Canon T3 and Collage 2013

Learning how to take photographs with my new Canon T3 has been my project for the last couple months as 2012 winds down. Most of the photos are either sunrises or sunsets, but some have their own story in the photos of randomness. I look forward using this camera for this spring in Colorado severe weather activity. It's been a blessing to shoot what I have been able to capture cause most of the time I'm either sick or tired. Cystic Fibrosis has been challenging somewhat this last year. I will keep on trekking and keep the camera on the skies.

Here are some photos over the last few months that have really stood out.

Next I will be working on the new Collage of 2013, so give me a week or 2 to get that up. Till than stay tuned and keep chasing.

Loner Lazy Lumph

Entry ~ May 3rd, 2012

I watched radar today, with no hopes of any gas being burnt. Watching the skies dwindle with an exiting mini trough isn't fun if you hope for some convergence or boundary to help some of these wayward clouds group together. The mountains were creating a nice upslope condition along with a nice easterly wind with weak dewpoints best at near 40's pushing it. This would be enough to collaborate a nice group of unorganized embedded low level clouds to blow up just over Kersey, Colorado. Everything was slow moving and drifting. Once the sun went down, things began to organize and converge. I than found myself not just taking pics from where I was currently staying, but with my foot on the gas pedal driving just outside of Greeley to get a better view. It was a beautiful cell billowing along a stream of moisture all the way up near Sterling, Colorado. I only went out 3 miles east just to enjoy timelapsing the sun setting and bouncing beautiful colors to the eyes.

Looking at the mechanics of the storm, nothing more than a little kick there in moisture, a little umph in upsloping convergence, and a little lumph to recognize the little things of what a storm needs.

Chase 4 Complete.

Timelapse:

Storm Reports
None

April 30th 2012 TX Panhandle 287 Boundary Cells

        Entry ~ April 30th, 2012

1. (06Z-10Z) Boundary from late night active SVR WX.
2. (17Z-21Z) Dryline initiate west of Amarillo.
3. (22Z-01Z) a.Not enough helicity to support upper level
                     b.HP dominant
                     c.Timing and location set things out of order
4. Chase 3 was fun and awesome in everyway.

In Chase 3 Shep and I took two people with us. One problem I had my Saturn. My Saturn is smaller than most electric cars lol. For all of us to go we took two vehicles. Brandon Rycroft is a friend and experienced chaser chasing with people trained at the NWS in Norman and local media. His skills of navigation were really great since he lives in wild lands of OK/TX. So Shep rode with Rycroft, and Jamie, another great friend from Elk City hopped in my vehicle. I was excited to take people cause I love the environment of having other people to enjoy weather with in the plains.

Jamie had let me take her husband a couple times, so she really wanted to have an opportunity to go see a tornado from a safe distance with us :) It may not have been class A chasing. It sure was fun and we were able to see explosive updrafts, little structure, lots of rain and hail. Now we didn't drive through the core of fear of losing windshields thankfully. So this writeup wouldve been different if I had punched the core as well lol, instead there were reports of baseballs and softballs destroying other friends' windshields, lol. Glad all are ok though. We were able to punch the backside of the RFD and got into golfballs. That was fun to run out in the hail outflow. Jamie even got to experience a little hail punching outside as well running from the gas station to the my car. Pic Fail.
Will have to report another time.

At the end of the chase a line of cells merged moving through SW Oklahoma and TX Redriver area/ Hwy 287. So we followed behind these cells while watching some beautiful anvil crawlers and spectacular cloud-to-cloud lightning.

Reports:

Golfball Hail

Hwy 83 5 States, 3 Storms

Entry: April 29th 2012 Chase 2

Well the plan really changed as the dryline setting up in NM fell short into the Midland/Odessa TX area giving us a whole new plan. Today was going to be a casual let's chase anything on the way down to Elk City, OK, to set us up for the following day. A cu field seemed to be blanketing Northeastern CO into Southwestern NE,and as we caught up the clouds began to merge into an area of great moisture convergence. Yuma to Wray Colorado we saw the only cell on radar at the moment trying to punch the cirrus cap and slowly it worked through the pelius layers. We followed this cell that recycled its energy leaving a high base with a curtain of rain.

At this time there was a line of convective storms beginning to bow out near Garden City, KS than finally went severe. Meanwhile we left the cell all by it's lonesome and headed south from Nebraska to Northwestern KS where we saw radar showing a better cell with dbz showing hail markers. This was being spawned from an outflow boundary for the stuff further southern KS. Oakley, KS was a very promising cell for some hail, but we didn't make there in time to see if there was any hail falling. I'm sure a pea or two fell. 

Back to the plan where we originally were going to go, Clovis, NM, there was the tornado warned supercell of the day moving west/east near Lubbock, TX. On Satellite it was as large as a hurricane and all we could do to enjoy it was hope the other cells spawning in TX panhandle would make it's way towards us. The moon was out and lightning strobed in all directions from surrounding storms. We decided to stop south of Canadian, TX to timelapse lightning and a solid looking supercell near Pampa. It had a beautiful hook than weakened as it got to us while sitting on Hwy 83 north of Wheeler, TX. An impressive roll cloud rolled through the skies and we were done. We arrived in Elk City, OK.

Video of Pampa Supercell Rolling!

Storm Reports:

none

Northeastern Colorado LP Supercell April 26th 2012

 

 

 

 

 

A day that looked to have dismal hope turned out to be a winner in the chase beginning. Chase 1 was an epic beginning as Northeastern Colorado gave us conditions favorable for a possible organized supercell. Shep and I left approximately around 11:30am and drove to Wiggins, Colorado. My forecast was to aim for Eads, Colorado, but nowcasting I liked the Northeastern Colorado parameters. Even when I was tempted to see what would happen as the beginning of cyclogenesis.  This although would only happen later in the evening in southcentral CO, so I made the decision to hang around the backyard for a possible chance of convection of the front range to hold itself together in the afternoon hours. Shep and I sat around the Ft Morgan/Wiggins area for most the afternoon till 4-5PM when the isolated cell finally made its way into the slight risk line. When I say line, I mean the actual drawn line on the SPC. First it was a long afternoon of waiting and slow progression of weakening and surviving, our stomachs craved substanance (CONEYS FROM SONIC).  We watched the cell begin to beef up as we crammed our food down and headed back up to the now severe warned cell. We were able to find energy again. Both with our hunger for food and a storm, it was now a chase worth mentioning as the severe warned cell started to level out a nice high base. We were able to leisure as this storm all day wasn’t moving fast at all. We could at points of the chase stop to enjoy the mesocyclonic layering structure. Meanwhile it was well relaxed chase and the photos can do all the talking.

Shep was able to do some incredible timelapse and stills of lightning photography while I just watched in amazement. Sitting just west of Sterling we were able to enjoy some nice CG’s out of another impressive meso based storm.

On the way home, an explosive amount of convection began to erupt off the foothills around 9PM. The result of the low pressure enhancing out from the south and a substantial amount of moisture left from earlier convection allowed for a crazy lightning show all around the Front Range. We were driving west towards Greeley on Hwy 14 when Shep and I noticed all the strobe lightning going on just to our south moving quickly due north. We finally got to Hwy 392 which goes southwest towards Greeley and stopped just northeast of Greeley to time-lapse the lightning show moving towards us. The convection was impressive with a defined mesocyclone and low lingering wall cloud. From further investigation of footage, the non-severe cell moving quite rapidly northwards may have produced a funnel, but with night time exposure and flashes of lightning illumination, it is very hard to be convicted of it rotating. With that in mind it is labeled as rotating edge scud for developing wall. The radar and velocity captures both the mesocyclonic feature and outflow very easily.

 

 

Make sure to check out the video, FREAKIN SWEET TIMELAPSES!!!

ase 1

Reports: None

 AMAZING VIDEOS FROM CHASE 1:

Day Timelapse Night Timelapse