Your Best Tornado shot to date

[Rob H]

Bowdle SD May 22nd same sorta deal. I swear during the more visible gaps I was sticking the video camera back on the window or wiping it off. Then bam more rain would screw up visibility and camera gear. I like some of these anyway since the storm looks so damn scary. Strong wedge behind that powerpole. It's like 10mm shot on a crop camera...17mm full frame.

Wow... you can actually feel the wind just from looking at that picture, I love it.

If a non-chaser is asking to see tornado pictures, I show them pictures of 5/10 Wakita since that thing was close to us, the downed powerlines add some dramatic flair, and it just looked scary:

My personal favorite is from 6/17 in Blooming Prairie. We felt like we had botched the entire chase and decided to blast south from 94, went back through the Twin Cities through rush hour, punched a core and weaved in between the merging cells to capture a tornado that formed and dissipated within 15 seconds. The sky really was that green! Hard work on what should've been a bust day for us, and a tornado that no one really saw or got pictures of:

 

[John Farley]

Hawk Point, MO, April 23:

 

[Robert Edmonds]

I believe this is my favorite tornado photo to date. The Bowdle wedge was nice, but I really like how my photo from CO came out...

 

[James Hilger]

While this is one of my worst pictures i've ever taken, it was the most memorable moment of my life. We actually got a little closer than this as we were HAULING butt towards it, and again-Thanks to Bart Comstock. 4/22 Goodnight Tx.

 

[Willoughby Owen]

Robert - I like how you got a different angle to pretty much everyone on June 10. Looking SSW at that mesocyclone meant you had to deal with a lot of background light behind it.

Here are my two, from Campo, CO on May 31 - was hard deciding. Liked the exploding updrafts in the background of the second shot.

 

[Doyle McIntosh]

5/22/2010 1 mile north of Bowdle, SD

 

[Andy Jackson]

This is a favorite at the moment, my avatar is also a fav. Here's a screen from 5/22/10:

My best stills were supercells sans tornado this year.

 

[Mike Umscheid]

Okay, I'll play.

26 October 2006 (Minneola, KS)

Of course, the most recent Campo event was tops in terms of photogenic tornadoes I've photographed since I started shooting DSLR in 2005... the composition opportunities were numerous (although I think the most phenomenal, artistic views were from the north looking south like what Willoughby Owen had)... but probably the two ultrawide 2:1 compositions below are my favorite if you had to nail me to the wall:

 

[Tyler Burg]

Really haven't gotten any good photogenic tornadoes yet, Aurora, NE was probably the best, but we were about 6 miles away from it. The second shot is a rain wrapped tornado from May 19th near Kingsfisher, OK

 

[Marcus Hicks]

My best shot this year was taken June 25th just south of Revere, MN.

 

[Randall Cooper]

March 8 Hammon, OK. My first chase of 2010, Tornado in a windfarm:

May 22 Bowdle, SD:
Capture from my video camera looking west with the wedge moving toward us

 

[Jeremy Ludin]

Here are my two, from Campo, CO on May 31 - was hard deciding. Liked the exploding updrafts in the background of the second shot.

Doesn't get any better than that!

Since most of my tornadoes have been in low light situations, video only, or blurried from trying to snap off shots as I'm driving, I'll have to go with May 10th, Zenda, Kansas.

 

[Michael Stanga]

Bowdle, SD - 5/22/10

 

[Kory Hartman]

The Campo tornado doesn't even look real... magnificent!

My favorite from this year... and it was very recent. My first night-time EF-4... Sibley, IA:

Couldn't believe how well we could see it, but the lightning was amazing.

 

[Bill Hark]

My best photo (not video still) was on May 24th near Howes, South Dakota. I couldn't get to my Nikon and instead used a Canon Elph SD800 that I held out the window. The winds were too strong to exit the car.

Thanks to all those posting images. It has been a great chase season!

Bill Hark