Trip To Tornado Alley 2002:

On our first day out on the Great Plains, we traveled from Tulsa, Ok. to Vernon, Tx where we met up with the rest of the S.W.I.F.T. team. With in a few minutes of catching up with the group, we saw a large supercell developing and we quickly jumped on the storm. We found a spot along the side of the road which gave us a clear shot at the storm. Within seconds of stopping, a brief, multi-vortex tornado touched down. A brief write follows all the photos you see below on there respective pages. Just click the thumbnails to see the photos.





May 26, 2002

Day 2 was a non-event day. Mostly driving and trying to find a location where we thought we would have the best chance for severe weather and or tornados on day 3. Day 3 we were on our way to Lubbock, Tx. and came to a large open field where we could see the development of some storms in the distance. As they approached, we set up the video cameras a shot some beautiful daytime lightning. All The video clip below is in wmv format and is roughly 11mbs.

Later that evening, Bill Coyle, Dan Robinson and myself went out to shoot some night time lightning. We had to drive about an hour or so to get close enough for some great photos. This all took place after 10pm. We were out until 4:30 am with a big day ahead of us on Memorial Day. The day of the 26th started out very warm, temps into the 90's but later that night while out shooting these lightning photos, the temps had to be in the 40's. Unbelievable and to see such a lightning display on such a cold night.





Once we got back to the room, there was no hesitation on going to sleep. All indications pointed to a BIG DAY in or near Lubbock and we need to get some rest. Litle did we know it would be the biggest and best day out on Tornado Alley!! What we would see on Monday the 27th was an incredible display of what a supercell thunderstorm is all about!!

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