Bugs, Macrophotography, and Possible End of the Drought?

Morning Macrophotography.  Took the puppy for a walk and noticed ants on the Trumpet Vines, also they were covered in Ladybugs.

One of those, "Daddy, what is that?" Bugs

 Then in the evening noticed a huge anvil overhead.  Had to rush out and get the combine at dusk with a storm in the background, required in a Kansas Photographer Portfolio.

The storms stayed to the west of Wichita and dissipated.

 I could only see a couple brief flashes of lightning, but heard distant thunder.

Wheat's ready

Thunderbird?

Just a Nice Thunderstorm

After all the bad weather in Oklahoma recently and the loss of some great storm chasers at the top of their game, it's nice to have a nice summer storm come through without huge amounts of wind or hail.

I went out to one of my typical locations a couple miles north of Kechi and attached the lightning detector to the camera.  Lightning was a little close.

I believe this is positive stroke lightning that struck around 2 miles to the NW of my location.  There were multiple flashes of the lightning although I think I caught 3 of the same bolt.  This lightning can create close to 300,000 amps and 1,000,000,000 volts.










More lightning facts: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jetstream/lightning/positive.htm

Sunday, April 19th Sedgwick Co. Tornado Warning

Last Sunday, April 19th Sedgwick Co. was hit by a tornado warned storm.  The storm produced a brief tornado only 2 miles from the National Weather Service office in Wichita near the airport.

The storm produced a hook echo that my brother and I chased, but there was a series of unfortunate events that put us in the middle of the storm vs. where we wanted to be.  The tornado only stayed on the ground briefly but the area of rotation continued through the city.
As we chased near downtown, the rain and hail became heavy enough that visibility went to almost nil.  With the rotation being less than 2 miles to the east of our location, we ended up ditching the chase at my brother's company near old town and waited out the storm.  There was no tornado damage in Wichita, but some very strong straight lined winds and hail, broke windows, blew down fences, and beat up a lot of property in Bel Aire and NW Wichita.

Taken by Ruminator Heather Larson in Downtown Wichita.
To the right of center appears to be a rainwrapped funnel.

Several storm cells popped up around the original tornado warned storms producing interesting clouds but no more tornadoes.

Hail from Northeast Wichita

I like how you can see the different layers in the hail stone.

Power line over at Woodlawn and 45th in Bel Aire (Looking South down Oliver).

 I probably would have posted these sooner but with the apocalyptical damage coming out of Moore, Oklahoma, decided to wait.

Storms 05/08/2013 finally . . .

This seasons been quiet.  Eerily quiet.  Maybe not Eerily, more like boringly on the weather front.  Usually this would be the height of the storm chase season and this was my 3rd chase in a lame storm season.  Storms didn't seem to have much punch to them and the primary threat from the first round was 1/4" hail, with a couple interesting SCUDS floating around.  

Greenwich and 96th

Hail coming in on the right.

 Then as this storm passed to the north of Wichita.  I Another system came in from the west. This storm brought about 50 mph but not much more.

Lightning was fairly close, so I didn't use the tripod.  Notice the tiny bolt of lightning on the right.

With the large shelf cloud moving in quickly, I finally grabbed the tripod and took a quick panoramic before the winds hit.  Late April and Early May usually brings the strong storms, afterwards we have the lazy summer squall lines.

Storms?

I heard thunder off in the distance last night and there is a chance of strong to severe storms today. Just a chance.

It's Been a Slow Start

Weather has been fickle.  Here we are on April 14, and really only one marginal severe thunderstorm warning that crashed and burned slowly after being issued.  Last week came a group of storms that woke everyone up, then turned to sleet and ice.

We are still in the clutches of a winter that won't go away, but everything is starting to turn green.  Storms are expected today in front of a cold front, we will see what happens.

Ice and Lightning

The first big stormy week of chase season was a bust. Storms either didn't show up or turned into ice spewing monsters. The following photos were taken today in the Wichita area after a half inch glaze.