AUGUST 5, 2024 MINNESOTA: EF-1 TORNADO NEAR ST. JAMES

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Storm really looking interesting right away as we got on it between Darfur and St. James, Minnesota. Great inflow of hot, humid air, wall cloud forming, clear slot, and great structure.

Tornado developing!

Beautiful EF-1 tornado with maximum winds of 100 mph, width of 50 yards, and on the ground for 2.3 miles. Rotating mesocyclone and tornado. Textbook.

Tornado getting closer and coming right towards us.

Tornado really getting close here. Time to bail and get out of the way!

Gage enjoying the view as the storm continues to rotate but lost a lot of punch after producing the tornado. Going to take time to recycle.

Beautiful storm structure near Truman, Minnesota. Last look at the storm for the day before we decided to call it off and head home.

STORM REPORTS:

STORM PREDICTION CENTER OUTLOOKS:

JUNE 22, 2024 IOWA: TORNADO WARNED STORMS AND FUNNELS

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Storm near Ackley, Iowa ingesting hot and humid air. Decent looking base here with inflow tail on the right side that looks like a funnel but is not. Intense core on the right as well.

Ragged wall cloud at the same position as the last photo. Not much movement or rotation with this feature.

Tornado warned storm and rotating wall cloud!

The kids throwing rocks at the storm, taking photos, and enjoying the scene :-)

Weak unattached lowering here so nothing threatening, but still some decent structure with this storm.

Still has a lowering but starting to look like it's gusting out with a hybrid shelf.

Funnel cloud as the storm to the south was about to merge with ours near Petersburg, Iowa. Did not see it touch down and the funnel was weakly rotating.

Love this shot at the end of the day near New Vienna, Iowa. Clearly have a rotating supercell!

Shelf cloud as we were heading home near Garnavillo, Iowa.

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JUNE 15, 2024 NEBRASKA: KALAMAZOO TORNADO

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Initial storm going up near Brunswick, Nebraska with strong core.

Storm with a lowering on the south side with several needle funnels being produced as we watched from the west near Neligh, Nebraska. Not a normal position to watch a storm but this was a unique day where the action areas were on the far southern portions of the storm and made for easy, safe viewing.

Big time rotating wall cloud right in our faces. Thought for sure this was going to produce a tornado near Petersburg, Nebraska.

Funnel cloud near Closter, Nebraska on the southern edge of a line of storms.

Another funnel cloud as we waited southwest of Emerick, Nebraska. Notice the storm in the distance too which ended up being the storm that produced our tornado.

Gage is loving the scene and funnel right behind him!

Wall cloud rotating hard west of Kalamazoo, Nebraska. About to produce a tornado.

Tornado occurring near Kalamazoo, Nebraska!

Emerging from obstructed view to see the tornado.

One of the last shots of the day with lightning and a rainbow.

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MAY 23, 2024 OKLAHOMA: ONE OF THE TORNADOES OF THE YEAR

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Storm starting to intensify with some decent structure near Dodson, Texas.

Storm looking better! Forming a wall cloud on the right side of the base.

Funnel looking thing here as it was twisting and turning, condensing up into the base. Thought it might actually produce here but it did not.

Beautiful structure on this storm as it moves into far southwest Oklahoma.

This was the supercell before it became tornado warned northwest of Eldorado, Oklahoma. Twisting and turning storm, good inflow, and a lowering embedded in there.

TORNADO! Watching from the intersection of Hwy 6 and Hwy 34 with many other chasers.

EF2 tornado moving to our north across Hwy 34 with the Doppler on Wheels (DOW) taking good measurements from our position.

Barrel tornado continuing to the northeast of our position as we watched and about to bail east to stay with it. This was one of the last views we got before the tornado eventually rain-wrapped and lifted. What a last day of the tour!

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MAY 21, 2024 IOWA: TORNADO OUTBREAK - 4 TORNADOES

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First tornado of the day touching down near Red Oak, Iowa.

Another zoomed in view where you can see the debris cloud.

Second tornado touching down west of Corning, Iowa and heading right for us. Love the wrapped up look of the mesocyclone with a big bowl lowering and tornado.

Tornado still down and was a multiple vortex heading right for us at 60 mph. We had to get out of there fast shortly after I took this photo!

Third tornado occurring to the northeast of Corning, Iowa.

Debris cloud on the tornado as it was rapidly moving right to left in this image and about to cross the road to our east.

This is what we call a “dead man walking”. Multiple vortices like these typically will indicate a strong, possibly violent tornado is about to occur.

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MAY 20, 2024 COLORADO: HIGH PLAINS SUPERCELL

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Long and stout inflow beaver tail into the storm near Akron, Colorado.

Classic eastern Colorado supercell here, although bases are lower than normal for this area. Active condensating scud underneath the base as the storm continues to ingest decent air, and will be moving into a better environment with time.

Storm loses some punch here due to a cell merger and two noticeable cores. Still plenty of good inflow going on though and a wide lowering in the rain on the right storm.

An eastern Colorado beauty.

Pretty cool shot of one of the primary inflow bands directly overhead and feeding this storm directly into the photo.

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MAY 19, 2024 OKLAHOMA: JAW DROPPING STORM STRUCTURE

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Storm already taking on terrific structure shortly after initial development near Roll, Oklahoma.

Rotating storm intensifying and starting to spark like crazy! Ingesting plenty of warm, moist air with continuous condensing scud underneath the base.

Supercell inching closer and right at us as we wait patiently in the same spot.

Interesting lowering in the middle right in the main action area as a large, ragged wall cloud develops with fast inflow air from right to left as noted by the inflow scud cloud on the right side of the base.

Had to move and keep up with the supercell still exhibiting great structure somewhere around Anthon or Custer City, Oklahoma.

Wow. Just awesome structure as this storm continues to churn away and move slowly to the east-southeast.

Wall cloud to our north that we are watching for any tornado development. It was rotating and right in the inflow notch on the northeast side of the storm base. Certainly in the right spot!

Really starting to look interesting here with a funnel like feature on the wall cloud as it tightens up to our north.

This is the storm that just does not quit. What a structure-fest!

After sunset, we decided to stop near Bridgeport, Oklahoma to watch the spectacle and let the tour guests enjoy the moment.

One last shot of this beautiful storm. It did go on to produce a couple nighttime tornadoes after we left the storm. We typically will not chase tornadic storms during the night due to safety.

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MAY 16, 2024 TEXAS: SUPERCELL IN THE OIL FIELDS

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Storm developing near Rankin, Texas. Long, dark base with clear slot already punching through the western side of the storm.

Severe warned storm now with intense rain and hail core as we waited in the same spot. The storm was moving very slowly so we were able to wait until hail started falling to bail.

Roger Hill instructing the Silver Lining Tours guests that it’s time to go!

I think this was near Texon, Texas or in the vicinity as the supercell started to show more outflow-dominant characteristics. There was still some inflow occurring on the right side, however, but we knew this storm would never have a chance of producing a tornado. Pretty structure though!

Storm is still holding on to some mid-level inflow at this point near Big Lake, Texas. Typical chase country here with the sprawling, large shrubby brush.

Interesting stout mid-level inflow bands into this storm as it is still ingesting warm, moist air as noted with the condensing scud under the base.

Silver Lining Tour guests enjoying the view of our storm near Barnhart, Texas.

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MAY 15, 2024 KANSAS AND OKLAHOMA: SEVERE STORM AND DECENT STRUCTURE

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Supercell starting to get its act together near Hunnewell, Kansas near the Oklahoma border.

A short while later the storm taking on more of a classic supercell shape with wall cloud attempting to develop on the northeast side of the core.

Much better look to this supercell near Ponca City, Oklahoma. Really nice structure.

Intense core on this storm now as it starts to create more outflow.

Somewhere southeast of Ponca City, I think near Ralston or vicinity.

Beautiful country out here to chase storms.

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APRIL 26, 2024 NEBRASKA & IOWA: TORNADO OUTBREAK - 5 TORNADOES

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First tornado of the day touching down at 2:49pm on the northeast side of Lincoln, Nebraska. We went north to get ahead of the main action area and were looking south-southeast towards Lincoln here.

Tornado intensifying to a strong stovepipe immediately after forming!

The whole mesocyclone and storm structure with beautiful tornado ongoing.

ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!

This tornado was rated EF-3 with estimated peak winds of 158 mph, path length of 8.6 miles, and max width of 700 yards.

Tornado now starting to move to our east about 10 miles to the north-northeast of Lincoln, Nebraska.

Second tornado near Davey, Nebraska at 3:04pm. This was taken at the same time the first tornado was still roping out and dissipating to our southeast in the previous picture. Notice the big hail in the field! This tornado was rated EF-1.

Cell phone shot as we drove up close to the second tornado as it crossed right in front of us.

Egg size hail.

Third tornado touching down to our southeast near Ceresco, Nebraska at 3:13pm!

This tornado was rated EF-0.

More big hail.

Big time lowering and some good structure on this storm as a new tornado was touching down over the east side of Omaha Eppley Airfield.

Fourth tornado officially down from our vantage point on the Iowa/Nebraska border and heading northeast at 5:04pm.

This tornado was rated EF-3 with peak winds of 152 mph, path length of 16.1 miles, and max width of 516 yards.

We got ahead of the tornado as the circulation continued and became a multiple vortex near I-880 to the northeast of Honey Creek, Iowa.

Getting a little nervous here as the circulation approaches and decided to bail north after this photo was taken.

Rotating wall cloud still holding on strong near Beebeetown, Iowa. I wish we would have left this storm earlier as we would have gotten a better view of the EF-3 Minden tornado to the east, but we still managed to catch it (see photos below).

Coming at the Minden, Iowa tornado from the west on I-80 as it was a wedge crossing the interstate at 5:47pm. This tornado was rated EF-3 with peak winds of 160 mph, a massive path length of 40.9 miles, and a max width of 1900 yards.

Minden tornado morphed into a strong stovepipe soon after the wedge crossed I-80.

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APRIL 16, 2024 IOWA: A TORNADOFEST! 5 TOTAL FROM ONE STORM

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After observing the Rockwell City tornado from a distance, another tornado began to develop shortly thereafter on the same storm near Manson, Iowa. The funnel cloud is visibly condensing as it descends towards the ground in this shot.

Rope tornado making ground contact now near Manson, Iowa! This tornado did not receive a strength rating.

Tornado getting real close now! Roping out and coming right at us as you can also clearly see in the video.

Third tornado about to touch down near Palmer, Iowa. Love the structure here with the big C shape to the storm with the inflow and the clear skies with the RFD cut on the west side of the developing tornado.

Tornado hitting a barn here and throwing out debris. This was rated an EF-0 weak tornado.

Wide view of the whole low-topped storm and funnel cloud still hanging on.

Funnel cloud reaching, stretching, and condensing towards the ground over a wind farm.

Shot of the storm structure and long, snaky funnel cloud.

Fourth tornado of the day northeast of Palmer, Iowa!

Zoomed in shot of the rope tornado dancing away over an open field. This was rated an EF-0.

Fifth and final tornado of the day just south of Rolfe, Iowa. This tornado did eventually move over the east side of Rolfe and produce EF-0 damage.

Scary moment as the fifth tornado was moving over Rolfe and still down on the east side of town as we were driving through. We had debris raining down on us as we drove through town. Thankfully it did not produce substantial damage!

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