Stunning photos: Snapping at angry giants

By Mike Jones

NZ Herald·

24 Oct, 2016 04:00 PM2 mins to read

These astonishing photos were taken at the heart of Tornado Alley in the Great Plains of United States of America. Photo / Caters News Agency

These astonishing photos were taken in the heart of Tornado Alley in the Great Plains of the United States.

Storm chaser and professional photographer Marko Korosec is also a meteorologist and weather expert for road conditions in his native Slovenia.

Korosec often travels to the US hurricane hotspot for a few weeks between May and June when the storms are most severe and the tornado season peaks.

The hunt for a sensational storm has taken the 34-year-old all over the States, Croatia, Italy and the Adriatic Sea, hoping to catch one on a flat field where they are at their most formidable.

Korosec said: "The photos show the various shapes of storm structures, so-called super-cell storms which are the most dangerous storms on the planet.

"They can produce giant hail up to grapefruit size, killer lightning strikes, torrential rainfall, destructive winds and violent tornadoes, usually resulting in life-threatening situations.

"I try to provide the pure mother nature's fury on the photos, dramatic impressions."

Korosec has been chasing storms for 17 years. "At first I was just observing and photographing storms around my home country.

"In the following years my passion took me to the heart of severe weather in Tornado Alley to research the most dangerous storms."

His aim is to be present when the best storms arrive, so he can get perfectly composed photographs and express the rough power of mother nature's fury.

Said Korosec: "Storms are very dangerous but very photogenic at the same time, I love sharing them with my friends and followers.

"My years of experience in storm chasing, high skills in photography ... on top of my deep knowledge of meteorology allows me to be one of the best in this field.

"With collected experience I can come to the best spots around the storms and still be in the safe position. Always safety first, which takes years to achieve though."