High Plains Drifter

After waiting patiently all afternoon along highway 26 in Goshen County, WY, I intercepted 3 severe storms that were briefly marginal supercellular in structure that first initiated off the mountains west of I-25 early in the evening.  The first storm was west of I-25 to the northwest of Chugwater, WY.  I managed to get a couple good cloud-to-ground images with the storm’s updraft using the lightning trigger.  I sat at a parking area along the interstate for a good half hour or so watching this storm approach.  This storm weakened and another more formidable severe storm/marginal supercell formed to the southeast of this one near Chugwater.  I took the desolate highway 313 east, which ended up being a perfect road for this storm intercept as it was basically following me down the road.  A classic, high-contrast rain-foot developed at the southern edge of the precipitation core near the updraft/downdraft interface.  The sounds and smells to go along with the sights of this storm.  This was the reason I took this trip!!  This storm also waned, but yet a third storm with some supercell structure formed southeast of this one… to the west and northwest of LaGrange (this is the area where Vortex-2 intercepted the long-lived tornado back on June 5th).  At sunset, the blues, oranges, and violets were vivid.  Fantastic color.   I continued to photograph this storm after dark as it rolled east into Nebraska to the northwest of Harrisburg.  Below is a sample of images from this chase: