The thing about “chasing scraps,” as we call it when there isn’t a really promising forecast for supercells, is that it can wear you out. That’s partly because of all the driving – if you’re ambitious, you go wherever there’s a chance of storms.
Monument Rocks in Kansas on May 13, 2024.
A cell drops virga on May 14 near Masterson, Texas.
So after a couple of days of photographing beautiful places like the South Dakota Badlands and Monument Rocks in Kansas, photographing virga (rain that doesn’t hit the ground) in Texas and exploring Shamrock, Texas (a visit worthy of another post), Alethea Kontis and I found ourselves plunging south beyond Midland on May 16, looking for storms.
A lot of other chasers were out, too, including our friend Daniel Shaw, whom we ran into on the road. It’s hard to miss his Rav4. And, as usual, there were tour groups, too.
I got initiated into storm chasing on the late, great Cloud 9 Tours in 1997. And I know what it’s like. A good tour won’t sit out a marginal day. So even on the iffy days like May 16, there are going to be lots of chasers on the road. There were no traffic jams where we were, though, especially since there were no obvious tornadoes. That night, a wicked storm roared through Houston, but there was no way we were driving that far east anyway.
The setting sun created dramatic rays of light May 16 in south Texas.
In spite of the so-so setup, we were rewarded with a truly beautiful shelf cloud that reenergized me after several days of tough slogging. Any chase day when I can take a good picture isn’t a day wasted. And this one more than delivered.
Click on any photo to start a slide show.
