Storm Chasing

Images  /  Storm Chasing
Elk Mountian Tornado
February 9, 2016

Elk Mountian, Wyoming Tornado

Tornado on the ground 8 miles east of Elk Mountian, Wyoming on 6-15-15

During my storm chasing expedition with Ben Von Wong and friends last June, we had a very good and busy chase day on June 15, 2015. We were trying to get aerial footage of a supercell moving our direction from Elk Mountian, Wyoming. The storm produced a brief tornado. When I originally looked at it, I did not like the image all that much so I didn’t mark it as a select and forgot all about it honestly, we had a great day for photography. Recently, I was backing up images from 2015 and came across this image again. I liked it after spending some time it. Would love to know what you think!

Continue Reading

Projects  /  Storm Chasing
High Plains Chasing with Von Wong and Friends
November 30, 2015

The Opportunity

In June of this year, I got a chance to collaborate with one of my favorites, epic conservation photographer  Von Wong on a project he wanted to do called, Surreal Storm Chasing Portraits. His concept was fascinating to me. He wanted to spend a week to 10 days on the Great Plains chasing storms, asking his fans to meet up with us, model and bring out everyday items to place in front of the storm. I thought it was a very exciting idea, I was thrilled to be a part of it.

The Challenge

The list of challenges for this project seemed to be infinite, from keeping a convoy of first-time chasers safe, having a tail vehicle (converted ambulance) for equipment, props, etc… following me the entire time and giving Ben enough opportunities to get shots he would be happy with for his project.

Great-Plains-edit

Great Plains of the US (Red). Our Chase area outlined in yellow

We planned for a couple of weeks before meeting in our base city Denver, Colorado. I chose Denver because in June, the severe weather pattern shifts North with storms firing off of the Palmer Ridge (Colorado) and the Cheyenne Ridge (Wyoming). We would also get opportunities to chase in The Dakotas, Montana, and Nebraska.

Another major challenge was we would only have 24 hrs (sometimes less) to give “general area” to fans in our specified chase area. I would use the morning to forecast the storm possibilities then Ben would let his fans know where to meet. Once we met up and went over safety guidelines, we would go into chase mode to try to intercept a storm. Using words like “epic” and “surreal” Ben set the bar high on what he wanted. I learned quickly how particular and meticulous he was. His incredible images from this project give you a great indication of that. It was my job to get us in front of a storm with a great foreground and in an area that we could back the ambulance in and get the shot before a supercell would run us over.

Von Wong Project Sneak Peak

Here is one of the images from Von Wong – Surreal Storm Chasing Portraits project. The image below is from one of my favorite chase days and storms from the project. A massive wall and tail cloud from a slow moving supercell outside Boyes, Montana.

Wear

Image by epic conservation photographer, Von Wong for his, “Surreal Storm Chasing Portraits” series

Weather Photography and Storm Chasing

I am sure this goes without saying, but Storm chasing is dangerous. I have been lucky to learn from some of the best meteorologist, climatologist, research scientist and professional storm chasers around. Even with years of education and experience, it took me a long time have the confidence to go out on my own or to lead a group. This project was perfect for me. As a weather photographer, I think about images I want to get and questions like, where will the sun be? (for light and contrast) What direction will the potential storm be moving? Is the area we will be chasing flat and have a decent road network? In the planning stages, I had decided to shoot more panoramic images. To get the wide, open look I was going for, you have to be a considerable distance from the storm. I like to see the whole storm from top to bottom and watch it move towards me. Ben needed time to set up lights, props and get the model where he wanted. He also needed the storm to be closer, so it filled up the screen and looked “epic”. Having a plan in place to get into position and let the storm come to us was the perfect strategy. I would get the shots I wanted while Ben was setting up, then I would monitor the storm. We did get lucky that we chased 7 out of 10 days we were out. We had several good days and one great day in South Dakota complete with tornados and rainbows, amazing lightning and storm structure. The storms were so dynamic and moved so fast that Ben did not get a shot. He wanted a tornado in the background too! (sorry Ben). I say we did well, though.

My Images

For the panoramic images below, I used my Canon 5D Mark III, Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II USM lens with my RRS Pano-Gimbal Head to shoot 15 – 18 image muli-row panoramas. Each pano was stitched together using Adobe Lightroom CC 2015 new panorama photo merge feature and finished with Adobe Photoshop CC 2015. Please click on the images below to enlarge. Please leave me your comments.

Storm Chasing in Pine Haven, Wyoming. Panoramic supercell

Panoramic image of supercell moving towards us near Pine Haven, Wyoming

6-19-15-Aladdin-Wyoming-Pano1500px

18 image panorama of a supercell moving over the Montana state line into South Dakota. We were high on a hillside capturing this awesome storm. One of my favorites.

Panoramic image of a amazing wall and tail cloud associated with strong updraft near Boyes, Montana.

Panoramic image of an incredible wall and tail cloud associated with strong updraft near Boyes, Montana.

Wide panoramic image of the Boyes, Montana supercell ingesting another storm (on the right) making it stronger.

Wide panoramic image of the Boyes, Montana supercell ingesting another storm (on the right) making it stronger.

6-19-15-BelleFourche-SD-1500px

Channel lightning coming out of the leading edge of the storm near Belle Fourche, South Dakota. The lightning field was intense!

Belle-Fourche-Supercell-v3

Smooth Channel lightning from the storm near Belle Fourche, South Dakota. The lightning field was intense!

amazing teal color from the hail core of a supercell outside of Mitchell, Nebraska. This storm had baseball sized hail when I captured this. The color comes from the reflectivity of the larger hail, glows teal!

Amazing teal color from the hail core of a supercell outside of Mitchell, Nebraska. This storm had baseball sized hail when I captured this. The color comes from the reflectivity of the larger hail, glows teal!

6-16-15-Mitchell-Nebraska-Wide-Pano-1500px

An 180Ëš panoramic view of the storm that was almost directly overhead

6-21-15-Perkins-SouthDakota-Tornado-BlueHour-1500

Tornado roping out on the horizon at dusk outside of Perkins, South Dakota.

6-21-15-Ralph-SouthDakota-RopeTornado-BigSky-1500px

Wide view of dissipating supercell with a tornado on the horizon. Ralph, South Dakota.

Stove pipe tornado starting to rope out. Captured near Ralph, South Dakota on June 21, 2015

Stove pipe tornado was starting to rope out. Captured near Ralph, South Dakota on June 21, 2015

6-25-15-Cheyenne-Wyoming-Lightning-1500px

Beautiful multi-branched lightning captured at sunset outside of Cheyenne, Wyoming on our last night of shooting.

Behind the Scenes

[alert]

BTS images by Anna Tenne-Photography[/alert]

The Crew!

11696765_10153443720406972_1104279615_n

The Stormchasing Crew! Benjamin Von Wong, Ryan Zimmerman, Anna Tenne, Pat Black and Kelly DeLay

Learn More About Storm Chasing

Now you want to go storm chasing?  It changed my life. I think everyone should witness supercells on the Great Plains. A great way to learn and really enjoy the experience is booking a  stormchasing tour. Spend a week or more during storm season driving up and down the Plains. Let the experts do all of the work, it is a blast!

For my own forecasting, I use a number of tools and weather models:

NOAA / National Weather Service - Storm Prediction Center

Weather Forecast Models and Satellite 

Radar and Field Equipment

  • GRLevel3 Windows based radar software for live and archive NEXRAD Level III data
  • RadarScope OSX, iOS and Andriod utility for viewing NEXRAD Level III data
  • AllisonHouse – High-resolution weather data. Integrates with GRLevel 3 and RadarScope
  • Touchscreen Laptop, iPad, Verizon Mobile Data, HAM Radio (I am a licenced radio operator)

Education

Continue Reading

Storm Chasing
Storm Clouds Look Like Waves Crashing
October 6, 2015

Storm clouds above looking like waves crashing overhead

Storm clouds above looking like waves crashing overhead

 

It is an amazing feeling looking up and seeing skies like this. The storm clouds look like you are under water watching waves crash.

More of shots like this Kelly DeLay on Instagram
Continue Reading

Photography  /  Press  /  Storm Chasing  /  Weather Photography
Sister Tornadoes, Double Rainbows all in a day in Colorado
June 11, 2015

What a day I had in Simla, Colorado on June 4, 2015. It almost didn’t happen for me. Two days earlier, I had driven to Colorado to chase with friends off of the Cheyenne Ridge (Wyoming) and Palmer Ridge (Colorado). Our day in Wyoming did not pan out, so I decided to make my way back to Dallas the next day. On the morning of June 4th, I checked the forecast models to see which route back to Dallas from Denver would give me the best option to see severe storms. I-70 through Eastern Colorado and Kansas looked like the best option. Leaving around 2pm MT from Denver, I was in the mode of driving back home. Sitting at the light waiting to make my turn on to I-70 East, I noticed an updraft starting to form in the distance. For about an hour, I was driving parallel to the new storm. I pulled over a few miles south of Limon, Co to watch. After a couple of hours, I moved down the road for a better view. I started Instagram’s Hyperlapse app on my iPhone 6 Plus to capture the rotation of the developing supercell; below is what I posted while on site.

 

A video posted by Kelly DeLay (@kellydelay) on

After I watched the storm for awhile, it looked like it was struggling. There was another storm forming behind the first storm, but I didn’t think I was in good position for the new storm. I needed to get ahead of it. I drove 5 miles back to I-70 E, then another 7 miles to HWY 287 South to get into position. To my surprise, I looked over at the horizon and was stunned to see a tornado on the ground! In the 15 minutes it took to drive to 287 the storm had strengthened into a supercell with a 50 thousand foot-top, and produced a tornado right where I was earlier! I was frustrated to say the least. I turned around to get back on the highway, and of course I get pulled over by the Colorado Highway Patrol for speeding, GAH! I could see the tornado ahead of me in the distance while I waited on the officer to come write me a ticket. He was nice though, he looked at all of my gear inside and said that I must be doing something important. I told him I am a weather photographer, he gave me a warning and let me go, very nice guy! I finally got back down to the point where I was previously. The tornado had already passed the road I was on, now I was behind it. That was ok, because of the direction the storm was moving I was going to have a good view, but I had to get closer; I would also have to endure some hail. Larger baseball-sized hail was closer to the core of the storm, about 5 miles away from me. I was getting hit by golfball-sized hail as I moved closer. I finally saw it, a large cone tornado! The stratus clouds and the rain were starting to clear, giving me an awesome view of the entire storm. I could not believe what I was looking at. I came to a CHP officer stopping people and telling them to turn around (panic set in again). I told him what I was doing there, and that I had experience with storms. He let me slide by and keep going! I pulled up another mile and found a great spot. I knew what I was looking at was just incredible; there are no words to describe it: an isolated supercell with two tornados under it! Thinking back on that moment, all I can remember is chaos. I was upset at myself for moving locations in the first place. I could not believe I got pulled over. It was hailing and raining hard, so I could not hear myself think. Getting my camera out and taking those few first shots gave me some relief, I was extremely happy. I captured the image I always wanted. I sat in the car for a few minutes looking through the images I took. I was looking at the focus, the exposure, etc… making sure I had what I needed before I left. Once I was satisfied, I drove up HWY 24 another mile or so and found a road that was heading back to the East, towards the storm. The cone tornado was still on the ground and it was right in from of me. I was virtually alone on this road because there was still a CHP road block not allowing cars by. knowing I was alone for a while, I turned the car sideways on the road so I could watch and photograph the tornado out the car without getting hailed on (again!). Here is a shot video of my view up the dirt road:  

A video posted by Kelly DeLay (@kellydelay) on

 

Here are a few more shots from this perspective. I was at this spot for about 30 minutes.

6-04-15-Simla, Colorado-V3

Looking down the road at the large supercell with large cone tornado on right and another tornado towards the middle of the base starting to rope out

Simla-CO-sisters-towards-the-end

The supercell is still very strong at this point. The cone tornado is starting to get rain wrapped.

A photo posted by Kelly DeLay (@kellydelay) on

  As if sister tornados were not enough The tornados were starting to get rain wrapped and move away from me, so I continued down this road for several miles. Once I got to the top of the hill, the sun came out and the rainbows started to show themselves. I have seen the “end” of a rainbow once before during a chase, but never one with the perception of being so close. The bright rainbow looked like it was on the hood of my car! Strange and wonderful experience. Then I noticed the tornado again in the distance! I had to drive another half a mile before I could find a place to stop and get out. I ran towards a clearing so I could get a clear view of the tornado and the double rainbows. Looking through my camera and seeing this was pure joy. I could not believe I had witnessed this AND photographed this amazing scene. What a day!

Double Rainbow with Tornado /captured outside of Simla, Colorado, June 4, 2015 - 7:30pm

Double Rainbow with Tornado /captured outside of Simla, Colorado, June 4, 2015 – 7:30pm

  Going Viral Going “viral” is a surreal experience. It had happened to me before with the last image of my Clouds 365 Project, “Storm Chasing Family Portrait” so I had some experience about how to handle it, at least I thought I did. I posted the image first to my personal account on Facebook on Saturday afternoon (6-06-14) and the response was fantastic.

I posted to twitter the following day on Sunday, June 7th ;

Within 10 minutes of posting image directly to Twitter, I was getting non stop retweets for the next 24 hrs.

When I got up the next morning, my inbox had several HUNDRED messages. Most all of them were request to use the image. After a couple of hours answering email, I posted the image to my account on 500px, Flickr and Instagram. A quick shout out to DL and the amazing people at 500px. They went out of their way to let me know the best time and date to post my image so I could get the best coverage. My image was tops on “Popular” for the day, chosen for Editors Choice, DL even did a blog post on ISO.500px.com. I can’t thank 500px enough!

For the next 48 hours, I didn’t get up from my office chair much. I did so many interviews! I was getting messages from friends and family from all over giving me updates where the image was seen. The image was shown on every major network in the US (ABC News, CBS Evening News, Today Show, Fox News), the UK, Canada, Japan, France, Norway, Germany. I did radio interviews for BBC, PBS and the Canadian Broadcast Company. The tweets below are my favorites, but here are a few more places you can see the image and the story that was written: The Washington Post, People.com, Huffington Post, The Weather Channel, Yahoo! / GrindTV, PetaPixel and USA Today
_____

 

 

All I can say is THANK YOU for all of your love and support. I spend a lot of time on the road, away from my family chasing my passion. Days like this make it worth it. Leave me comments below, would love to know your thoughts!

Continue Reading

Photography  /  Storm Chasing
Morgan Mill Supercell
May 14, 2015

Intercepted this beautiful tornado warned supercell just outside of Morgans Mill, Texas last weekend. This storm put down a tornado minutes before we arrived to this point. I was waiting on it to show itself, but it never did. Had to get out fast before the core arrived. I was hearing reports of baseball sized hail, represented by the teal color in the middle of the storm. Very cool tail cloud forming on the horizon. Amazing storm!

5-09-15-MorganMill-Supercell-Pano-4k-marked
Continue Reading

Storm Chasing  /  Weather Photography
Lightning in Throckmorton, Texas
May 12, 2015

This is the time of the year I spend a lot of my time on the road chasing storms. One of my favorite things about chasing storms is lightning photography. We were lucky in intercepting this beautiful tornado warned supercell at twilight outside of one of my favorite places on the Southern Plains, Throckmorton, Texas. The storm was not moving very fast, it was putting out incredible clouds to cloud and cloud to ground lightning and we were no where close to the core of the storm. Score! We were at this location for about a hour photographing the incredible display. Below are my favorite images from the evening. You may click on each image to open a large high res version. Hope you enjoy.

5-06-15-Throckmorton-Supercell-LongExposure-Lightning-V2

Long exposure of Tornado warned supercell putting out amazing lightning

5-06-15-Throvkmorton-Supercell-LongExposure-Lightning-FB

Shorter exposure, higher ISO to get detail in supercell structure. Lightning struck then returned out of the top of the anvil.

My storm chasing vehicle under spider lightning

My storm chasing vehicle under spider lightning

The sky is trying to tell me something

The sky is trying to tell me something

5-06-15-throckmorton-spider-lightning

45 Second exposure of spider lightning over my head

Continue Reading

Images  /  Storm Chasing
Hico, Texas Supercell
April 27, 2015

This tornado warned supercell was one of the best, especially one of the most beautiful storms I have seen in in my years of chasing storms. I intercepted just North of Hico, TX (N. Central Texas). It had produced a tornado just minutes to my arrival. The mesocyclone was rotating very rapidly, I know this storm had produced a tornado minutes before I arrived. There was a strong couplet, so I would not be surprised if there was a tornado wrapped up in the rain. Thanks for stopping by and looking, I will have more in the coming days. Please leave me a message below 🙂

Image by Kelly DeLay

Tornado Warned Supercell – Hico, Texas by Storm Photographer, Kelly DeLay

Continue Reading

Photography  /  Storm Chasing
Road to Nebraska Supercell
October 9, 2014

Amazing view of a supercell that started to line out and merge with another storm at sunset, it had a impressive shelf cloud. This was one of the best storms we chased earlier this year. Captured outside of Ogallala, Nebraska

Continue Reading

Photography  /  Storm Chasing
Panoramic Storm Moving Away
September 17, 2014

Earlier this year, I chased this storm around the Lake Brownwood area with a few friends. We stopped to watch this huge storm move away from us. This is 15 images stitched together, almost at 180Ëš to make this panorama.

[alert type=”note”]

View this panoramic image larger on SmugMug

[/alert]

Continue Reading

Photography  /  Storm Chasing
Dissipating Supercell – Throckmorton, TX
September 12, 2014

One of my favorites from earlier this year. This storm was dissipating and moving away from us outside of Throckmorton, Texas. My favorite place to watch storms 🙂
Continue Reading

Page 1 of 4