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Bad weather in the Badlands

June 22, 2022 by Tony

A monstrous thunderstorm with a beautiful shelf cloud passes near Badlands National Park in South Dakota. (© Tony's Takes)
A monstrous thunderstorm with a beautiful shelf cloud passes near Badlands National Park in South Dakota. (© Tony’s Takes)

I really don’t storm chase anymore due to time constraints and the fact that the hobby has gotten to be a bit too crazy out there with way too many chasers on the road. Sometimes I do get lucky and have a storm come to me and I certainly don’t turn down those opportunities.

Such was the case just outside Badlands National Park last week. One evening, a monstrous storm cell was passing just to the north of us. It was absolutely impressive looking and as it was dumping 2-inch diameter hail, I was thankful it missed us.

The next night, we got a rude awakening right after midnight. The wind really began gusting and so I crawled out of bed and saw on radar a little storm cell was about ready to pummel us. We quickly prepped the RV and gear to be hit and sure enough, it did. The hail wasn’t too big although it did do some, relatively minor, damage. After it passed, Mother Nature put on a nice light show in the sky for us.

Bad weather in the Badlands
A monstrous thunderstorm with a beautiful shelf cloud passes near Badlands National Park in South Dakota. (© Tony’s Takes)
Lightning pops in the skies near Badlands National Park, South Dakota. (© Tony's Takes)
Lightning pops in the skies near Badlands National Park, South Dakota. (© Tony’s Takes)
Lightning pops in the skies near Badlands National Park, South Dakota. (© Tony's Takes)
Lightning pops in the skies near Badlands National Park, South Dakota. (© Tony’s Takes)

Lightning crawls across the post-sunset sky

October 3, 2019 by Tony Leave a Comment

Lightning crawls across the post-sunset sky
Lightning crawls across the bottom of a thunderstorm’s clouds near Denver, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

Going back to the end of August for this pic. I and some photo friends had spent the evening photographing the sunflowers east of Denver, Colorado with a few thunderstorms rolling through.

Even after the sun had dropped below the horizon, some of us hung around, enjoying the light and sound show Mother Nature was putting on in the sky above. I’d intermittently snap a few pics, hoping to catch a bolt or two and as luck would have it, I managed to grab this capture of a series of bolts – I love the ‘curley Q’ in the big one.

I used a long, 30 second exposure to maximize my chances of getting something. That indeed worked although with the wind the flowers ended up being blurred. Nevertheless, I think it is kind of a cool capture.

Shocking sunflowers

August 22, 2019 by Tony Leave a Comment

Shocking sunflowers
Lightning pops over a field of sunflowers east of Denver, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

A little bit of lightning fun on the plains of Colorado.

I was a bit late getting to this spot yesterday evening and missed much of the show. Thankfully, I did get there in time to get a few cool captures.

The thunderstorms were quite strong and very electrified sending many bolts to the ground. Throw in the orange glow of the setting sun and the flowers and it was pretty neat.

I don’t have a lightning trigger so just have to keep snapping pics repeatedly hoping lightning pops at the right time.

Lightning pops over a field of sunflowers east of Denver, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)
Lightning pops over a field of sunflowers east of Denver, Colorado. (© Tony’s Takes)

An electrified desert

December 29, 2015 by Tony Leave a Comment

New Mexico is not a state that normally comes to mind when you think of spring severe weather. However, thunderstorms rolling across the high desert of the eastern part of the state can be quite impressive. With warm, moist air from the south clashing with cold air from the north, storms in the area are capable of generating large amounts of hail and become very electrified.

Such was the case with this storm in June 2015 near Tucumcari. With a surprisingly green desert below and a supercell thunderstorm above, the scene was dramatic. The heavy rain and hail at the storm’s core are seen in the distance while a bolt of lightning pops from the storm’s leading edge. As my son and I watched this storm, we could not help but be awed at the power and the beauty.

Lightning pops from a supercell thunderstorm in New Mexico. (© Tony’s Takes)
Lightning pops from a supercell thunderstorm in New Mexico. (© Tony’s Takes)

Lightning illuminates a nocturnal beast

June 16, 2015 by Tony Leave a Comment

Severe thunderstorms can be intimidating enough during broad daylight. Let the sun set and the 75mph winds, tennis ball size hail, and tornado warnings can be downright scary for those in the storm’s path.

Normally you wouldn’t see much of the storm – or perhaps a brief glimpse. However in this case, the lightning was letting loose with multiple flashes per second. Enough in fact that in a 3 second exposure, virtually the entire structure of this massive supercell thunderstorm is seen.

Watching it was like staring at a strobe light and some of my fellow storm chasers even remarked that it made them feel disoriented. Notice how the storm absolutely dwarfs the grain elevator below. Taken near Springfield, Colorado on June 11, 2015.

A supercell thunderstorm in Colorado is illuminate at night by numerous lightning strikes.  (© Tony’s Takes)
A supercell thunderstorm in Colorado is illuminate at night by numerous lightning strikes. (© Tony’s Takes)

High desert lightning

June 9, 2015 by Tony Leave a Comment

Out storm chasing this week and found myself in the Land of Enchantment. This storm cell dropped 4+ inches of hail near Springer, New Mexico a couple of hours before this picture was taken yesterday evening. This was taken as the storm passed near Tucumcari and Interstate 40. It was quite electrified as it approached allowing me to grab some nice images of the bolts it was throwing down.

Lightning erupts from a supercell thunderstorm in New Mexico. (© Tony’s Takes)
Lightning erupts from a supercell thunderstorm in New Mexico. (© Tony’s Takes)

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  • Red tailed hawk shows off its catch, opts to dine in private
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