Going to NAB? Got a week spare afterwards and fancy something different? Why not join me on a Storm Chasing adventure. I will be taking a very small group tornado chasing between April 13th and April 20th. This is the start of the tornado season in the USA and in recent years this time of year has seen some very big tornado outbreaks. Now unlike the typical thrill seeker tornado trips that try to get as close as possible to the tornadoes my aim is to get into the best positions for beautiful and awe inspiring shots of the storms and tornadoes. This may mean hanging back just a little bit to give ourselves time to get tripods out and get stable properly exposed high quality video and stills. I have absolutely no desire to actually get into a tornado or be so close that you can never stop.
In addition I will be looking for opportunities to capture time-lapse of developing storms, beautiful storm structures and spectacular lightning. It should be noted however that sometimes, in order to get a decent view of a tornado we may need to get quite close, but I will not deliberately enter into poor visibility or any other high risk situation.
As part of the trip I will provide tuition and assistance for anyone that needs it. We can look at camera set-ups, picture profiles, time-lapse techniques and any other aspect of video production. The cost of the trip is $1,900 USD which includes accommodation. We normally stay in mid budget motels. Food and drink is not included and you will need to make your own way to/from Dallas, Texas, arriving in Dallas on the 13th of April and Departing Dallas on the 21st of April.
What can you expect to see? Well, there are no guarantees. We are at the mercy of the weather, but it is tornado season. I would expect to see impressive “Supercell” thunderstorms that twist and turn, towering from a base at 1,500ft all the way up to 70,000 ft. I would expect to see spectacular lightning from these storms both from cloud to ground as well as across the vast spreading anvils of these storms. I would not be at all surprised to encounter large hail, maybe golfball or bigger (although I try to avoid any direct encounters with hail bigger than golf balls). There may be haboob dust storms, damaging straight line winds and if we are lucky tornadoes.
Where will we go? Who knows, the only thing I do know is that we will start and finish in Dallas. I will make a daily weather forecast and we will go to the area that offers the best prospect of seeing storms. In April this usually means travelling around the states of New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma, but it would not surprise me if we end up in Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska or Iowa. There is often a lot of driving, but that is part of the adventure, a road trip across the mid-west seeing small western towns, the vast prairies and cattle ranches.
If your interested please use the contact form to send me a message.
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