Storm chaser captures "otherworldly" storm South of Malta

Look at what the storm rolled in.

The Phillips County area experienced a couple of stormy days last week, producing thunder, strong winds, and rain, conditions that might keep average Joe or Jane off of the road.

This was not the case for Storm Intercept owner/founder Stephen Jones of Oklahoma City, Okla., who chased the storm that hit Malta last Wednesday, June 9. The result, an image, and memory that Jones will not forget anytime soon.

"After witnessing nearly 1,000 supercell storms in my lifetime, there are only a few that will stand out in my memory because of overall structure and appearance, and being otherworldly," said Jones, who lives over 1300 miles away. "...To be honest, that storm structure that I witnessed south of Malta is actually my favorite of all time... It took my number one spot."

Jones, who is in his eleventh year chasing storms typically racks up 50,000 miles yearly, having been as far east as the Atlantic Ocean, chasing hurricanes.

So, why Montana?

"Being a storm chaser, you are pretty much willing to drive any length of mileage to go see some of these storms," Jones said.

His company, Storm Intercept, consists of four storm chasers, who are close friends.

"We generally tour the country every single storm season to witness these storms that roll across the country," Jones said.

Jones originally thought that the storm that ran through Malta would be unimpressive.

"We were even questioning if we were going to get storms to actually develop across Northern Montana, so we ended up sitting and waiting in Harb for several hours," Jones said. "Then, we started to witness storms going up over the mountains, south of Harb, and we were able to get an initial view of the storm just as it was forming from birth, and it looked absolutely monstrous."

We went on to say, that when storms rotate, like the storm cell they saw, there is a hazard of tornados.

"As we were coming up South of Harlem, (Landusky to Zortman), this supercell started to become that alien mothership-type storm, where you could see it spinning caused by the wind and atmosphere," Jones said.

As the storm left Highway 191, Jones decided to chase the storm through dirt and gravel roads.

"I can't remember what the road is called, but I remember it being incredibly dirty and muddy and it almost left us completely stuck and stranded in the middle of the night, south of Malta," Jones said.

Left cornered on the road by the storm, Jones and his team had to backtrack to avoid getting stuck on the road.

The image was taken 15 miles southwest of Malta, at 8:30 p.m.

He shared what he thought of the town of Malta.

"Malta is a very beautiful town," Jones said. "This is one of my first times being in Montana, especially chasing this far west and north. I just have to say, this is incredible, beautiful, Big Sky Country."

To chase storms from a safer distance with Jones and Tornado Intercept, follow their page named Tornado Intercept on Facebook.