WICKEDITY II - An Unforgettable 'Twins Chase' - 6/2019

VOLUME #2

AN EVENT OF OUR LIFETIMES'-COME-TRUE FOR MY WIFEY AND I

The JUNE 8, 2019 storm sequence in western KANSAS was an evening and night to never forget! Yet another, but extraordinary, sequence of storms evolved in the west-central region near Russel Spring; a rather legendary region known for structures of amazing supercells like these.....

My wife Vera and I were front rowwwww, and SE-safe-and-viewing some jaw-dropping atmosphere....with barrages of unbelievable wicked CGs and colors too! And then later on , as what appeared in the darkness of the night, to be a wild but decaying tornadic supercell transitioning into a new developing updraft to it's east. There weren't many flashes during the tornadoes, but just enough lightning lit the scene for me to get a couple rough night images; AND a few of them with my wifey front n center too!

Then as a bonus, following this sequence, yet another huge updraft developed to it's SE (barely east of us). Soon we were also watching them collide! ( I just kept clicking away on the Nikon...... )

THE FOLLOWING TRUE-STORY is a continuation from the "PULL-OVER, I NEED THIS SHOT!'' moment in Volume #1 of WICKEDITY.....

STAGE - 8

IMMORTALIZING MILLISECONDS

************************

"YEAH, It may have been on the ultra-adrenaline of the moment for that decision; but it was now or never! My wifey pulled us over in those Kansas Prairies as I anticipated our next positioning and settings. These were some of the wildest grandeur of atmospheric physics I'd seen with a Nikon DSLR. It's impossible to duplicate these fury in the Plains! Each are very unique and moments happen in milliseconds." --JP--

WAIT TIL YOU SEE THIS NEXT COLLECTION ---->>>

My view just as we come to a stop.....

You can see the different lighting now by looking a bit further into it, vs along it. 2-3 mesos trying to get their acts together out on the horizon.

The lightning barrage was about to get really wild, and dangerous!

And a danger-noodle tube or 2 as well !

WICKEDITY was about to become the next moments of my Lifetime! And my wife had never seen these types of storms before meeting me.

OUR SKIES WERE LADEN, dark and menacing, frothing with energy, and about to light-up with extremely vivid and close-range lightning CGs. Not only that, but tornadogenesis was likely to continue; and more likely to get stronger!

Anticipation was thru the roof - and the adrenaline-o-meter went off-the-charts..... and that's what made situational awareness, even more of a demand at this point.

It was about to get very dangerous, and possibly fast, too. But I have decades of obs to rely on, and a decade documenting some of the strongest storms on Earth.... in the southern Plains. I was confident, bold, hyper-analytical; while overlapped with observational displays of atmospheric sciences and physics.

Numerous decisions were being made, faster than I typed this sentence!

While the tempest doesn't take lunch breaks, I gathered my wits enough to grab a few free-handed brief shots of a jaw-dropping stormscape on the horizon as the night was rolling in as well. Wicked lightning 'Stingers' I call them, started to do their flash dance! And I happened to KNOW a few Nikon settings for them!

After a few moments and clicks, I took a big chance and stepped out the car and set up my tripod, for better imagery. You can see it's pretty much wide-open farther than you can see and flat in all directions. Danger-factor escalating, as the updraft was strengthening......

INbounds were coming in from the south and from over my shoulder, in the east. Atmospheric friction was just about to hit frenzy-levels!

Dream come true Bucketlister moments

in the FRONT ROWWWW!!

Wanna see that one a little closer too?

I always thought this one looks like some kinda eagle bird.....

There's something about this iamge....

Do you 'see' a bird?

And then I clicked the next one; immortalizing that sunset moment forever....

The next shot was nothing short of mesmerizing....

There's just something about this image that seems like timeless Kansas.....

Now we could start seeing some vorticies and some dirt flyin'....

If you look closer you'll see the further meso with a tornado that briefly spun a few times. And then at this time of the pics, there's another one developing right there in front of me and Huney

THERE WERE 2 MESOS EVOLVING ON THE HORIZON THROUGH MANY STAGES....

The further one back there had a tornado within a multi-vort circulation spinning along, and 2 beavertail inbound bands showing..... But I had staged right in front of another huge meso developing for awhile now - it's only a couple 100 yrds out there!

As it continued swirling, my east-side position became front row for another funnel and 'steam' right there. My toes started curling thinking bolts were about to fly very close by....

It was like static in the air, as a prelude to the atmospheric rage that was brewing.....

Although I couldn't get enough clicks with the Nikon at this point, fast enough, I knew my time and my safety, were both running out......

So FIGHT for my insane imagery opp, or FLIGHT, for my safety??

I PRESSED MY LUCK!

CLICK......CLICK.........CLICK!!

I wanted the next lightning CGs that were coming.... they were likely some lifetime opportunities and I had 'no choice' but to wait until last seconds for the best of it....

And I was so very glad, and fortunate, to have my wifey get to see this Kansas rage in-person!

Although many didn't believe it at the time, when I told them I did alot of this sequence free-handed with my Nikon, there came a couple shots that indefinitely proved it. lol

So here is the one I call 'Tilted Kansas'.

There was so much electricity in the air that even as tenured as I am with lightning, I still knew better, so I stayed IN the vehicle, free-handed. I had 0 interest in being a grounding rod out there in the wide open KS....

Here's a bit of a zoom on the Tilted Kansas image to have a look at the things going on in there....

AND ANOTHER ONE....

It was this VERY tilted image here that finally got my attention back on my camera. Although the winds inbound were def coming thru, it was my fault for the tilt.

But out in these environments, the stage is not ever set flawlessly, and winds are always difficult to deal with for detailed photography.

As I kept clicking away on my Nikon,

....my situational awareness had paused by the mesmerizing scene here that I had the successful chance to immortalize in Kansas; one of the most epic scenes of my lifetime!

On-the-spot camera setting adjustments as it evolved, and the challenge was excepted! I bet as you read my adventure here, you may yourself, have gotten a tad mesmerized too? lol

WICKED STORMS!

I'm Thankful for this moment here - because it was here that I noticed the CG bolts were getting closer, and the storm was edging closer to me as well. It's also when I noticed how evolved that meso right nexto us here was now too!

I remember seeing the twin mesos on radar for a bit and trying not to miss anything.... as those precious seconds clicked away. And in Kansas, you're basically a rod in cow pasture, out there in tornado country! The clock was ticking.....

It certainly won't be very long before we are IN the strike-zone for the lightning. And, I was surprised to not see a matured tornado twisting yet either...

SO...Let's take a moment and look at this next one, as I was CERTAINLY pushing my luck now!

BUT JUST LOOK AND SEE WHY!

Everything is getting closer even though the initial supercell and meso is way in the background still. It continuers to swirl around and even a soft beavertail inband showing as well. Occasionally you'd see some dust thrown around too.....

Another massive CG striking Kansas turf as a bonus here also, but nthe main point of focus should be shifting to what's RIGHT THERE in front of us developing now, alot closer to us there. You can even see a funnel started on it too.

That meso right in front of us is getting big and stronger now, and it's swirling like a mud-potter's bowl....

****************************

TO BE CONTINUED.....

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WICKEDITY II -- JUNE 8, 2019

WICKEDITY II - An Unforgettable 'Twins Chase' - 6/2019

VOLUME #2

AN EVENT OF OUR LIFETIMES'-COME-TRUE FOR MY WIFEY AND I

The JUNE 8, 2019 storm sequence in western KANSAS was an evening and night to never forget! Yet another, but extraordinary, sequence of storms evolved in the west-central region near Russel Spring; a rather legendary region known for structures of amazing supercells like these.....

***Then as a bonus, following this sequence, yet another huge updraft developed to it's SE (barely east of us). Soon we were also watching them collide!*** ( I just kept clicking away on the Nikon...... )

THE FOLLOWING TRUE-STORY is a continuation from the "PULL-OVER, I NEED THIS SHOT!'' moment in Volume #1 of WICKEDITY.....

STAGE - 8

IMMORTALIZING MILLISECONDS

************************

WAIT TIL YOU SEE THIS NEXT COLLECTION ---->>>

My view just as we come to a stop.....

You can see the different lighting now by looking a bit further into it, vs along it. 2-3 mesos trying to get their acts together out on the horizon.

The lightning barrage was about to get really wild, and dangerous!

And a danger-noodle tube or 2 as well !

WICKEDITY was about to become the next moments of my Lifetime! And my wife had never seen these types of storms before meeting me.

OUR SKIES WERE LADEN, dark and menacing, frothing with energy, and about to light-up with extremely vivid and close-range lightning CGs. Not only that, but tornadogenesis was likely to continue; and more likely to get stronger!

Anticipation was thru the roof - and the adrenaline-o-meter went off-the-charts..... and that's what made situational awareness, even more of a demand at this point.

Numerous decisions were being made, faster than I typed this sentence!

After a few moments and clicks, I took a big chance and stepped out the car and set up my tripod, for better imagery. You can see it's pretty much wide-open farther than you can see and flat in all directions. Danger-factor escalating, as the updraft was strengthening......

INbounds were coming in from the south and from over my shoulder, in the east. Atmospheric friction was just about to hit frenzy-levels!

Dream come true Bucketlister moments

in the FRONT ROWWWW!!

Wanna see that one a little closer too?

I always thought this one looks like some kinda eagle bird.....

There's something about this iamge....

Do you 'see' a bird?

And then I clicked the next one; immortalizing that sunset moment forever....

The next shot was nothing short of mesmerizing....

There's just something about this image that seems like timeless Kansas.....

Now we could start seeing some vorticies and some dirt flyin'....

If you look closer you'll see the further meso with a tornado that briefly spun a few times. And then at this time of the pics, there's another one developing right there in front of me and Huney

THERE WERE 2 MESOS EVOLVING ON THE HORIZON THROUGH MANY STAGES....

The further one back there had a tornado within a multi-vort circulation spinning along, and 2 beavertail inbound bands showing..... But I had staged right in front of another huge meso developing for awhile now - it's only a couple 100 yrds out there!

As it continued swirling, my east-side position became front row for another funnel and 'steam' right there. My toes started curling thinking bolts were about to fly very close by....

It was like static in the air, as a prelude to the atmospheric rage that was brewing.....

Although I couldn't get enough clicks with the Nikon at this point, fast enough, I knew my time and my safety, were both running out......

So FIGHT for my insane imagery opp, or FLIGHT, for my safety??

I PRESSED MY LUCK!

CLICK......CLICK.........CLICK!!

I wanted the next lightning CGs that were coming.... they were likely some lifetime opportunities and I had 'no choice' but to wait until last seconds for the best of it....

And I was so very glad, and fortunate, to have my wifey get to see this Kansas rage in-person!

Although many didn't believe it at the time, when I told them I did alot of this sequence free-handed with my Nikon, there came a couple shots that indefinitely proved it. lol

So here is the one I call 'Tilted Kansas'.

There was so much electricity in the air that even as tenured as I am with lightning, I still knew better, so I stayed IN the vehicle, free-handed. I had 0 interest in being a grounding rod out there in the wide open KS....

Here's a bit of a zoom on the Tilted Kansas image to have a look at the things going on in there....

AND ANOTHER ONE....

It was this VERY tilted image here that finally got my attention back on my camera. Although the winds inbound were def coming thru, it was my fault for the tilt.

But out in these environments, the stage is not ever set flawlessly, and winds are always difficult to deal with for detailed photography.

As I kept clicking away on my Nikon,

....my situational awareness had paused by the mesmerizing scene here that I had the successful chance to immortalize in Kansas; one of the most epic scenes of my lifetime!

On-the-spot camera setting adjustments as it evolved, and the challenge was excepted! I bet as you read my adventure here, you may yourself, have gotten a tad mesmerized too? lol

WICKED STORMS!

I'm Thankful for this moment here - because it was here that I noticed the CG bolts were getting closer, and the storm was edging closer to me as well. It's also when I noticed how evolved that meso right nexto us here was now too!

I remember seeing the twin mesos on radar for a bit and trying not to miss anything.... as those precious seconds clicked away. And in Kansas, you're basically a rod in cow pasture, out there in tornado country! The clock was ticking.....

It certainly won't be very long before we are IN the strike-zone for the lightning. And, I was surprised to not see a matured tornado twisting yet either...

SO...Let's take a moment and look at this next one, as I was CERTAINLY pushing my luck now!

BUT JUST LOOK AND SEE WHY!

Everything is getting closer even though the initial supercell and meso is way in the background still. It continuers to swirl around and even a soft beavertail inband showing as well. Occasionally you'd see some dust thrown around too.....

Another massive CG striking Kansas turf as a bonus here also, but nthe main point of focus should be shifting to what's RIGHT THERE in front of us developing now, alot closer to us there. You can even see a funnel started on it too.

That meso right in front of us is getting big and stronger now, and it's swirling like a mud-potter's bowl....

****************************

TO BE CONTINUED.....

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Then as a bonus, following this sequence, yet another huge updraft developed to it's SE (barely east of us). Soon we were also watching them collide! ( I just kept clicking away on the Nikon...... )