ARLINGTON, Texas-  StormStock founder and cinematographer Martin Lisius intercepted a "mega-supercell" thunderstorm in Nebraska last week and filmed it on 4K and 6K video. The isolated storm tracked across the rural Nebraska Sand Hills region for several hours producing tornadoes, giant hail and continuous lightning.

A supercell is a thunderstorm with a persistent, rotating updraft. They are the rarest thunderstorm type in the world, and the most prolific producer of significant tornadoes and large hail. Even less common is the "mega-supercell" which is one that is large, long-lived, and is so powerful it produces its own area wind field. 

"I've only seen a handful of mega-supercells in my 30 years of photographing storms," said Lisius who does his own forecasting. "The Sand Hills storm was rotating hard and was almost fully on the ground at times. It was like a massive vacuum cleaner and a tennis ball size ice machine maker rolled into one. The cell became the perfect storm because it tracked southeast, almost 90 degrees to the right of the southwesterly steering winds aloft, directly into moist, southeast surface winds and a 4500 j/kg CAPE axis. In effect, it was a supercell with a turbocharger."

A portion of the material will be available for licensing through StormStock, while some will be reserved for Lisius' 4K documentary about supercells which is currently in production.

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About StormStock: StormStock is thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, lightning, giant hail, blizzards, stormy skies, rain, and climate change on premium formats (Super 35, 4-6K and HD) for TV and film projects.  The collection was founded in 1993 by producer/DP Martin Lisius who was the first to capture a violent-class tornado on Super 35, the first tornado on 3D, and the only Super 35 of Hurricane Katrina making landfall.  StormStock clients can preview, license and download images at www.stormstock.com, or call 817-276-9500 for personal service.
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Press inquiries: Contact Kim George at info@prairiepictures.com