Storm chasers can spend months hunting for that perfect twister. Photographer Brian Morganti was lucky enough to land 14 in just one hour. The 19-year tornado-tracking veteran captured these remarkable pictures during one session driving across Colorado. Taken in June, the pictures detail a spectacular collection of formations, including elephant trunk, stovepipe and wedge tornados.
A deadly twister is captured narrowly missing a farm
One image shows a twister narrowly skirting a farm, another reveals a huge dust swirl created by the violent winds. The photographer said: “I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw a large dark dust swirl about a quarter mile behind me and had to get out to photograph the action once again. This was when a high base tornado funnel occurred at cloud level with a long skinny needle tornado extended to the ground occasionally producing dark dust swirls. Marble size hail began to fall and the tornado was getting away from me to the south, so it was time to blast south again.”
Every year thousands of tornado hunters flock to “Tornado alley,” the colloquial term for the plains of Middle America that suffer a high frequency of tornados. The propensity to high winds is a product of extremely hot air on the plains, which creates updrafts. When these updrafts meet the cooler air of thunderstorms above, tornados form.
You can visit the photographer's website here.