Severe Storm Photography:
1998 Storm Chase Trip

All photos copyrighted by Dave Chapman

Summary: Chase vacation was limited to 10 days in mid-May under smoky skies (due to huge fire in Mexico) and a brief trip in early June. Highlights were dryline storms on May 11th in northwest Kansas and two supercells in east central Oklahoma on June 8th.

May 11 -- Northwest Kansas: Strong convection along approaching dryline. After a complete bust during a brief chase vacation in 1997, this is my first real storm of the 1990s. This also represents my return to storm chasing after a 14 year layoff, although my early chase experiences in 1982-83, when I lived in Ft. Worth, were very limited.

View towards north as squall line forms.

Closer view

View from behind squall line.

June 8th -- First supercell, east central Oklahoma: Early afternoon convection.

About half an hour later.

Same storm in mid-afternoon.

By 3:30 pm, the storm is massive and drops 2.5 inch hail on Oklahoma City. This view underneath a shelf cloud is looking north from just southwest of OKC.

June 8th -- Second supercell, just west of Oklahoma City: In early evening, a new storm forms a few miles west of Oklahoma City.

View of wall cloud to the northeast.

The storm continues to develop as it moves northeast.

View of mature supercell as it drops 1 inch hail on El Reno.

Another view as the storm moves over Oklahoma City.

My final storm of a brief chase season, but I am glad to be back on the Great Plains, finding and photographing supercells.

Dave Chapman's Storm Chasing and Outdoor Photo Galleries