Before twin tornadoes, photographer caught other amazing storm shots
A double-tornado picture captured by weather photographer Kelly DeLay is taking the world by storm.
The image, snapped Thursday near Simla, Colo., shows a massive supercell — a thunderstorm with a deep, persistent rotating updraft — with two tornadoes underneath, a rarity, according to DeLay, who is also a storm chaser.
“It was just incredible,” DeLay told the Los Angeles Times. "Everything worked together, making it a once-in-a-lifetime image for me."
The 46-year-old said he'd been hoping for six years to capture a supercell with a tornado. To get Thursday's shot, he wore a helmet and stood outside, enduring the rain and hail — and ended up with twice as many twisters as he'd wished. "It's definitely one of my favorites," DeLay said of the picture.
DeLay also shot video of the supercell that day.
Here are a few of DeLay's other favorites
(Kelly DeLay)
This photo of a supercell near Philip, S.D., was taken in June 2012. "This photo has all of the elements," DeLay said. "I like it as a photographer and a weather guy." Winds from that summer's wildfires in Colorado brought in elements that enhanced the colors, DeLay said, and the lightning shot out toward the photographer, striking a pole nearby.
DeLay said he captured this slow-moving storm on the southern plains of Texas last month. "I had an eternity to shoot that storm, which usually doesn't happen," he said.
And, of course, no collection is complete without an epic selfie.
For more photography stories, visit The Times' Framework blog.
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