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 SINGLE-IMAGE ABOVE ( ALSO THE FRONT COVER OF MY WEBSITE AND POSSIBLY BEST IMAGE I'VE EVER PRODUCED ) WAS TAKEN ABOUT 1/3 THE WAY THROUGH THIS MISSION****

This was another one of those sequences that catch you mesmerized, and leaves you lingering in absolute AWE, after so many jaw-dropping visuals!  It took a few calculated risks to pull this photography mission off, but we got it done. The following is a visual sequence, sort of like a come-along ride with me and Vera.

Just imagine

Being there. 

Being witness...... 

STAGE 1 - Near Brewster, KS

The original Staging area parking lot somewhere out past Brewster, KS and north of i-70.... updrafts  developed right in front of Huney and I after 7hrs drive. It didn't take long for initiation to develop all around. A couple brief funnels and I adjusted to reposition further SE as the mesos developed locally. 

We found-out before getting to the next Stage area,

2 brief rope tornadoes landed a couple miles within view of where we had been.....

So the initial updraft collapsed

and the beginning of the next, stronger mesos were commencing now into the regenerated sequence. This one tightened-up and started dropping golf balls as it's core was developing in front of us now.....

And then of course,

some will say I got ''too close' to that one'....

I've considered many definitions of this phrase; and I'd say ''They' might be right this time! Or, maybe not......'

***SIDE NOTE - DON't TRY THIS AT HOME***

Now there are times you can 'get real close'....

and times well, not so much.

I can explain this in another section, or forum/blog tho. And there are Many many reasons and variables that make this threshold change so many ways. 

Knowing a good portion of the natural Earth and Atmospheric  Sciences' physics and sequences that occur, and some of the consistent combinations too, even, also allows you to stretch that domain of limitations a bit.... sometimes, even quite a bit.

Sometimes even seconds count.....

This next view below is typically a pretty imminently-dangerous

situation of various types of precip, and plenty of wind vectors too. In this case, you are basically at the nose of the meso, and 'hook' looking almost UP at about an 11 o'clock view/axis. That may very-well be a developing wall cloud there, or at least on an incredible stacked-striation shelfing or even a column. Also Note the discoloration of browns etc where the intensity of the storm is circulating dirt at it's base within it as well......

THIS IS a view that I hope in-person,

YOU'll never have to deal with.

But note as well, memorize this into your mind so if/whenever it somehow does look similar, it is time to seek shelter faster than immediately.....

!

STAGE 2 - Turbines n Bolts 

Then the CGs/bolts began to fly....

and random brief dirt swirls started to show on the darkened horizon.... as the meso appeared! 

Looking closer at the images I've presented

(and many examples in the load of files I have in the sequence that's in-between these images)

you can see the many funnels, spin-ups, and dirt-swirls and various formations associated with the birth of the meso and supercell. 

But alas....

This was only the beginning of The Big Show....

And I knew it!

AND I HAD MY WIFEY WITH ME, AS A DRIVER! .

A lifetime event sequencing for about

5-6hrs.....

STAGE 3 - The Beast Appears

.....AND THEN IT APPEARED! THE SHOW WAS ABOUT TO BEGIN!

(If somehow this wasn't show-enough already!)

Look around under the base of that thing.....

Literally coming right on down that Kansas 'road'.... an absolutely classic view and representation of this region!

Those endless gridded ole' dirt roads of Kansas....  

I wouldn't wannabe that vehicle under this meso....

As the supercell drew nearer, and I became concerned for the lightning strike-zone quickly approaching, I decided to retreat a bit and set-up again. This time the inbound winds were starting to race into the updraft in about the 30-4omph range right over my shoulders into the Beast..... 

Wasn't easy holding things in-place in that wind but I managed to get off a few fuzzy clicks with the Nikon here next.... 

STAGE 4 - Dirt's a-Flyin'

It began to look like a 'hail waterfall' next! 

And sure enough as I was watching this thing get close now, I could begin to make-out the funnel appearing and spinning

in the darker contrasts to the right of the meso here.

I don't know if it was tearing-up any dirt or not yet..... but numerous times it was prominent for a bit.

We ended up seeing many brief visuals and likely ground contacted spin-ups thru this segment of the sequence.....

But if you look close in that image above, you'll see I Came pretty close to a  wild tornado-lightning combo image here tho, whether it was or not legit tornado, it was brief.

The in-bounds were really starting to roar over my shoulder into it now

as it matured right in front of us in the wide-open, and, coming at me.....

STAGE 5 - BEHOLD!

And there I stood, trying to hold my balance in the wind..... in Awe!

Like a massive set of mega-sprockets piling up upon eachother, and turning, rotating, and spittin' bright flickering Stingers out at random consistently....

Right there in front of me and Vera here in KANSAS looking WSW! 

Completely, in Awe....

WICKED pink Stingers

began to dance around the base!

And chunk of ice missiles began splattering all around in golfball sizes!.... 

My wifey Vera was still in the drivers side here staring at the behemoth developing right in front of us! The winds were blowing hard inbound over my shoulders; blowing the waves of Kansas vegetation around in a wild synch dance. 

If you know where to look,

and look closely,

you'll see the funnel already appearing.

This is about 90 seconds before dirt started flyin' in front of us here too!

THE BIG SHOW was ON!

TOUCHDOWN!! 

In those insane in-bounds, and a band of rain, the next image shows the dirt starting to fly from

another tornado for Me and Vera on this mission! I had just turned around to my wifey in the drivers' side, 

talking with her while standing nexto the Mighty Cobalt, when suddenly she says 'Uhhh Jess, Look!' >>> 

I did the infamous Reed Point at this time in a cell pic somewhere

but, can't seem to find it.....

LOOK closer in that image....

As the rotation tightened and picked up speed a bit, a brief sequence of weak vorticies developed,

circumferencing the meso, 

and spun-up a little dirt at random for us and my wifey was Luvinit!!  

Changed lenses in-a-hurry to get a chance to close-in on some of this photography a bit here and....

Is that....

a Tornado under the rotation, AND a CG Stinger?! 

And check-out that column developing to the right under there as well....the Rage under this complex multi-regenerating supercell and adjoining ones as well, became harder to see all that was going on under the evolutions of these impressive sequences, with just the eyes....

But to be suggestive here a moment, and resonate the chambers of a local circus by  their temptatious but genuine slogan: 

'The Show is About to Begin'  jingle....

<we're just getting warmed-up here now visually>

It was around this time I started to realize that even though being enthralled in the moment, an imminent danger was beginning to develop.

I remember staring into the fading colorful sunset that aligned so perfectly, and gazing  at the swirling dust spinning, seemingly dancing, while intercepting that sunset hue.....and then that pink bolt here. This very bolt! That's what caught my attention and realization of what's developing now....'Situational awareness' was changing from capturing natural phenomenon, to making critical decisions, rapidly....and in a region I've little history in the area to truly know any 'shortcuts'....... etc.

But I had my driver this time!

And she was tough as nails! Every decision we made, we made together..... for many hrs into the night! And my hands were Free from the wheel ! 

As another round of intense in-bound winds were roaring over my shoulders into the face of this beast, I decided it was time to bail again.... But this time, I was going to run 'along with it"......

So looking back into the image above again,

look to the far right and you will see the edges of a seriously WILD sequence of atmospheric events developing, combining severe weather and sunset spectrums as they morphed into the night! You can see that wicked pink CG bolt there stinging the hell outta it's ground contact point.

Watching the meso swirling in various circulations, it seemed there was likely even more than one developing now again. But I had limited or no radar reception to work with and making many of our decisions would be based on visual obs instead of lagging or non-existent info....

The Time was now!

STAGE 6 - FLIRTIN' with DISASTER

THIS is now from the leading edge of that last pink lightning bolt we see above......

Now you see why I had some decisions to make as this thing started to tighten-up and hiss from the winds over my shoulder here! Prolly 100 yrds in front of us now!

But look deeper! There's always SO much going on in this storm's evolutions!!

HIGHLY based on the fact that we were on a wide-open 360* miles of absolutely flat horizons, and being on a N/S dirt road, I knew I was on the safer eastern side AND about how far south to my next eastern bail-out rd was. My wifey was an incredible driver at this point, having never really gotten to see such tremendous atmospheric phenomenon at such close-encounters, and my hands were free from the wheel - I took absolute advantage of it for this unforgettable mission together! 

Combining All of this....

I decided to get a little ballsy and hold position,

so that I could at least even ATTEMPT for  the lightning and visual photography that I was anticipating, and a couple of Bucketlisters too! The vectors involved here would take a tornado, or this meso, whichever presented itself, and would eventually cross this Kansas back dirt-road just barely to the north of me (behind me while facing south ready to Bail), if I aligned due east of it's hook....

The following imagery here takes us on that 'stand my ground' position, in some fiercely static environments! Keep in mind not only to look at the main topic of the image presented, but also look deeper into them; you'll see various swirling mesos and a variety of 'steam' going on in there!  

WANNA SEE THAT AGAIN a lil closer?......

CLOSER?!

If you look close enough you'll even see the orange

ground-contact point!

.....and another!

WICKEDITY in Kansas in heavenly pink bolts!!

Glowing ground-contact points =

I call 'these' kinds of CGs 'Stingers'

'Out the window' look......

And then as the Sun continued to drop below the horizon,

the color spectrum, began to change hues....

You can see now with so much going-on, situational awareness was peaking, and time was waning!

Keep in mind.... way in the back of your mind at all times while reading....

this is in KANSAS; you'll feel like a lightning rod in a wide-open cow pasture at all times, while standing there! And the bad news is - you ARE! 

So now, looking back at the last few moments, and having to put aside the absolute AWE-factor and frictionous sunset-spectrum-ed skies, and make some life-threatening decisions and associated navigation skillz, and determine just exactly how to dance with this Beast. And never forget to also always have that 2nd 'backup plan' too. Or in the very least, a minimum of at least one bail-route.....

At this point, without looking at sporadic internet radar imagery, it appeared to be the cycling of the prior matured meso, unorganizing and broadening further into the backgrounds here looking SW. And closer to us in the foreground, another meso and circulation trying to wrap-up right there - a couple 100 yrds out! Repeatedly it tried to come-around and form a vortex. And those mean 'Stingers' in the sunset hues of pinkish, just to add more glory to the visuals!

At this time, the Sun had already set, and the consideration of any kind of LLJ would certainly make this complex more intense. It was at this time, I never let the latitudinal axis of the vorticies thru the night, to ever get south of my position. I had my wifey with me and no storm is worth her life! But I was going to dance with her and the storm (for her lifetime visuals), like I was on-stage in-front of an entire amphitheater, that knows my every move in synchrony, simultaneously in-synch with the event. Yet I'm completely oblivious to it....

You can see by the blur in some pix exactly how the winds were roaring towards it! It was headed NE, and I'm slightly ENE of it here. The last image's bolt was the convictions I needed finalized to convince myself to reconsider safety, u-turn, and break a bit a ground out between us and it, in a SEwards fashion. But there are no 'SE bound' roads in Kansas. It's a step-ladder always - you're spose' to know this prior to tracking storms in Kansas! 

This moment, and decision, was one of a few dangerous and critical moments in the event overall. And now night was starting to creep in quickly; especially under these 50k towers! You know ice-missiles will likely be flying sometime too! But you're also spose' to know which part, and at what time during the updraft sequence will most-often produce the ice.

I told Vera to U-turn it, and give me another Stage area with my Nikon, as my jaw was completely rolling out on the ground with the flickering bolts for miles and miles! 

Turns-out this is where some of my most signature-photography moments and my life's iconic captures to-date (and likely since) occurred! Watch what happened next!!.....  

STAGE 7 --- OMG LIGHTNING ROD!

TIME TO BAIL!

This was the last view my fingers snapped before pulling the BAIL button, and bustin' South in a hurry!

As you peer deeper into this final image, one can see all the way back in there, the original updraft was still raging. But since, now the 2nd meso was swirling.... and then a 3rd, right there in front of us right in our face. Speaking of, it was a sudden burst of RFD breeze to the face at this moment, nexto the newest evolving meso circulation a couple 100 yrds away!

Although it was rather hard to peel my gaze away, danger was rapidly escalating in proximity - including some really wicked CG bolts. 

My decision to bail south here at this time, later proved to be a pretty critical one....

The view after we u-turned looking almost south, bailing east for a bit 1st before the south trail. My wife drove like the beast that was about to pursue us!

I told my wife to hit the gas hard and don't stop!....

 after we made the corner turn to go South.....I grabbed a couple pix in fast-motion blur as we started..... and then I grabbed the OSHT handle! 

That newest and closest meso spinning nexto us now, was starting to look like it might get to cross the hiway ahead of us, but as the night started to creep in, I was jolted with anxiety in suddenly realizing some of the wildest lightning of my lifetime would likely ensue soon. And the Nikon was anxious to immortalize it and archive it all! 

But this time, for one of the 1st times in my lifetime, I was on the passenger side, free-handed and mesmerized!

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

Although there are way too many moments to top tier,

this one below  still remains one of the most intense ones,

as I awaited it INSIDE the car through the rained-on windshield here, knowing I'd be a lightning-rod outside, if I attempted to step outside in those endless flat corn fields and cow pastures.....

AND THE FURY OF THE PLAINS!