Kevin Palmer

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  • Large hail began to fall from this supercell north of Gillette, with rays of sunlight in the background.
    Suspended Hail Stones
  • It was an intimidating sight watching this monster barrel towards me. It’s amazing how something can be so beautiful and so destructive at the same time. Within minutes the sky changed from bright and sunny to black and the quiet turned into a roaring wind. This supercell first formed in Montana, before charging southeast along the Black Hills. Enhanced wind shear next to the mountains helped sculpt the clouds into this ominous structure. 2 tornadoes were reported, the first knocked down swaths of forest, while the second destroyed buildings farther east. Experts disagree on why exactly some storms appear green. But it is a good indication that a storm reaches high into the atmosphere and contains much precipitation, which often includes hail. At the time of this shot hail stones 3-4” in diameter were falling just a few miles away in downtown Rapid City. As much as I wanted to stay and time lapse this scene, I continued to flee south instead out of the damage path. I've found my windshield to be more effective when it stays in one piece.
    Ominous Green
  • Paved roads were few and far between. Cell phone signal was non-existent. Hills and bluffs sometimes blocked the view. Mosquitoes swarmed around me and stubborn cows formed a roadblock. These are some of the challenges of chasing storms in Montana. Elsewhere crowds of storm chasers may converge on a supercell. But here it’s not uncommon to be the only one on a storm, and I feel an extra responsibility to report what I see to the National Weather Service. When everything comes together just right the supercells here can be truly incredible. This storm first went up over the Crazy Mountains before tracking east along the Musselshell River, into a part of Big Sky Country I’d never been. It was one of the roundest, most obviously rotating supercells I've ever seen. Evening sunlight snuck in underneath to turn the hail shaft gold. Just when the storm was at its most photogenic I came upon this scene of an abandoned house on the open prairie. It was exactly what I was looking for.
    Melstone Supercell
  • As this supercell continued south of Sundance, it took on a very blue coloring. At the time it was dropping baseball-sized hail, which accumulated on the highway.
    Blue Ice Machine
  • Outside of St Onge, this supercell started showing some ominous structure. It would soon be dropping very large hail and a tornado.
    Fleeing the Storm
  • The dark core of this hail storm near Gillette contrasted with the sunlight across the hills.
    Ensuing Darkness
  • A wall cloud descends behind Crow Peak in the Black Hills. Not long afterwards a tornado would knock down parts of the forest.
    Crow Peak Wall Cloud
  • After the main storm cleared out, this mini supercell popped up in the Black Hills behind it. It briefly reached severe limits before weakening.
    Black Hills Mini Supercell
  • This storm was at my heels, but I had to make a quick stop for this view near Whitewood before getting on I-90. A tornado warning was issued a few minutes later.
    Acorn Ridge Road
  • This rainbow appeared in a small thunderstorm just outside of Sheridan. I used a telephoto lens to get a close-up view as it changed by the second.
    Hailbow
  • This rainbow appeared in a small thunderstorm just outside of Sheridan. I used a telephoto lens to get a close-up view as it changed by the second.
    Color Beams
  • This severe, slow-moving thunderstorm in northeast Wyoming was fascinating to watch. It was showing broad rotation, and was a prolific hail producer. I had to wait for the hail to move away from Highway 112 before I drove any further. Once I went north I found hail stones 2 inches wide which would have damaged my vehicle.
    Hulett Hailer
  • The air felt heavy and still. As it rotated closer, this supercell seemed to grow wings. Within a couple of minutes Sundance Mountain was swallowed up by the precipation core. The 'calm before the storm' does not happen with every storm, but when it does it's very noticeable. Then a giant bolt of lightning struck out of frame, with a deafening thunder shattering the silence. An errant hailstone, big enough to leave a bruise, bounced off of the ground with a thud. It was time to move. This cell turned out to be an ice machine, piling up baseball-sized hail on the road, and making the temperature plummet which created hail fog. Chasing storms in and around the Black Hills has it's challenges. Winding roads through hilly terrain makes viewpoints limited and cell signal sporadic. But when everything comes together just right, the structure and color of the storms around here are incredible.
    Swallowing Mountains Whole
  • On my way back from South Dakota I had a chance to intercept this severe storm at Devils Tower. I got there in time to watch the shelf cloud roll by over the tower. This storm was a prolific hail producer. I misjudged the movement of the storm and ended up getting caught on the edge of the hail core as I fled east towards Sundance. Golf ball-sized chunks of ice left additional dents in my car. But I got off easy, there were a lot of cars with smashed windshields. Hailstones up to 4.5" in size damaged crops further east where the storm also produced a tornado.
    Dark Sky Over Tower
  • It was a very hot summer day in Illinois with oppressive humidity and extremely unstable air. At 5PM this storm exploded into existence near Utica and in less than an hour it was dropping 4" hail. After leaving the storm to cross the Illinois River and avoid getting caught in the hail, I met back up with it here. The supercell was showing some of the best structure I've seen with an obvious spiral shape. The clear slot caused by the rear flank downdraft made it easy to pinpoint where a potential tornado would form. A likely funnel cloud can be seen just above the distant group of trees. But even though conditions in the upper atmosphere were more than enough to support a tornado, the winds at the surface were too weak. I followed the supercell for most of it's life cycle but nothing ever touched down.
    Red Barn Supercell
  • On my way back from South Dakota I had a chance to intercept this severe storm at Devils Tower. I got there in time to watch the shelf cloud roll by over the tower. This storm was a prolific hail producer. I misjudged the movement of the storm and ended up getting caught on the edge of the hail core as I fled east towards Sundance. Golf ball-sized chunks of ice left additional dents in my car. But I got off easy, there were a lot of cars with smashed windshields. Hailstones up to 4.5" in size damaged crops further east where the storm also produced a tornado.
    Tower and Storm
  • With severe weather in the forecast, I headed downstate to do some storm chasing. This cell formed over the Laramie Mountains before pushing east onto the High Plains. At first it took it's time maturing. But just before 4PM it transformed from an ok looking storm into this in only 10 minutes. As the storm moved into a better wind shear environment, it turned into a mothership supercell displaying very impressive structure. I was mesmerized watching it roll across the Nebraska stateline outside of La Grange. Despite the ominous and otherworldly look, the storm wasn't severe at this time. As it passed over me it brought small hail and blowing dust with lots of tumbleweeds.
    Mothership Supercell
  • The remnants of a low-precipitation supercell moves past a prairie outside of Norfolk, Nebraska. This storm dropped large hail earlier on, but started to die shortly before the sun set. After watching the sun slip beneath the horizon in the other direction, I went up the road a little bit and came across this stunning sky. I was fortunate to find these purple wildflowers on the side of the road to include in the foreground. The sun sets late here this time of year, this was shot after 9:00.
    Dying Beauty
  • An updraft is a rising current of air that often leads to thunderstorms. The updraft of a developed storm is also the most active part with large raindrops and hailstones constantly rising and falling. As the rain and hail collide, this creates an electric field and eventually lightning. As the sun set, it gave this storm a beautiful orange color and highlighted the details and the structure.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: May 3, 2012
    Heart of an Updraft
  • A supercell lurked in the darkness. Every few seconds a flash would illuminate the thundercloud and show a silhouette of the sharp spires of the Badlands. This was the 4th storm I watched this evening. Rumbles of thunder slowly grew louder as yet another storm approached from the west and threatened to block the view of this one. Badlands National Park is one of my favorite places to capture storms. Even when they’re 100 miles away, the views here are excellent. And distant storms are preferred when I’m camping. The Badlands are very exposed to the elements. There is no escaping the rain, wind, and mud. An earlier downpour soaked me to the skin but the wind that followed dried me in minutes. The mud is the type that cakes to the bottom of your shoes making every footstep heavier. But a few hours in the hot sun and the mud is baked dry. At the time of this picture tennis-ball sized hail was reported in the Pine Ridge Reservation to the south. The lights are from the metropolis of Interior, population 94. The lightning was mostly cloud-to-cloud; this was the only strike I captured out of 500 shots.
    Strike Beyond Interior
  • I couldn’t let NEOWISE leave without trying to capture it over Devils Tower. But this wasn’t the shot I had in mind. The forecast called for mostly clear skies after earlier severe weather exited. But sometimes what actually happens is so much better than what I can imagine. This supercell popped up to the west around 10PM and the anvil quickly blocked out the comet. But then just as the storm was showing its best mothership structure during a close encounter with the tower, a hole in the clouds opened up. It was perfectly placed to reveal the comet once again for just a few minutes. It’s a good thing that most of the lightning was intracloud. If bolts of lightning were jumping out they would have been too bright to expose for the comet. Every single flash highlighted or backlit a different part of the storm. While the lightning continued for most of the night, I was glad the large hail stayed away. I didn’t want to test the hailproofness of my tent.
    A Hole in the Clouds
  • On Memorial Day I spent the afternoon following multiple supercells, funnel clouds, and tornadoes across the high plains of Colorado. After a long day I was ready to head for home. But at 7PM the atmosphere still wasn’t done producing. This last storm spun up near the town of Wray. It displayed some impressive structure as it passed over the hills covered with sage brush and yucca. The NWS surprisingly issued a tornado warning for this cell, but nothing came of it. Most of the day had been fast-paced and hectic, dodging hail while surrounded by crowds of chasers there for the same reason. But now it was quiet and peaceful. This was the perfect storm to end the day with before beginning the long drive back.
    Wray Supercell
  • On this late June day in central Montana, I didn’t think I would end up with any storm pictures. Just as the storms started firing at 5PM my car suffered a flat tire. After all the miles I’ve driven while stormchasing, it was bound to happen eventually. But thankfully this cell took it’s time and let me get my spare on before I could catch back up. Near the aptly named town of Grass Range, the sun came out as the rain and hail moved to the north. The golden light contrasted with the cool blues on the other side of the sky. Outflow winds gave meaning to the term (not yet amber) "waves of grain". I tried to use a long enough exposure to show some of this movement in the wheat. From here it would be a long 250 mile drive home on a donut tire.
    Waves of Grain
  • The radar showed hail up to softball sized falling in this area. But I was glad for these horses sake that it missed them.
    Wet Horse Rainbow
  • This severe thunderstorm rolled through Sheridan at the end of July, bringing heavy rain, strong winds, and hail. This was the view from the rest stop.
    Sheridan Rainfoot
  • Mid-June brought a tornado outbreak on the high plains with dozens of twisters reported in 4 states. I intercepted this strongly rotating mesocyclone while tornado sirens went off in Fort Laramie (the very first settlement in Wyoming according to the sign). Storm chasing in Wyoming is different than in other places. Because roads are so few and far between, it's unlikely that you'll be able to follow a storm for very long. Instead you have to anticipate the storm's movement so you can get ahead of it while staying aware of all the paved road options and escape routes. Then you just have to hope to get some good shots before losing the storm in a roadless area. On the lower right a funnel can be seen under the tightening wall cloud. Even though I didn't see it touch the ground, the time corresponds with a tornado reported to the southwest. After this I packed up my tripod and left in a hurry as small hail began to fall. This supercell had already dropped massive grapefruit-sized (4.5") hailstones and I prefer to keep my windshield intact.
    Funnel and Mesocyclone
  • I wasn't expecting to be back at Devil's Tower so soon but this was an opportunity I just couldn't pass up. I spent the evening chasing a supercell past the tower to the Montana border where it dropped hail larger than golf balls. Then I headed back to the tower just in case any new storms popped up. When I got there, lightning was beginning to flash from a new thunderstorm to the west, just like I had hoped. When rain began to fall I went and stood under the back door of my car to shoot pictures. The lightning wasn't all that frequent and it was challenging to get the exposure right. In between flashes, the light level would go from pitch black to practically burning my retina. When the rain let up a little, I went and stood in the middle of the dirt road. That's when this bolt filled the sky, perfectly placed above the tower. It's certainly the best foreground I've ever had for a lightning picture and I may have cheered after it happened.
    Awestruck
  • I got to Hulett just in time to watch two supercells pass to the north and to the south. Both of them had tornado warnings, and both produced very large hail. From the top of this bluff I had an excellent view of Devils Tower and the Missouri Buttes. It was almost a once in a lifetime chance to capture a tornado over the tower, but it didn't happen. It was still an awesome sight though.
    Making the Tower Look Small
  • This supercell dropped hail the size of baseballs and brought a good lightning show as it got closer.
    Cloud Piercer
  • In this part of Montana there’s a whole lot of nothing. The sprawling ranches have more acreage than many towns. I’ve previously driven hours along this road east of Decker without seeing another human. You're more likely to encounter wildlife such as pronghorn antelope, which I've raced across these plains and found that they really can run 60 mph. On a warm August evening I followed this storm for awhile. The radar showed it was producing hail the size of baseballs. But since the core passed through a roadless area, any severe weather went unseen and unreported. Abandoned houses are not hard to find as they are more common than lived-in houses. By now I know where most of them are so I kept driving until I could shoot the storm above this one. When the evening sun came out it highlighted the puffy cumulonimbus clouds receding into the distance. The white containers next to the tree are bee hive boxes. I've noticed them popping up more and more across Montana as it's one of the top honey-producing states.
    Home On the Range
  • Near Kinsey, Montana, I found myself in between a wall cloud from a stationary supercell and an advancing gust front from an MCS. Eventually the gust front overtook the wall cloud and everything merged together. At this point it was very windy with lots of dust in the air, but I had to get a couple last shots before the rain started. I was glad I wasn't in the precipitation core on the left since 2.5" hail and flooding was reported there.
    Kinsey Wall Cloud
  • It had been 7 months since I've even heard thunder here in Wyoming. But early May finally brought the first decent thunderstorm of the year. Throughout the evening clouds built up over the Bighorn Mountains before the storm descended and hit Sheridan after 8PM. The high moisture content combined with late evening sunlight behind the storm gave the clouds a greenish-blue tint. The storm wasn't severe, but it brought frequent lightning, small hail, and a drenching rain that made the already flooded Big Goose Creek rise even higher. The photogenic shelf cloud ahead of the rain core showed some impressive structure as it was sculpted by wind shear above.
    Big Goose Storm
  • At the end of April, I went out to photograph severe storms to the northwest of my town. I found myself in the area of Snakeden Hollow State Park, a place that I've always wanted to check out. So I went into the park and waited as the severe squall line approached. Seconds after this was taken, heavy rain and hail started falling along with strong winds and lightning.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: April 28, 2014
    Snakeden Gale
  • Anytime I’m out storm chasing, I love finding some old structure such as a church, barn or abandoned house. Buildings that have weathered many storms, bare the scars, but still stand. This little white church I came across outside of Wolf Point, Montana. A shelf cloud was closing in from the west. It seemed to be approaching rapidly, but at the same time in slow motion. The storm stalled out over town. Excessive rainfall brought street flooding and left drifts of dirty hail on the highway. As it got closer the sky turned green, reflecting the suspended hailstones above. When the gust front finally arrived, it turned brown as winds picked up dust from the surrounding fields. A wind gust of 86mph was reported.
    Prevailing Church
  • 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
  • A bolt of lightning jumps out of the gust front of a severe thunderstorm in South Dakota. This was one of my final shots before taking shelter in my car to escape the close lightning and 1.5" hail.
    Out of the Gust Front
  • After driving for over 5 hours I finally reached the edge of this powerful supercell just west of Faith, South Dakota. The shelf cloud looked amazing, backlit by the sunset and spitting out lots of lightning bolts. Once the storm hit it brought 1.5" hail which left some dents in my car.
    Faith Supercell
  • A severe thunderstorm roars across a corn field near Vale, South Dakota. Corn fields are not common in this area, it almost felt like I was back chasing in Illinois. Minutes earlier, 79 mph winds were recorded with this gust front in nearby Belle Fourche. The ragged, detached clouds underneath the storm (known as scud) were rapidly rising into the storm's updraft. I tried to get as close as I could to the core of the storm without getting pummeled by the 2" hail, which my car would not have liked.
    Under the Rising Scud
  • A severe thunderstorm approaches the farmland near Edgington, Illinois. This storm brought strong winds, large hail, and frequent lightning as it marched across Iowa and crossed the Mississippi River a few miles away.<br />
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Date Taken: May 12, 2014
    Edgington Squall
  • With a cold rain turning into accumulating hail, and lightning striking nearby it wasn't exactly the best weather for fishing. Park Reservoir, located at 8200' in the Bighorn Mountains was just barely reachable, with snow melting off of the rough road days earlier. But soon after arriving here, this storm started brewing before noon. I took shelter in my car to avoid the nearby bolts, but left my camera outside to shoot a time lapse. Lightning is not that difficult to capture at night, but during the day it's a lot harder. With the average bolt lasting for 30 microseconds, and using a shutter speed of 1/320 of a second, the chances of capturing lightning on camera were astronomically small. But after looking at the images later, I found that my camera had somehow captured a strike on the far left. The tree that was struck can even be seen going up in flames, but the rain put it out immediately.
    Striking A Tree
  • On June 3rd, a derecho formed in Nebraska and moved across Iowa causing plenty of wind and hail damage. By the time it reached Central Illinois after midnight it had weakened. Spring Lake was hit by the northern part which wasn't as severe. But it still displayed some nice structure and put on a good lightning show.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: June 4, 2014
    Illuminated Shelf
  • A severe thunderstorm quickly approaches over a farm field. The red color underneath is from dust kicked up by the 60+ mph winds. The storm also brought large hail, heavy rain, and lots of lightning.<br />
<br />
Date Taken: May 19, 2013
    Approach of a Monster
  • This severe thunderstorm rolled through Sheridan at the end of July, bringing heavy rain, strong winds, and hail. This was the view from the rest stop.
    Rain's Edge
  • While my main camera took a time lapse, I used my backup camera to take a few additional shots of the lightning to the west. The lightning was very frequent and I stayed out as long as I could until taking shelter in my car. This storm brought 1.5" hail which left some dents on my car.
    The Other Side of Sunset
  • The last Sunday of April brought the first thunderstorm of the year. After getting hailed on while hiking, I found a place to shoot the storm near Big Horn. These 3 horses seemed unfazed by the threatening sky and mammatus clouds above them.
    Horses and Mammatus