Tornado Alley 2015 - First Tornado of the Trip

Today we saw our first tornado. Even though it was far away, it was the closest I had been to a photogenic tornado. We also saw a lot of flash flooding. The northbound lane of Highway 87 was completely under water.

After looking forward to this trip for so long and just dealing with the stress leading up to it, I felt so serene watching that distant tornado. I felt present and alive, like this was my purpose. Everything just made sense. As the day came to an end and we made our way back to Childress, TX, I sat at the very back of the van listening to music and staring out the window enjoying the lightning. I felt inspired so I wrote a little poetry and posted it to Facebook that night.

The days melt into nights and the minutes stretch for hours.

To bumpy roads, open fields, dirty feet and dripping clothes. 

Speeding down a flooded highway.. my only focus is the funnel in my frame. 

This is when I am truly at peace.

This is when I'm home. 

There is no greater calm.. 

Than during the storm.

 Here's a couple shots from that day. 

Here is a shot of the tornado, taken by Thad Bowling.  

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Video of that day. It's not super exciting since we were so far away.. but Ray's voice in the background at least makes it more entertaining. Ray is from England and is a Cloud 9 regular. And like most Cloud 9 regulars.. he's a total weirdo. He's a nice guy whose cockney British accent is so thick that you wish there were subtitles every time he spoke. I nicknamed him Weatherpedia since he accurately remembers the dates and locations of historic weather events.