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Wow! Had a really cool chance to chase a storm that was as lazy as I am! This huge behemoth just lumbered along at a leisurely pace flexing its muscles every so often and then receding. It looks like a beast but it was kind of a kitten--there was lots of rain and tennis ball size hail reported at one point. It carried a tornado warning at several points too but non formed that anyone (including me) saw. It certainly had the rotation at the base to form one. This storm just hung around Bear Butte State Park near Sturgis, South Dakota all afternoon before easing off to the east. It seemed to me that it was caught in some kind of atmospheric eddy as all the other storms in the area were racing off to the northeast.

This storm must have been very enticing as there must have been 100 storm chasers following along. There were chasers from as far away as Tennessee and Texas and locals like myself. I stopped and talked with a few of them and they all agreed that it was one of the most photogenic storms they had encountered this year, but not terribly exciting.

Not a lot of lightning with this one--I guess that's one of the disappointing things for me--but the structure of the storm was beautiful! this is one of the first shots I took and couldn't resist the opportunity to have the Doppler Radar tower north of New Underwood, S.D. in the foreground. I've not shot many structures with that 11-16 lens and I've tried to do some perspective correction but the tower still leans into the shot, but I like the distortion--like it's being sucked into the maw of the maelstrom!

It was a fun chase and I've got a couple more shots to share from it later.

Description
Wow! Had a really cool chance to chase a storm that was as lazy as I am! This huge behemoth just lumbered along at a leisurely pace flexing its muscles every so often and then receding. It looks like a beast but it was kind of a kitten--there was lots of rain and tennis ball size hail reported at one point. It carried a tornado warning at several points too but non formed that anyone (including me) saw. It certainly had the rotation at the base to form one. This storm just hung around Bear Butte State Park near Sturgis, South Dakota all afternoon before easing off to the east. It seemed to me that it was caught in some kind of atmospheric eddy as all the other storms in the area were racing off to the northeast.

This storm must have been very enticing as there must have been 100 storm chasers following along. There were chasers from as far away as Tennessee and Texas and locals like myself. I stopped and talked with a few of them and they all agreed that it was one of the most photogenic storms they had encountered this year, but not terribly exciting.

Not a lot of lightning with this one--I guess that's one of the disappointing things for me--but the structure of the storm was beautiful! this is one of the first shots I took and couldn't resist the opportunity to have the Doppler Radar tower north of New Underwood, S.D. in the foreground. I've not shot many structures with that 11-16 lens and I've tried to do some perspective correction but the tower still leans into the shot, but I like the distortion--like it's being sucked into the maw of the maelstrom!

It was a fun chase and I've got a couple more shots to share from it later.