Gust Fronts | 30 May 2023 | Elkhart, Kansas to Hough, Oklahoma — Jeremy Perez

Published on May 30, 2023

Another shelf cloud chase day seemed to be on tap. We set up in far southwest Kansas, north of Elkhart, to watch convection moving eastward out of Colorado. There was a lot of dust getting kicked up with brief gustnadoes here and there. We were eventually treated to a beautiful sunset shelf cloud display. I just couldn’t manage any good CG lightning strikes.

Storms building northwest of Elkhart, Kansas. 0055Z

Dust kicking up along a developing gust front. 0053Z & 0104Z

Part of the line strengthening to our north. 0059Z

Shelf cloud bulking up as outflows merge. 0117Z

Sunset lighting up the whale’s mouth. 0203Z

As the gust front chased us, we drifted southeast into the Oklahoma Panhandle as night fell and all the tantalizing silhouettes started to appear along the edge of the gust front lines to our north and west. Various gustnadoes paraded eastward and northward as the line of storms crept along, while daggers of scud kept the cameras running just in case.

Night falling as outflow winds kick up dust to our north. 0234Z

Gustnadoes kicking up to the north and west. 0237Z & 0244Z

Shelves, whale’s mouths, dust ups and grain silos as we surfed the gust front. 0321Z

Eventually, we found a spot to park next to a cemetery and let the line pass by. I tried some lightning shots through the window, repositioning the car to aim at likely spots as rain and mist worked to blast in. The day met expectations and was a pretty chilled out chase overall.

One of the few CGs that landed on frame where rain wasn’t shooting in the window. 0425Z

Stack of 15 exposures as the line moves off to the southeast. 0434Z-0446Z

Jeremy Perez

I'm a commercial graphic artist and art director living in Flagstaff, Arizona, USA. I've been photographing monsoon storms and lightning since the eighties. I started chasing severe weather on the Great Plains in 2010. I usually chase solo or with my now adult children. When chasing the Plains, targeting to document a tornado is usually the goal. I'm relieved to say that as hard as that goal is to hit, I'm also captivated by the other sights along the way—the vast horizons, small towns, lightning, storm structure and whatever else gets rolled into that hard-to-reach goal. To date, I've documented 40 tornadoes on 23 storms. Some of them were hazy, mushy views—but a few spectacles stand out and keep me coming back for more: Bowdle, Rozel, Dodge City, Chapman, Ft. Stockton x 2 & Meteor Crater. After plains season each year, the southwest monsoon will be waiting to get started and hopefully opportunities for lightning, haboobs and always hope for a rare landspout.

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