The Kansas/Nebraska border was an almost-perfect play, except the atmospheric cap that had been absent all spring suddenly decided to show up. The cap kept the best potential tornado environment mostly under blue skies this afternoon.
Storms did eventually fire along the “dry” line in the evening, but they were not in the best atmosphere for tornadoes. While we watched people snag awesome tornado shots in Colorado, we dropped southwest onto a storm that was producing a prolific amount of lightning.
We stopped and watched this storm near Gove City, Kansas as it put down very vibrant and photogenic cloud-to-ground lightning as often as every 3-5 seconds for what felt like forever. It was a great way to save another day of missing tornadoes, and was the best lightning display I have ever seen.
Latest posts by Mark Ellinwood (see all)
- Spring 2023 seasonal tornado outlook - March 1, 2023
- Spring 2022 seasonal tornado outlook - March 1, 2022
- Spring 2021 seasonal tornado outlook - March 1, 2021
Let’s hear it for lightning photography! Perhaps we could share some tips–along with some safety guidelines on taking photos of lightning as well. (I would like to photograph lightning myself, both at home and when I go on vacation to such places as the Rocky Mountain areas–which can get some good thunderstorms during the monsoon season.)