Cloudscapes & Macro Tour | Southwest Kansas–Oklahoma Panhandle | 25 May 2021 — Jeremy Perez

Published on May 25, 2021

This seemed likely to be a down day. I languished near the surface low between Meade and Ashland, Kansas, watching a few cumulus percolate through the afternoon. There was a small chance this area might send something nice up and I spent the time photographing cloudscapes across the prairie.

Bubbling cumulus east of Ashland, Kansas — 2315Z

Placid cloudscapes were all this area had to offer.

While I was there, I took the opportunity to shoot macro of some of the local critters.

Once it was clear nothing was going to happen there, I raced south toward convection in the north Texas Panhandle for a shot at a sunset photo op. Hustling to the vicinity of Slapout, Oklahoma, and wandering the grid wound served up a gorgeous end to a low key down day.

Abandoned building east of Slapout at sunset.

Found hay bales and a windmill in the nick of time

Wrapping up the day with a lightning-whiskered time lapse — 0235/0244Z

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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