Storm Chasing in the Black Hills

All afternoon on Monday I had been listening to the weather forecasts calling for a high chance of thunderstorms and rain. I had an appointment to shoot a softball game in Rapid City at 7:00 PM, so on the chance that the game was canceled due to the developing storms, I invited a couple of storm fanatical friends, Kym and Gail, along with the hopes that we could get some good lightning or cloud shots in after the game. Luck was on our side, and we had storm cells developing all around us. The hardest part was deciding which way to go! We headed towards Hermosa, which was promising for some spectacular lightning, and sounded safer than the high winds and baseball-sized hail that was being reported towards the Wyoming border, which we heard later turned into a tornado that destroyed three homes.

I do tend to get sidetracked easily...we had some time to kill before the softball game so we went for a stroll by Canyon Lake Park looking for a pair of Kingfishers we had seen there earlier, but found this beautiful lily instead!

North of Hermosa
The storm was dissipating towards Hermosa, but the radar was showing red north and west of Rapid again, so we turned and headed back into Rapid and decided to check the view from Skyline Drive.





The skies are clearing and the stars are coming out!
I think we spent more time dodging the rain and running for the Denali than we did shooting (or at least the two of us who were out in the rain did!)...but it was a great time! Our "driver" chose to observe the storm from the safety and dryness of the inside of the vehicle! It was a great time, and I anxiously await our next excursion!

All fun aside, my sincere condolences go out to the families that lost their homes and their possessions in the Wyoming tornado. Although the first thought that comes to mind when seeing stories like this on the news is, "Thank God no one was hurt", it still brings tears to my eyes to think of the loss and devastation these families suffered in a matter of seconds. Although I have always been fascinated by the weather, it definitely has my utmost respect and I am fully aware of the total devastation it can cause, and I don't ever take any weather events lightly.