Tornadoes can occur year-round. Still, as wintertime proceeds through a new year’s first month and hurtles inevitably toward spring, thoughts of southern Plains residents and storm observers alike turn in preparation toward the peak period for tornadoes, a season that will arrive to their dread and eager anticipation, respectively. We who research, forecast and photograph tornadoes wish not for them to destroy and kill, make no mistake about that. Still, whatever happens, we also wish to document and learn. This is a slide scan of a furiously evolving, multiple-vortex tornado from the 3 May 1999 outbreak, about which I later was involved with two formal scientific papers—one as lead author, each based on understanding gained both from forecasting and field observation of that fateful day’s events.
