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Tornado west of Aurora, Nebraska

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Author Topic: Tornado west of Aurora, Nebraska  (Read 579 times)
Tyler
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« on: June 19, 2009, 05:43:10 pm »

 Grin Grin Grin Grin WOW. wow. June 17, 2009 was the most insane day ever. To sum it up I got about 30 of the best storm structure images/tornado images of my life in one day. ( which are going to take me forever to go through) I still can't believe what I saw.

Well a storm fired really early (10am) near the KS border and we decided to go after it, since our target was 40 miles from where the storm was. We approach from the NW, so the base is hidden behind rain, but when it became visible I noticed a huge meso. It was breathtaking structure.



Sat in this spot for maybe 10 minutes watching a rotating wall cloud under the meso, but fearing big hail (3.5" reported at the time) we retreated east. Got to a spot to turn around and take more stills. Now it was just nuts, this whole thing was rotation, the entire updraft base (keep in mind these images are at 10mm, so the storm is way closer than it appears) was rotating.



soon this thing got really close and we screamed south to once again avoid hail, but we eventually lost this storm. Later on we waited for the real show to start out west, after getting on a crap storm near columbus, the storm my friends were on was producing a tornado, but that was 90 miles away, I decided if nothing else, I'll get some good lightning ops. but  no, 1o minutes after I get there the thing drops a tornado and I'm in perfect position for structure/tornado images (about 4 miles away at this point i Believe.



It topped the storm from Eariler!!! this little cone took a while to condensate to the ground, but it just sat there moving ESE at 22mph and it was on the ground for 18 minutes! just sat on the side of the highway and watched. It was pretty crazy though and scary with the sirens through Aurora, NE (the tornado almost hit the town).



THen it had a condensation funnel to the ground! and it grew to be a monster, the national weather service said it was 1/4 mile wide at one point.



Then it lifted and the lightning lit twilight meso ops came  Grin



Just a day when things went totally nuts. I'm not sure when I'll have the report done, cause I'm still working on images, but by sunday I'm thinking it will be all done (hopefully).


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martinastro
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« Reply #1 on: June 19, 2009, 08:20:51 pm »

OMG, Tyler, those are absolutely incredible storm images!!!, thats the structures dreams are made of!. Amazing meso, structure, shelf, colours, and foreground. The wide shot of the SC and funnel is amazing, the close up tornado has left me suck for words....and, I bet you are darn proud of that twilight lightning capture.  Smiley

Congratulations Tyler on hitting the jackpot with those images, I knew you would catch at least one TN this season. Those are very special images. I can only imagine the exictement you felt at that time. Looking forward to the report.

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rjgjr
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« Reply #2 on: June 19, 2009, 09:28:30 pm »

Congratulations Tyler. I think this bumps you up quite a few notches on the latter as far as storm chasers go. Those images are fantastic!. The one of the tornado is about the same shot that was plastered all over the Weather Channel and the national news stations. For some reason, that shelf cloud with the lightning bolt really catches my attention. Good job!!! Looking forward to your report on your website.
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jjb
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« Reply #3 on: June 20, 2009, 09:08:24 am »

Nice set of images Tyler well done.
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John9929
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« Reply #4 on: June 20, 2009, 05:21:07 pm »

Tyler, I'm only catching up with your images now! What a set of really amazing images you have here, I would really love to see something like that in reality, it must be mind-blowing. The size of that funnel/tornado is incredible. I can only imagine what hail 3.5" would look like and why you try to avoid them, just think what that would do to a windscreen! Amazing images, well done!
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« Reply #5 on: June 20, 2009, 06:51:54 pm »

Unbelievable images- If I don't see  the likes of this next year I'll ask for a refund lol..
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Tyler
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« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2009, 03:30:36 am »

Thanks everyone!! finally got on an incredible pair of supercells! I've got to give credit to God for putting us into position each time. I've got the report up now, first storm is here... http://www.tonightssky.org/accounts/061709a.html

and Tornado report is here... http://www.tonightssky.org/accounts/061709b.html
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martinastro
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« Reply #7 on: June 24, 2009, 06:36:04 pm »

Tyler, I just wanted to congratulate you again on such incredible images. I have read through both reports (many times) and have been thrilled (and jealous) of what you caught. I would love to see something like that. Not only are the subjects phenomenal, (you have great structures AND a tornado) but also the photography itself is top stuff. Look forward to your future chases.  Smiley
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« Reply #8 on: June 26, 2009, 11:00:57 pm »

Oh My God - sorry to sound like a teenager.
Those are fabulous images - I don't know what to say other than can I come to Nebraska please?
Can't wait to see the final processed images, 'cause if they are just first show then WOW!
I love the detail you've caught in the cloud structure - super exposures - as it's not always easy to get the metering right when shooting clouds.
That funnel shot is incredible, and to cap it all off you get a lightning shot.
You lucky B@$t@rd - well done Grin
« Last Edit: June 26, 2009, 11:03:59 pm by JohnMurphy » Report Spam   Logged

Clear Skies,
John Murphy
Check out my Photos


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