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

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storm gallery: May 25-31, 1999

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.




With three Illinois chasers I'd just met (Eric Gaumer, Mark Glisan and Rich Weaver), along with Tom Warner, whom we ran into along the way, I chased in a forest of supercells in eastern New Mexico and west Texas on May 25. This New Mexico storm west of Clovis looked good, but the tornadic storm to its south was probably robbing it of moisture, preventing it from gaining strength. Photo from video.




East of Lubbock, Texas, later on May 25, after we'd all gone our separate ways, the sunset backlights a building storm. The sunset May 25 also set aglow some struggling cumulus clouds. The white dot above is the moon.




On May 26, I met up with the Illinois chasers again, and we ran into a chaser convergence at Big Spring, Texas. On hand was the Silver Lining Tours group, as well as Dr. Howie Bluestein and his mobile radar (pictured). Photo from video. After getting data at Midland, Texas, and running into more chasers, we headed west to keep an eye on a cell near Carlsbad, New Mexico. Few road choices and the momentary allure of another cell meant we weren't close to it when a "tornado on the ground" warning was issued. We came back to it from the east, near Wink, Texas. Under a nice wall cloud, this formed. Was it a tornado? I can't be 100 percent sure, but after viewing the video, I must say it looked that way.




The May 26 storm evolved into a mean gust front that we narrowly escaped. Photo from video. In Crane, Texas, we waited out the May 26 storm and saw some amazing lightning. Photo from video.




On a solo chase May 30, I saw some beautiful little cells go up in central Kansas. Photo from video. The cells continued to build. This one, the same as shown to the left, appeared to split at the base and eventually had a radar-indicated tornado warning on it.




I headed north briefly on May 30 to check out a wall cloud on a nearby storm (pictured), until I heard the tornado warning on the one I was originally pursuing. Photo from video. I went back to the other storm, saw a nice base illuminated by lightning, but did not see the spotter-reported tornado -- just a "scudnado" of rogue clouds. I think it was a false alarm. Photo from video.




On a frustrating chase in western Oklahoma on May 31, I ended up two storms away from a tornado warning south of me, but still saw some HOT lightning. Photo from video. In northwestern Oklahoma on May 31, I eventually caught up with the storm that produced a big tornado in Meade, Kansas. Of course, it was not producing tornadoes at this time, though it had some interesting lowerings and nice lightning after dark. Photo from video.






Go to more chase accounts and photos:

May 9-16: Picturesque storms and three tornadoes in one day in Kansas

May 20-24: A tornado in Texas, funnels, a gorgeous gust front, and blistering lightning

May 25-31: Supercells, a tornado (or was it a tricky lowering?), a spectacular twilight, and some beautiful cells in Kansas

June 1-5: A double rainbow in Oklahoma, a funnel, a bust, and two wild Nebraska tornadoes

July 22-August 14: A few lightning storms in the middle of a drought in Maryland

August 21-25: Dust devils and daytime convection during the Arizona monsoon

November: Storms, a rainbow and fabulous sunsets on Florida's Space Coast





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go to reports from 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997