by Benjamin Tillotson
Wednesday, April 14, 2010, 11:31am
This chase was sort of a last minute decision. More than anything I just wanted some good landscape storm shots. Things turned out very good when a photogenic squall line/shelf cloud formed along the cold front.
I left around noon targeting Ogallala. Got there around 3:30pm and watched stuff developing in NE CO. A couple cells formed ahead of the cold front. These cells looked to be the only chance for a tornado so I tried to chase one just west of Ogallala but storm motion was at least 50kts and with bad road options this was basically impossible. Plus the alltel card was not working on my computer so I had to go back into town to get updates. :(
This was the storm west of Ogallala. It went tornado warned as it passed further to the north. The only problem was I didn't learn about the warning until getting internet access back in town. This storm was moving fast enough I doubt I would have been able to keep up with it anyway.
After getting updates I decided to go north to Arthur. This is when I get my first view of the squall line. Contrast under this thing was incredible.
Everything about this scene was really cool.
A shot out the windshield as I was trying to get to arthur before the precip hit. That didn't quite happen so I drove at least half an hour in blinding rain and hail before getting out of it east of Arthur.
Back out of the precip east of Arthur.
The sandhills added a lot to the scene.
I like road shots like this.
Now the only thing I had to do was to keep on going east ahead of the line. I knew to start heading east when I started feeling the cold outflow. The line between hot and cold was crazy. One second your hot the next your freezing. The wind was strong as well. At one spot I think it was sustained at least 50mph with higher gusts. I had a tough time holding the tripod down to get some good shots.
It was getting dark enough for some lightning shots. Lightning was still distant though.
The day ended with a cool lightning display.
400 ISO sort of blew out these shots...
This was a really fun chase for me. I really like the sandhills and with a photogenic storm like that it really made up for that last chase.
