On Monday, May 10, 2010, around 4:30 p.m. Central time, I witnessed my first tornado as a Kansas resident. This tornado was 1 mile south of where we live. After the storm, we drove south and found the path of destruction right along the KS/OK state line. (See more photos on my regular blog... link to the right in my sidebar.)
This was not a huge tornado, but there were several other tornadoes to the south of us in Oklahoma, one large one near Medford (30 miles) and one with multiple vortices near Wakita (45 miles). There was also a wedge tornado spotted in Hunnewell, KS, only 6 miles away. Both the Medford and Wakita photos/videos were shown on local and national TV stations. I even had the honor of having several of my photos on our local Wichita TV station on Tuesday.
This first photo
(above) is straight out of the camera; as you can see, the sky was light, and so was the tornado, so it's difficult to see.
After I adjusted the contrast, and added some post-processing effects, this is the photo I ended up with
(below)... my son said it reminded him of the Wizard of Oz! How appropriate, huh?
Next time (IF there's a next time!!) I will try to calm down and get MORE and better photos. Needless to say, being this was my first tornado, I was flitting about like a nervous bird!!! But I learned that a tornado goes by quickly, and you only have a few chances to get a good photo, so you better hurry up and focus and HOLD STILL.
Visit SkyWatch Friday to see amazing and beautiful skies from around the world this week.
