Trip Report: Storm Chasing: Supercells & Tornadoes - June 2025

When you tell someone that you’re going to actively seek out and photograph something that legitimately destroys towns and sometimes even kills people, you are often met with one of two reactions: Empathetic Fear or Curious Envy. For myself, after being told that I would be leading two Storm chasing trips for BCJ this summer, I was simply excited.

Having never even seen a tornado in real life, nor photographed lightning or storms before, I knew there would be a steep learning curve; however, I also knew I was up for the challenge!  While storm chasing itself is anything but ordinary, preparing for the trip was relatively simple: Purchase a lightning trigger and read articles on storm photography.

Unlike every other BCJ trip that is offered, Storm Chasers follows no set course or itinerary.  Meaning no hotels or restaurants are chosen ahead of time. Besides starting and ending in Denver, Colorado, everything else we decide spontaneously the day of, or really, I should say that everything was decided by the weather.  This is because we have no idea where we are going until our storm forecaster, Steve, is able to look at the day’s radar and decide.  Steve has 20 years of experience storm chasing so we were in good hands. 

A supercell in Nebraska

Our goal was to find supercells which are self-sustaining thunderstorms that contain a mesocyclone, which is a persistent rotating updraft.  Supercells are considered the most severe type of thunderstorm with the highest chance of creating a tornado. Although it is important to note that not only is tornado formation rare (only about a 30% chance) but even if one does form, seeing one and especially safely seeing one is even more rare. We learned this the hard way during both of our trips as we never saw a tornado touch the ground, but we did see tornadic activity as well as some beautiful supercells.

During our search for the perfect storm, we were essentially on a road trip through Middle America, aka Tornado Alley which includes New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota and more.

Some days we actually drove through multiple states trying to get to possible supercells before they fully formed as well as in the right location for photos.  This meant long days in the van driving to the storm (8-10 hours) and then hours of driving around with the storm trying to get a perfect angle of the storm structure while not getting stuck in the mud, rained on or struck by lightning.

Storm photography requires A LOT of patience and flexibility as well as a sense of adventure.  There were days where we would drive all day to get to a storm, then arrive only to realize there is no safe angle or way to get out of the rain so that we could take photos meaning we just spent 12 hours trying to get to a photographic opportunity without ever even taking our cameras out of their bags.

Most of our time was spent driving to get to the storms and a very small percentage photographing them.  This meant the group had to enjoy the ride and truly embrace the road trip aspect including visiting towns we would never normally have a need or desire to visit.

​​​​​​​Ultimately, discovering the charm of small towns were some of our favorite memories from these trips including late night stops for dinner at the IHOP in Salina Nebraska or visiting “Carhenge” in Alliance Nebraska.  No two days were the same and we never knew where we would end up.

Some of my favorite non-storm memories include:

Valentine, Nebraska and O’Neil, Nebraska - two thematic small towns that embrace their names and celebrate their uniqueness.  In Valentine, Nebraska you can send a letter or postcard to your loved one with a special heart stamp and the postmark being from the “Valentine” town.  In O’Neil, Nebraska the streets are lined with shamrocks as well as the local historic “Golden Hotel”.

Ashfall Fossil Beds in Royal Nebraska where current research is still uncovering fossil remains from species such as barrel-bodied mini rhinos and giraffe camels due to a gigantic volcanic eruption in Idaho millions of years ago. 200+ cubic kms of ash were produced and covered the landscape which led to widespread species extinction in the region.


Carhenge in Alliance, Nebraska - a replica of England’s Stonehenge made entirely out of cars.  We happened to visit during the Carhenge Arts Festival set around the summer solstice.

The cows!!!  W while looking for the best angle for photographing storms, we had to drive on back rounds that went past farmland.  This farmland often included cattle ranches, and we were occasionally met by a herd of curious cows. 

Though of course, the best memories that we made were the storms that we chased and the exciting moments where we were able to witness both the beauty and power of Nature.  Our motto was always “Safety First” and at times that meant we had to seek shelter from high winds and hail which we did at gas stations and carwashes.   

While it took a lot of effort (and A LOT of driving) the storms eventually delivered, and we saw beautiful storms and various cloud formations.  The most interesting cloud formation which we saw and learned about were “Mammatus Clouds” which are clouds that have distinct lumpy undersides due to cold air pockets trapped within the rising of warm air.  Additionally, we also saw tornadic activity even though we never saw a tornado touchdown to the ground which in a lot of ways is better because it’s still beautiful without the destruction that’s often caused when a tornado touches the ground. 

For the main event, the supercells, we had two storms that were the most memorable in my opinion.  The first, occurred simultaneously with sunset and provided some unreal looking colors in the sky and the clouds while also regularly producing lightning bolts. For me, my favorite part of photographing the storms was trying to catch the best lightning bolts while also composing the photo such that I captured the storm structure or in this case, the colors and general environment of the storm.   

My second favorite supercell honestly looked and felt like something from a movie. The shape of the storm structure resembled what I imagine an alien ship would look like, a giant round mass hovering above us in the sky with winds so strong you must hold on to your camera and your clothes.

Ultimately, what made these trips a success was the amazing group of people with whom we went on this journey.  From our storm savant Steve, to our flexible and go with the flow guests, we shared a lot of laughs and experienced an adventure which most of us will probably never experience again.