METEOROLOGIST AND ATMOSPHERIC PHOTOGRAPHER ANDREW PRITCHARD

SKYDRAMA.NET | On July 15th, 2024 a long-lived complex of severe thunderstorms exploded in central and eastern Iowa before racing southeast into northern and central Illinois. Several corridors of damaging winds and tornadoes swept into the Chicago area and into central Illinois. My chase was rather disorganized on this day, intercepting the line in northwest Illinois near the Iowa/Illinois border. I dropped into Geneseo, IL where the storms overtook me with sirens blaring and trees coming down beside my vehicle. Picked up I-80, and then I-39 to get south and east back ahead of the storms but was overtaken a final time along I-39 north of Bloomington. Raced back into Champaign-Urbana where destructive winds had knocked out power and made a mess of my neighborhood. No sleep that night, and an exhausting next couple of days. // SKYDRAMA.NET

SKYDRAMA.NET | On June 29th, 2024 a unique setup drew me out the door along the Illinois/Indiana border where I thought a pretty summertime thunderstorm might do something a little weird. Still, I never expected what happened that evening as multiple funnel clouds descended from the sky around me near Hoopeston, with a long-lived landspout tornado touching down and traveling slowly across the open farmland into Indiana for about 15 minutes allowing several close-range passes. What a year! // MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE (supplied by Epidemic Sound, as always) In the Palm of Your Hand - Lindsey Abraham Final Wave - Sam Will The Foreshadowing - Gabriel Lewis

SKYDRAMA.NET | On May 26th, 2024 there was over 1,300 reports of severe weather in the U.S. most of which centered on the Ohio Valley. Numerous long-track, strong tornadoes occurred along with a widespread swath of wind damage from multiple bow echos. I chased the northern zone across south-central Illinois intercepting a few severe storms as they crossed the Mississippi River from eastern Missouri. The most noteable storm was a tornadic supercell that moved out of the St. Louis metro and produced a 10-mile track EF-1 tornado that passed just south of New Baden, Illinois where I intercepted the rain-wrapped tornado at close-range. // SOUNDTRACK: Intro: Mission One - Hampus Naeselius

SKYDRAMA.NET | On Tuesday, May 21st, 2024 an outbreak of severe thunderstorms including several tornadic supercells swept across the Midwest. Hardest hit was western Iowa, where a series of damaging, killer tornadoes impacted areas near Red Oak, Carbon, and Greenfield, Iowa. Damage in Greenfield, Iowa was among the most severe since 2013. I chased this day with usual chase partner Colin Davis (@donkeysanddownbursts ) and our buddy Alex Hall and my brother Wil Pritchard. We documented a long-track EF-3 tornado near Carbon, IA and a stronger tornado that's been preliminarily rated an EF-4 that destroyed a bunch of wind turbines and part of the town of Greenfield.

SKYDRAMA.NET | Storm Observation Vlog #51 chronicles the April 26th, 2024 tornado outbreak in Nebraska and Iowa. Chasing with @donkeysanddownbursts we documented roughly 10 different tornadoes over the span of nearly 4 hours. Nearly all 67 minutes of this episode is tornado video. A day I'll remember forever.

On Tuesday, April 16th, 2024 Colin Davis and I made the trip to southeast Iowa in hopes of chasing a round of evening supercells. While early storms organized to our southwest we hung back near Mount Pleasant, Iowa before making our approach. From a distance south of Danville, Iowa it was apparent there was a likely rain-wrapped tornado ongoing from our vantage point. We made our intercept north of New London where we picked up the partially rain wrapped directly tornado to our west. For the next 15 minutes or so we pursued the fast-moving tornado (~50 mph forward motion northeast, when we could only zig-zag north and east.) as it played peekaboo with rain curtains being wrapped around by the storm's rear-flank downdraft. The supercell raced northeast crossing the Mississippi River south of Muscatine, but was mostly transitioning to a linear mode. We set our sights on a trailing storm to the south approaching Aledo, Illinois. The storm exhibited a mothership like appearance on the horizon as it swept over us with hail and high winds. MUSIC: Callisto 8 - Ben Elson Deactivator - Hampus Naeselus Chapter 13 - Ben Elson