My Vacation Part I

BoblyBill · Jul 30, 2009

I went on a long vacation to Sterling, CO, at the begining of July. Here's a storm chase that Dad and I went on...

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

We actually watched the tornado from this storm touch down about a mile east of us, but it was so weak that we didn't even know that it was a tornado until after we got back home. This was a beautiful storm system.

platano · Jul 30, 2009

#1 has to be my favorite, great job, awesome storms.. (San Diego needs to start having storms

)

JIP · Jul 30, 2009

Great photos of such an awesome force of nature. I sometimes wonder about people taking pleasure in these super storms as when you see them there is a good chance that they are leaving a pretty devastating path of destruction in their wake.

BoblyBill · Jul 31, 2009

Thanks for the comments guys. While I was chasing this storm, I had forgoten my camera bag on the top of my car and drove off with it on the top of my car opened... Well of course it fell off and I didn't notice until my mom and I were packing to leave for our camping trip. Long story short, a sherif got a call from a resident in the area that had seen a storm chaser leave with his camera bag on the top of his car and saw it fall off and picked it up. It was full of water when the sherif had gotten it and was letting it dry out when I went to pick it up. Miraculously, everything that was in the bag still works fine. I had a 580exII, ST-E2 wireless speedlight transmitter, 50 f1.8, two battery chargers, and various other stuff.

J.P. - you make it sound as if I have little concern for the destruction that these leave, but I do very much care for the people that are victims of these amazing forces of nature. In fact, this storm caused a tremendous amount of hail damage to a lot of my friends wheat fields. This is particularly sad since this year was going to be an above average yield for them, and they are having a hard enough time as it is with the drought these last 10 years or so. I figure since I can't stop them from doing their thing, I might as well enjoy what I can from them. I would have a hard time especially, if I was chasing a storm like the EF-5 Greensburg tornado two years ago. Chasers that were chasing that storm were some of the first people on the scene to help rescue people from their houses. They were giving first aid and helped locate people from there blown away houses. Sure we chase for the fun of it, but we are out there for research as well, so that we can not only warn people of the danger from these storms, but also develope better warning and forcasting systems.

Sfacs · Jul 31, 2009

Wow!
I love the #2! This is so impressive!

Great job!

SrBiscuit · Jul 31, 2009

number 4 is awesome...you can almost feel that wall cloud swallowing you up into its darkness.
man i miss living the midwest.

UUilliam · Jul 31, 2009

Its funny...
Something so Destructive yet so beautiful...
No wonder they call it "Mother" nature...

(Note: just for clarification, I am not suggesting that mums are hot... I mean that women are good looking yet really dangerous and evil lol.)

lvcrtrs · Aug 1, 2009

OMG - that's a vacation! Awesome yet frightening. I came from tornado alley. The last thing I do is run toward them. I know the green sky and sound of the frieght train. Back in the day, you headed to the basement with a "transitor radio with a 9Volt" so maybe you'd hear what's going on, and a can opener, (I guess they figured you'd eat canned goods after the roof fell in on you and you couldn't get out for days).