Severe Storm Photography from Spring 2002
All photos copyrighted by Dave Chapman
On this web page: April 13 April 17 April 19 April 23 May 5 May 6
April 13th - May 6th:
| April 13th: Supercell north of Plainview, Texas. |
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| A later view of supercell as it moves south towards Plainview. The cone-shaped lowering doesn't last long in this somewhat disorganized storm. Nevertheless, a tornado warning is issued as the storm moves due south towards the city. |
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| April 15th: Dryline on a warm, calm day, just north of Memphis, Texas. The Texas Panhandle can be quite beautiful during the spring, storms or no storms. I also enjoy my visits there because of family roots from the early 1900s. |
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| April 17th: LP supercell north of Woodward, Oklahoma. |
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| Same storm a little later, as it moves northeast and weakens. A half hour later, I am caught by a brief shower of golf ball size hailstones in a new updraft ahead of the main cell. |
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| View of the main updraft as it heads into Kansas. After dark, a new storm drops a powerful tornado southeast of Alva. From outside my motel, I watch nearly continuous lightning as the storm tracks northeast, about 20 miles south of me. |
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| April 19th: Dying supercell west of Big Spring, Texas. |
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| April 23rd: Convection at dusk south of Alva, Oklahoma. On a moderate potential day, nothing of interest develops in my target area, but during a phone call home from the local Wal-Mart, I enjoy this scene. The storm becomes marginally severe after dark. |
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| April 25th: No storms as a warm front moves over Weatherford, Oklahoma. |
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| April 27th: ...And no storms as a weak cold front approaches Cheney Lake, Kansas. |
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| May 5th: Developing wall cloud in supercell northeast of Dodge City, Kansas. About the time the storm begins to organize, wind fields weaken. |
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| Bell-shaped storm a few minutes later. |
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| A good view of the updraft. This was a beautiful dryline storm, but not as severe as the tornado-producing storms in north central Kansas and the Texas Panhandle that day (including Happy, Texas). Nevertheless, this is one of my all-time favorite storm photos, which reminds me that the rewards of storm chasing go far beyond tornado sightings. |
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| May 6th: Driving north from Wichita, Kansas, in the middle of the afternoon, towards the triple point. Of course, earlier in the day I had washed my car right under the triple point, which I didn't realize was forming until I had driven an hour south to Wichita and studied the data at a local library. |
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| Twenty minutes later. Strong convection holds a great deal of promise, but dynamics are not that good. |
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| Same thunderstorm, located east of McPherson, Kansas, which is briefly severe before weakening. This is the last storm before returning home for a couple of weeks. The next day takes me into far western Oklahoma for a major dryline bust, while the triple point in southern Kansas produces several tornadoes. I've never said storm chasing is easy! |
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2002 Storm Pages:
Dave Chapman's Storm Chasing and Outdoor Photo Galleries