June 10th, 2009 Lightning Chase
Zack Biggs and I chase thunderstorms all evening and morning around the Dallas metroplex.
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Storms fired to the West of Fort Worth early in the afternoon. They slowly moved East and gained in intensity. By the time they reached the DFW area, the NWS tornado warned both Collin and Dallas county. We were heading to a Junior High swim party when the sirens started going off all over the counties. We made the decision to continue to the home we were going to, and rode the storms out there with no swimming unfortunately. I observed a rapidly rotating wall cloud feature right at the leading edge of the front as it hit us.
After the party was over, met up with Zack at Joe Farmer park in Allen. The lightning was incredible from the departing storms, and more were forming to the West. We headed to a overlook at Parker Rd and Los Rios and observed the storms to our South West for around an hour. They became very active. We next headed to Bob Woodroof park and shot the incredible display from the park. The storm was well over a county away, but continuing to throw up huge lightning. We next decided to head downtown to a secure parking garage I knew of. We just made it ahead of the storms, but we were right in the middle of the intense rain and couldn't really get any pictures. The lightning was still almost continuous. We decided to head north in the hope of shooting the cells from Joe Farmer again. Upon reaching the park, we were able to shoot the most incredible anvil crawler display I have ever witnessed. They persisted for around an hour or so, and then we finally headed back home around 5 am. What a night!
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Storms fired to the West of Fort Worth early in the afternoon. They slowly moved East and gained in intensity. By the time they reached the DFW area, the NWS tornado warned both Collin and Dallas county. We were heading to a Junior High swim party when the sirens started going off all over the counties. We made the decision to continue to the home we were going to, and rode the storms out there with no swimming unfortunately. I observed a rapidly rotating wall cloud feature right at the leading edge of the front as it hit us.
After the party was over, met up with Zack at Joe Farmer park in Allen. The lightning was incredible from the departing storms, and more were forming to the West. We headed to a overlook at Parker Rd and Los Rios and observed the storms to our South West for around an hour. They became very active. We next headed to Bob Woodroof park and shot the incredible display from the park. The storm was well over a county away, but continuing to throw up huge lightning. We next decided to head downtown to a secure parking garage I knew of. We just made it ahead of the storms, but we were right in the middle of the intense rain and couldn't really get any pictures. The lightning was still almost continuous. We decided to head north in the hope of shooting the cells from Joe Farmer again. Upon reaching the park, we were able to shoot the most incredible anvil crawler display I have ever witnessed. They persisted for around an hour or so, and then we finally headed back home around 5 am. What a night!
