SIUE Geography and Geographic Information Sciences

We had a great crew this year that saw some amazing sights and learned a lot about forecasting and chasing! Photos by Dr. Martinez

On the last day of the chase, the crew saw multiple storm cells that combined that developed into a squall line. It produced three inch hail and several tornados were reported. The bottom left shows a funnel cloud we spotted that likely developed into a tornado while we were watching, though we couldn’t say for sure from that distance (bottom right is high contrast version).

Yesterday the storm chasers were in New Mexico and saw mammatus clouds (caused by rapidly descending air in strong storms), a land spout tornado (bottom right photo) and about three epic supercells! Photos by Jo Schmidt, Laini Bommarito, and Dr. Martinez).

Yesterday the team witnessed a rainbow in hail on the storm pictured here that reportedly produced five and a half inch hail!! The chase continues today… 🌈⛈️

Yesterday, the crew spotted other chasers, a mobile radar, a Texas panhandle dust storm, and a super cell that reportedly produced baseball-cap sized hail. Photos by Claire Iott, Sierra Hoffmann, and Jo Schmidt.

Days always start with a weather discussion before heading out. We saw some small storms yesterday but are hoping for more luck today! 🤞🏼⛈️

The storm chase crew found themselves in Oklahoma near a filming location! Can you name it???

And the storm chase begins! Follow along with Dr. Black’s GEOG 429: Storm Chasing as we travel over the next week. 🌧️🌪️🌫️

FYI, SIUE geography students – NGA has reopened their summer internship application for the next two weeks. Please check your SIUE email for more information. We hope everyone is having a great summer! 

This past year Dr. Martinez was selected to be a River Scholar in the River Field Studies Network that gathers river scientists from all over the US to learn field teaching methods. The River Rendezvous began with a five day raft trip down the San Juan River in Utah. River Scholars learned to organize river trips for 20+ students, about swift water safety, and about the southern Colorado plateau while admiring the river scenery.

The SIUE storm chasers are back after an epic chase! Until next time! ☔️🌪️