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John's US storm photos

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paulster78
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« Reply #15 on: June 01, 2010, 07:17:35 pm »

Some excellent lightning shots from the 14th there John.  Great shot of deep convection looming over the hilltops as well and the image of the rusty car is super Smiley
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JohnC
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« Reply #16 on: June 01, 2010, 07:54:11 pm »

Just taking  a break Lol. Glad someone liked the rusty cars. They're all over the Midwest, Paul. Maybe it costs too much to get them to a scrap place. It's really noticeable out that way,rusty cars,trucks, derelict buildings.I think the good times in the Midwest were the 50's and 60's when it was the bread basket of the US until draughts hit.
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JohnC
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« Reply #17 on: June 01, 2010, 10:20:07 pm »

This is the 17th. and we had several storms going and in photo  4 you can see that two of them were about to collide but they didn't quite make it.This is at Artesia TX


















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JohnC
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« Reply #18 on: June 01, 2010, 10:31:30 pm »

This was an incredible sight -it was rotating but never  got it's act together for a tornado.It was at Dumas TX


























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markt
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« Reply #19 on: June 02, 2010, 09:12:46 am »

Wowzers!  Shocked

Keep em' coming John, these are fanstastic pictures to see!  Cool
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JohnC
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« Reply #20 on: June 02, 2010, 11:02:35 am »

Cheers Mark..I was getting a bit concerned in case they were getting boring. I have the 19th.-a good day and 20th.  not so good, left  so I may as well finish the job. Maybe next time I'll just post the best dozen and then add a link but if everyone prefers them this way then no probs.
 I better do a few home jobs first..(it's 11.00am)..be back later.
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martinastro
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« Reply #21 on: June 02, 2010, 04:25:28 pm »

John - these are most definitely not boring!, please keep posting your images on here, I much prefer seeing an image than having to click on a link anyway.

The latest update is absolutely stunning!!, these are the kind of storm structures which I adore - nasty, low to the ground, black and green - and rotating!. The rear of the updraught/anvil regions on those cells at the top are incredible. - love it. Looking forward to the next treat  Smiley
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rjgjr
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« Reply #22 on: June 03, 2010, 07:42:14 am »

Great images in the latest batch John, keep them coming. Rusty cars and trucks are worth thier weight in gold now days, to the right buyer. In the Southwest, where the climate is very dry, those vehicles will last forever in someones front yard. Even the old buildings are bought up, dismantled and relocated for other purposes, very lucrative buisiness.
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Paul
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« Reply #23 on: June 03, 2010, 09:54:49 am »

John, these are fabulous shots - I especially like the lightning shots, but they're all a superb record of what must have been a terrific holiday. Oh yes, the "Darth Vader" truck is something else - this man is deadly serious Smiley

Excellent, and thanks for sharing these with us.

Paul.
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Conor McDonald
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« Reply #24 on: June 03, 2010, 03:55:49 pm »

Im looking but I keep forgetting to reply! John those shots are awesome! I love the old house and the convection with lots of foreground in them! Keep posting these man there excellent to see your accounts!
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JohnC
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« Reply #25 on: June 03, 2010, 11:19:14 pm »

Ahh..many thanks to all,much appreciated- that's cheered me up .I've been doing a lot of gardening and patio cleaning - too much really and now I have a stinker of a cold.I'll post the last two days now.The 19th. was a very busy day. My real failing is that I doi't know enough about the structures to say what they are so I'll have to leave that to the experienced on here and there's a set of 4   about which Id'  like to know what was happening. I'll ask as I  post  them.

Bear with me ,Martin,I'll mail you the Cg photos with the settings  you asked me about,they'll have them on the photo -I get this in the LR  Develop mode,I'll screen grab them,when they go back into Library you don't see them. There's Shutter speed, ISO, focal length f-number. If anyone would like to know settings of any particular one please shout up and I'll post it but I think Martin would like to know them all Lol.

 We were in west Oklahoma on the 19th. and the CAPE was 3500 south of Witchita Falls. .There was a storm east of OKC with a composite scale number of 12-I was told that anything over 10 is very good..So w passed Woodward OK at 1250,this is the sort of area we were in.This first one isn't anything special really but it was quite impressive and was taken at Clinton OK.Next is ther radar showing the gathering storms -it was taken at 4.25pm.  The rest of the photos were taken at Guthrie OK. at around 5.52pm. and a TV  news/weather  helicopter was above us as they were expecting  a tornado.The other guests knowing my appetite for photos (as I meneioned I took 837)  shouted to me to photograph the helicopter so I obliged them Lol.























I'll post the next 4 as a 'set' These are the ones I was asking about. I assume this is the makings(the funnel cloud I assume) of a tornado - our guides were driving away fast as one said to the others ,van to van by CB radio-get moving the cone's right above us. I went to the side window of the van as it was being driven away ,crouched down and tried to get a good a set as I could through the smoked glass. I'd have loved to have stopped ,got out and photographed it with the tripod but so often we weren't in a position for the niceties of setting up a tripod and framing correctly etc. it was a case of grab a shot or miss it. I'm sure we'd just passed through the town of Guthrie when we saw this lowering.

« Last Edit: June 03, 2010, 11:21:12 pm by JohnC » Report Spam   Logged
JohnC
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« Reply #26 on: June 03, 2010, 11:32:37 pm »

So, here we go with what appears to me to be the makings of a tornado-it didn't materialise though so I suppose it's a funnel cloud - am I correct ? I was able to photograph it 4 times as we were behind other chasers trying to get away from Guthrie. I photographed the other chasers ahead and behind us. Look at  the radar photos  to see how the storms developed as the afternoon early evening wore on.

















I'm not sure what's going on here but we didn't have long before the hail came.




This last one for the 19th. was taken from the rear balcony of the hotel we stayed at that night.




« Last Edit: June 04, 2010, 12:25:15 am by JohnC » Report Spam   Logged
JohnC
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« Reply #27 on: June 04, 2010, 12:22:51 am »

This is the last day-20th. We drove south from OK to south of Dallas Fort Worth and the CAPE was 3500.Here's a radar from 5.25pm. As you see in photo 2 I was lucky enough to get one of the CG's.








This is a  mexican cafe at Malone TX and I left my meal to photograph this wonderful end to the day.











That's it folks. A great trip and I have to say it's been great to share so many photos with you , I was a bit worried as you saw about posting so many-I think it's 103 Lol..but those last comments dispelled any reservations I had about  it becoming boring for you-.you've obviously really enjoyed them.

What you've seen here is really a  photo journal of the Tour day by day,there's nothing I saw  that you haven't seen here. except the group photos  of course but they're people you don't know anyway. but the group is another experience  as you meet people from all over the world.We had one Canadian lady- wow..she lives in Thunder Bay ,Ontario and her husband is a doctor , originally from Glasgow but many years in Canada and she runs art classes and she said that when 'her girls' as she called them, finished the classes she would ring the bell on the porch to let the black bears know the girls were leaving in their cars so as not to frighten them (the bears). Also, she has to clean the patio door glass a few times a week as the bears press their noses on it to look into the dining room. That must be fantastic. I belong to WSPA and part of it,called 'Libearty' rescues bears from all over the world so I was particularly interested to hear her story. To see bears in the wild (maybe at Dennali Nat. Park-Alaska ) is on my 'to do 'list but she's offered anyone on the Tour a stay at her home so we might take her up on that for a day or two.I think they're wonderful creatures. There was a young man from Switzerland a couple from Australia, a Vet from Norfolk way, a young lady from Kent and  an 23  year old   from New Jersey who was about to take his Bar exams to become a qualified lawyer,so a great mix.- It's May 16th. next year so we may get a trip into the High Plains.I've made notes on how to improve the photography-the most important being to get the Manfrotto 458B fast collapsing tripod-not lock clips to either unclip or as with the Gitzo twist  to unlock - I was getting in the van as the  Tour guides shouted to hurry,  with a  camera still on the tripod and the  first legs still extended.sometimes both legs(that's 5' 10 !and all this was to the amusement of the group in our van ( we had two personnel carrier type vans.) I need to make more notes about where we were at what time and also note what photos were taken but I erred  a few times because sometimes we rushed so much and drove a short distance where we could get back out again (forever getting out of the reach of hail and Cg's) that I didn't have time to  take the necessary (for me ) notes. Everyone else just  got out,enjoyed the scene,took a few snaps and were ready for the next stop whereas I was dashing barely legible notes off in my notebook- it was more like an exercise  than a Tour  for me. Lol....having said that quite a few would really like me to send them the photos Lol..which I certainly will. There was Dave too  from London and he and Carol (from Canada) go every year so I'll meet up with those two again next year. The guides were Brian Morganti (stormeffects.com) who's photos I've previously posted on here ,weather and astro.... Bill Reid (stormbruiser .com) he's from california and Rob Petit- all well known and well respected in the US chase circles.The Tour company was Tempest Tours (Tempesttours.com)

If anyone would like a full sized photo just let me know, I don't bother trying  sell them,you're welcome to have one.







« Last Edit: June 04, 2010, 12:33:06 am by JohnC » Report Spam   Logged
paulster78
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« Reply #28 on: June 04, 2010, 12:53:36 am »

John what can i say, totally amazing report and images- I just went over them all again there.  I have enjoyed this thread immensely and it has strengthened my desire to follow in your footsteps one day. 
From the shots it looks like a funnel dropping down all right John - it looks a typical rotating updraft at the rear of the storm, with the downdraft and rain/hail core visible to the right in the last image. Its a pity it didnt produce the goods for you.   Great job again Smiley Smiley
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« Reply #29 on: June 04, 2010, 03:39:02 pm »

These are awesome John!!, love that last image with the updraught base under the convective line with colourful anvil overhead. That shelf cloud is nasty looking!!, thanks for the radar grabs to accompany these.
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