Chasing down a twister in Texas south of Vernon! This sped up view shows a segment of this April chase day, where the tornado was almost perfectly tracking along the highway. I had plans to intercept this tornado right as it crossed the highway when it turned north, but this twister disintegrated just before it reached that location. I’m pretty sure someone was doing a Twisters experiment or something. (In reality it is remarkable to see how rapidly vortex breakdown happens sometimes). 4.23.21 |

Even when you are careful, sometimes situations in storm chasing just turn dangeorous! On this day, we were chasing a wet-classic supercell that was definitely on the way to becoming HP. Thanks to a lake to our east, we only had a highway west and a highway going north. As we watched the supercell churn over the landscape near Brownwood, Texas — the rear-flank downdraft intensified rapidly, signaling the transition to a HP supercell was beginning. Unfortunately, we had waited too long taking in

The power needed for a storm updraft to suspend a ball of ice in air, much less lift it thousands of feet is something that is mind boggling to me. Hail is probably one of the most common severe weather threats and it’s for that reason I think we don’t give it enough appreciation. Updrafts act as the powerful engines behind the thunderstorms we encounter, drawing in moisture from the environment like fuel for a fire. Imagine the storm swelling as it sucks in warm, moist air with incredible force