Tornado moves across open country north of Hoxie Kansas. The tornado formed from a classic supercell, although rain wrapped around outside of the visible mesocyclone/ wall cloud the tornado stayed highly photogenic. Meanwhile a much larger wall cloud was formed to the north about 5 miles producing more tornadoes, some deeply imbedded in heavy ran. One of the tornadoes moved from west to east around the outer edge of the rotating wall cloud coming very close to hitting a column of chasers moving north.

Hoxie Tornado Slide Show Click link to get in, then click arrow on the right to get it going. To speed up the slide show double click the arrow and set it at a lower number. The first image is slow but the rest are faster. To get out click on the words HOME PAGE.

This is a complete set of the Hoxie, Kansas tornado from inception to demise or rope out. I was able to sit in one position on the west side of highway 23 and capture the whole life cycle, 18 minutes from image one to rope stage. I did have to move for the last couple of shots, but it's great to be in one spot that long. Note that these images were shot and processed to show the rain curtains rotating around the vortex to include horizontal and sub-vortices. Doing that added some noise or grain, but it's not too bad. One horizontal vortex was on the ground about 200 meters out from the parent circulation, although only one image shows this well. A bit of that debris cloud can be seen in the above image, but most of the horizontal vortex has dissipated.

I'll be adding more images in the coming weeks.

Supercell spinning up in NW Kansas..........

No highlines, no obstructions, no people.......just rotation........perfect.

After a long drive from Del Rio, the Nebraska - Kansas border was as far north as I could get. While the Chicago area was getting blasted with tornadoes one lone storm in Kansas finally spun up. It was at the tail end of the line and produce three tornadoes in SPC's long. All were brief and insignificant, but the parent storm was quite photogenic. Here are some shots of the rotating wall cloud that threatened to produce a major tornado with its strong rotation, but in the end touched down very briefly then produced two condensation funnels about 30 minutes later.

Rotating cylinder cloud crosses over highway near LaCrosse KS. It produced two short lived funnels that touched down briefly. The menacing cloud did not produce any damage. Cloud 9 Tours was stopped in front of us for a slightly close look at the spectacle.

Monster rotating supercell at Pratt KS. This storm produced a flurry of tornadoes in the Pratt area, mostly in the rain, but a few were captured crossing highway 54. We were shooting wide angle shots just east of Pratt at that time. The storm scene was massive as it covered all our view to the west and didn't fit in my 10-22mm wide zoom. More images to follow of this spectacular storm.

Tornado moving north of I-70 on May 23rd. The tornado was beginning to get wrapped in the rain as it moved further north of the highway. Flash flooding and slimy mud roads kept us from resetting our position further north. This is a follow up image to the large wedge tornado that approached I-70.

The complete day can be found on my rat race chase page.

Large wedge tornado south of I-70 in western Kansas on 23 May, 2008. The tornado had a 25-30 mile path length across open desolate country. When it originally formed it was shrouded in rain, but later became quite visible as it approached the Interstate. Unfortunately it swept an occupied car off the road and injuring the driver.

Supercell sunset in Kansas on a desolate farm road west of Zurich. This storm was already severe, producing very large hail, but at the time this image was taken a wall cloud was developing and it was starting to rotate. A tornado warning would be issued soon, but for now the scene was anything but threatning.

Chasers wait for a tornado to cross the road while others didn't see it coming. The funnel extends well into the sky to my north (would not fit into the camera frame). The tip of the vortex can be seen at the top of the image. One minor injury and a blown out windshield resulting from getting too close on May 22. This was a satellite tornado rotating around the outside of the mesocyclone. Chasers continue to fall victim to these vortices as they get inside the strong mesocyclone circulations. Image was shot at 800 ISO to overcome darkness under the storm.

Images and text © copyright Gene Moore unless otherwise indicated

I won't be taking as much time off to chase this season, but I still have many more images to update the site.....so check back in a week to see new material.

New 2008 Quinter II tornado day

New 2008 Hoxie KS tornado slide show

2007 2007 Season Summary that includes a sample of many chases

2007 Allen - Kyle SD Tornado of 6 June 2007

2007 Photogenic severe storm at Garden City KS - 9 June 2007

2007 Mar 28th Texas Panhandle Tornadoes

2007 West Texas Tornadoes of 21 April, 2007

2007 Hill City, Kansas tornado and supercell 22 May, 2007

2007 Severe Storms near Midland Texas June 3rd 2007

2006 SE Nebraska tornadoes 15 April

2006 El Reno OK Tornado

Crystal Springs KS tornado 2004

Conway Springs KS tornado and the three simultaneous tornadoes after dark 2004

Dramatic Harper KS night tornado 2004

Freeport - Argonia KS tornadoes 2004

Sharon KS tornado 2004

N'rn Iowa Tornadoes 2004

24 June 2003 SD Outbreak - the last page Spirit Lake

Tulia TX merging supercells

Attica Kansas Tornado 2004

2005 Wayside TX Tornado

2004 Storm Season a collection of images

Stock Tornado Images- A set of tornadoes from ChaseDay - high speed connection needed

Hail and Hailstorms- A four page look at hail images and hailstorms

Tornado & Storm Archives - select storm days from previous years - goes back to 1973.

Learning Storm Features - Two page elementary tutorial. Originally done for my kids when they were in Jr. high school. Shows basic storm features.

About Me - A few facts about ChaseDay's webmaster

Tornadoes & Funnels - Six pages of tornadoes showing shape, color and character. This page gets more visits than any other since I started this site. Another page originally designed for young viewers learning the basics.

Wind Storms - Gust Front Images

Lightning Storm Images- Two sections of lightning images

Cats-N-Dogs I've Seen on the Plains -Page 2- Page 3- Page 4

When you chase --
THINK ABOUT THE CLOUDS

Leave all that other stuff behind

You may email Gene Moore
with comments, questions, or requests. Please include a valid subject line.

Also, please don't ask where to get a job as a professional storm chaser, there are none that I know of.