A Very Good Night, 7/16/09

A storm system moved down from southeast Montana over night and produced three upward lightning flashes as it passed over Rapid City. The first two flashes involved only Tower 1, but the third had simultaneous leaders from four towers. The first and third flashes were captured with both high-speed cameras at 7,207 and 54,001 ips and the second with one high-speed camera at 54,001 ips as the other camera was transferring data.

First Flash




Second Flash




Third Flash

First Good Upward Flash, 7/9/09

Finally got a storm to produce an upward lightning flash on one of the towers. Two supercells developed west of the Black Hills near sunset and moved over the area between 1000 - 1130 pm MDT. The strongest part of the northern storm passed just south of Rapid City and there was an upward lightning flash to Tower 1 at 10:49:01 pm MDT. The flash was captured with the both high-speed cameras at 7,207 and 54,001 images per second.

Storm Potential for 6/25 and 6/26

There is a chance of isolated strong storms around the Black Hills today and a more widespread storm threat tomorrow as a front moves through. Drier and cooler weather will develop for the weekend with slight chances for storms returning next week. TAW

Storm Summary for 6/17/09

A compact storm intensified just west of Rapid City during the evening of 6/17 and moved directly over the towers. I positioned at a secondary observation point south of Towers 1-5. I captured one downward lightning strike to Tower 1 at 11,000 images per second and the video clearly shows an upward leader initiating from the tower and connecting with the downward stepped leader. All captured flashes were negative ground flashes, and no upward lightning was observed. TAW

Supercell Skirts Rapid City, 6/14/09

Two supercells formed north of Rapid City in the afternoon. I filmed lightning associated with the storm closest to Rapid City. Storms later merged and evolved into an HP supercell that moved south-southeast of Rapid City while skirting the east side of the town. Captured -CGs near the core and +CGs east of the core from the anvil region. Some captures were accomplished at 54,000 images per second at 320x240 resolution. Analysis to follow. More severe storms possible Mon, 6/15. TAW