Storms
Stormy weather is our passion. We photograph it because we wish to express to others what we feel standing under the storm, whipped by the wind, and drenched by the rain. Add drama to your life, bring our storms into your home as art quality prints!
Ropeout
Artist: Bill Reid. The Chugwater, Wyoming, tornado of July 4, 2019, put on quite a show from our vantage point. Our Tempest Tours group targeted southeastern Wyoming this day, and we positioned well east of an isolated supercell by mid-afternoon. The storm moved to the ESE, and as it neared and as rain impacted our viewing spot, we needed to find a better place from which to monitor. I decided to "home in" on the action area of the updraft base as it neared Interstate 25 south of Chugwater. We came upon a little hillock a mile west of the Interstate. This spot looked great to watch the storm pass by just to our north. And, almost perfectly and unbelievably, the storm produced a long-lived tornado feast for our eyes and camera lenses soon after we stopped.
This image is of the "ropeout" stage at the end of the tornado's life. A large RFD (rear-flank downdraft) has cleared out any and all intervening debris clouds, leaving the stark scene of the tornado and the backside of the updraft above the empty Wyoming prairie.
