous rotating storm sweeps over this farm. |
I let the business end of the storm slide east of me so I wouldn't have to tangle with the hail core. Power poles were snapped near Jetmore, probably in the inflow. |
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This is a view of the storm looking northeast. |
Check out the green color, suggestive of lots of hail. A radar update from Bill Hark helped me avoid it. |
The storm had a lot of suggestive lowerings, many of which weren't in the right place to produce a tornado. |
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Another view as the storm evolved and another one came in from the northwest. |
Looking west at approaching storms. |
The gnarly outflow-dominant storm approaches from the west. |
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The expanding shelf cloud was screaming southeast. |
The lowering sun gave the shelf cloud an orange underglow. |
The rapidly moving shelf cloud/gust front was gorgeous but hard to stay in front of. |
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I let the storm overtake me in Bucklin, Kansas. This is a video grab. |
Mammatus were seen in the storm's wake. |
Over Dodge City, the moon peeked out from behind lingering clouds. |
2008 reports and photos
go to the main gallery page | go to storm chasers go to reports from 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997
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