Bad weather in the Badlands

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)
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