No Storms but Animals are all around me

I have twice within a 1/2 mile of each other seen things I usually do not see in Kansas. With storm chasing all but over I thought I would throw something on here to keep it going.

This Timber Rattlesnake was just sitting on a bike path warming up. After about 10 minutes it went back into the brush.



















I went on my deck over looking a golf course with players playing not 200 feet away to see this bobcat. He did not have a care in the world.

May 5th SW Kansas Super Bust

We headed out to our initial target of Pratt Kansas. When we arrived we saw a lot of chasers had the same target. We headed West to Greensburg where we enjoyed quiet for a few minutes until the Storm Chasers show and crew created a circus environment there. We eventually went to Dodge City and met up with Bart Comstock and a few other chasers. We briefly chased a cell North but it proved like the day to be a bust. We sat in Jetmore for about 30 minutes and started our long drive back to Kansas City. 16 hours and 740 miles later we were home with nothing to show for it but a classic Kansas sunset. Until the next chase …

4-22-11 Chase resulting in St. Louis Tornado

We headed out from KC to central MO to chase and quickly got on a cell South around I-44. We stayed with that until we saw an opening to go after a tornado warned cell East of Columbia. We caught it and filmed some serious rotation and a large wall cloud. It dropped tennis ball sized hail around Warrenton MO which we took photos of and luckily did not drive through. We kept with the storm until we got stuck with everyone else in the St Louis Metro area traffic. A EF3 rated tornado hit the airport as we were stuck in traffic. All in all a great fun chase with the team.

April 3, 2010 MONSTER Gustnado

We headed out on Sunday to Platt City and headed West once the cell started around Junction City. We met it around Perry Lake at which time we saw a huge gustnado. Some are trying to call it a tornado but I never saw violent rotation in it though there did seem to be some. It was a truly amazing sight regardless of its classification. We followed it and the storm back to around Lansing KS where we stopped and took some decent lightning photos. It was a nice early season close to home chase.

03-22-11 Iowa

Iowa was not a bust this time! We saw gustnados, small hail and even rainbows. The structure was amazing and the RFD around Nebraska City was fun to watch. When it overtook us we enjoyed feeling mother nature’s power for the first time this season. What a blast that was! We did get stuck behind the fast moving storms and spent most of the time trying to catch up to them. With this being the first chase of the year and a test run with the new team I’d say this will be another good year.

Chasing with Partners this year

I have had many people ask to "tag along" in the past when I chase and I always politely say no as I have had bad luck with it. This year the Tundra may get a break and I may be the one tagging along. I've been contacted by a few chasers and have sent a few messages myself about partners. I will this year for the first time ride along with other chasers and just document the storms which is what I love doing.

I look forward to it as it will give me a chance to see how they go about it and I will learn a lot. I also will be free to shoot the storm and watch the skies for a change.

I think with the numbers this year we will have an even more successful year than the last few.

I also have contemplated a camera upgrade. I may go from Nikon to Canon. More to come on that as it happens.

I need one of the naders on here. :-)

It is COLD out there!