Kevin Palmer

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  • I struggled to even get my car door open as dark clouds surged across the sky. Waves moving across the grass made it look more like an angry ocean than a wheat field. It would take a dozen tries in these strong outflow winds before I could get a picture that wasn't completely blurry. The storm seemed to be saying, "eat my dust," which got in my eyes and left them irritated the rest of the day. Minutes later this mountain would vanish, gobbled up by the shelf cloud. This chase at the end of June was probably my most intense of 2019. This supercell had it all: powerful lightning, large hail, hurricane force winds and a couple of tornadoes. The cell formed slowly at first in the Little Belt Mountains of Central Montana. But once it descended onto the plains, it was off to the races. I couldn't stop for more than a few minutes at a time before being overtaken again. It was well into Canada and North Dakota before it ran out of steam the next morning.
    Dusty Outflow Winds
  • This severe thunderstorm developed rapidly east of Sheridan. Usually lightning is very difficult to capture during the day. But it was frequent enough that my camera captured 3 bolts in the time lapse.
    Dusty Strike
  • This shelf cloud first blew over me outside of Jordan, Montana. It was very dusty and windy.
    Jordan Derecho
  • It’s a beautiful time of year around here. Every day the hills get a little greener and the snowline in the mountains climbs a little higher. Last week I hiked to the top of this hill near Dayton to watch the sunset. From here the northern end of the Bighorn Mountains can be seen stretching into Montana. Just as the sky was at it’s most colorful I started hearing the sound of hooves pounding the dirt in the distance. The sound got closer until one cow after another came running down the hillside on the other side of the fence. This continued for several minutes as I soon lost count. At the end was a cowboy on an ATV with his dog chasing the last few members of the herd. It was loud, dusty, and smelly, but fun to watch. I had no idea a cattle drive was going to happen, but don’t think I could have planned it better if I tried. It was probably the Wyomingest sunset I’ve ever seen.
    Cattle Drive Sunset
  • On the road to Courthouse and Jail Rock I stopped to photograph these horses in the evening light. They were very friendly, walking right up to the fence as soon as they saw me.
    Friendly Nebraska Horses
  • The horizontal cloud stretching out from the supercell is known as a beaver tail. It is formed from moist inflow winds feeding into the storm. The winds were very strong as you can see from all the dust picked up underneath. There was a tornado ongoing at this time which damaged 2 homesteads near the Nebraska/Wyoming border. But it wasn't visible from my location and I couldn't get any closer because there weren't any roads heading east.
    Beaver Tail
  • I spent Memorial Day chasing storms across the Colorado High Plains. Colorado may not be the first state people think of when it comes to tornadoes. But it actually sees more than 50 a year on average, mostly in the eastern third of the state. Upslope flow causes storms to fire when moist southeasterly winds encounter the Rockies. The Palmer Divide is a ridge east of the Front Range and it creates what's known as the Denver Convergence Vorticity Zone. The changing winds in the DCVZ generates extra spin which makes storms rotate. But many of the tornadoes are weak and short-lived, at least they were on this day. Of the 3 possible twisters I saw, none of them were very clear. This was taken near Holyoke when swirling dust appeared underneath a funnel.
    Holyoke Tornado
  • Tucked away in a dusty corner of northwest Nebraska, the Toadstool Geological Area is a place very different than the rest of the state. It's similar to the Badlands of South Dakota, yet different. The badlands and geological formations here are very brittle and are constantly changing and being weathered away. Many of the toadstool formations that the park is named after are no longer standing.
    Toadstool Moon
  • A flowering yucca plant stands out among the swaying grass in the sunrise light. Tucked away in a dusty corner of northwest Nebraska, the Toadstool Geological Area is a place very different than the rest of the state. It's similar to the Badlands of South Dakota, yet different. The badlands and geological formations here are very brittle and are constantly changing and being weathered away. Many of the toadstool formations that the park is named after are no longer standing.
    Yucca Badlands Sunrise
  • Tucked away in a dusty corner of northwest Nebraska, the Toadstool Geological Area is a place very different than the rest of the state. It's similar to the Badlands of South Dakota, yet different. The badlands and geological formations here are very brittle and are constantly changing and being weathered away. Many of the toadstool formations that the park is named after are no longer standing.
    Jumbled Toadstool Rocks
  • This dusty elephant trunk tornado dropped outside of McCook, Nebraska. It was one of many that formed from a long-track cyclic supercell. After firing on the dry line in Kansas, it tracked for nearly 200 miles. Researchers that are part of the TORUS project surrounded the twisters with a fleet of radar, drones, weather balloons, and other instruments. A NOAA P3 aircraft, which is typically used to fly into hurricanes, could be seen overhead circling this storm and gathering data. Altogether this was one of the most well studied and documented supercells yet. The tornadoes left some damage behind, including downed power lines across the road which ended my chase. But there were no reported injuries, which is always good news. Even though I wish I would have done some things differently, I'm just glad to have been there.
    Elephant Trunk Tornado