Marginally severe high-based summer storms developed along a slow-moving front across southwestern NE. Storms were most photogenic from Atwood to Colby with highly-contrasted rain/hail shafts, rain-foots, and a brief ominous looking wall cloud north of Colby.

I spent several hours around the Monument Rocks very early the morning of July 17th photographing in pre-dawn light (or non-light!). I experimented with flash-light illumination a bit. After this, I set out north to get positioned for a storm chase later on this day. See 2008 Chases section for more on this chase.

Chase Trip 2008 -- Day 9. Vince and I intercepted the western edge of a cluster of severe thunderstorms including a couple supercells. We experienced an encounter with a strong gustnado or small/weak tornado at the leading edge of a gust front just outside of Eagle Butte. Later, we followed the storm south photographing structure to sunset. We also photographed a highly electrified storm Cb after dark near Hayes.

Chase Trip 2008 -- Day 8. This was one of the more adrenaline-filled chases of the trip, largely due to the long-stretch of unpaved roads we took precariously close to storms. Vince and I took a scenic ranch road south of Boyes, MT admiring a beautiful sky at sunset to the west. One of the finer moments of the trip occurred when we came across a trio of mule deer bucks with velvet antlers in the green landscape with a dramatic sky backdrop. We made it to Alzada after a long white-knuckling drive on Ridge Road barely ahead of the advancing storm.