May 1, 2008 Osage Co. Oklahoma
We left Norman around 3pm and raced northeast to Tulsa with a plan of continuing north into southeast Kansas. Near Bartlesville, OK we noticed a few towers going up across the border and soon a few good storms formed.
I intercepted this tornado warned cell west of Independence, KS. Things started to become linear and we noticed the cells starting to form in Oklahoma to our south. After making the decision to drop south, I pulled over to get some impressive mammatus shots.
This short stop eventually made us miss any daylight opportunities at a nice tornado in Pawnee and Osage counties in Oklahoma but oh well...
We continued south and made it south of Pawhuska, OK around 9pm and watched as a tornado warned supercell made its way north and east towards us. The storm had plenty of lightning, not many GC's though, so we attempted to shot and hope for the best. Shortly after 9pm, we thought we noticed a tornado just beyond the tree-line but could not confirm it. A few minutes later, a nicely placed lightning strike and a power-flash exposed the tornado in the dark. Pictures didn't turn out great because I handheld all of the shots at 8-10 second shutter speeds.
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The tornado can be seen here, illuminated from the power-flash.
Capturethestorm.com Copyright 2008 Sam Dienst