Monday, 31 May 2010
Cell
A cell to our west at present - some lightning detected...will decide in Springfield whether to grab a quick lunch.
One more day!
In Garden City, KS - one more day of chasing before heading home...I think we'll try SE Colorado
Sunday, 30 May 2010
McCook
Just stopped at our favourite McDonald's, in McCook, Nebraska, for a coffee - then on south to Garden City, Kansas
Thunderstorm
Intercepted a fairly powerful cell SW of Valentine - mid-level inflow band from the NE, and then very powerful outflow winds as it passed over. To finish, frequent (at least 1 per 10 secs) CGs within a couple of miles.
Saturday, 29 May 2010
Towards Valentine
Had lunch in Mission, South Dakota. Stopped for a while to the south of Mission to do timelapse on the towering cumulus to our south, which are developing along the cold front.
Heading east and south
Heading east on I90 in S Dakota, on our way to Valentine, and perhaps further south, depending on the cold front's position.
Latest
Latest pics and news from Bren's blog here:
Heading from Rapid City down into Nebraska today - reasonable chance of storms, a few severe.
Rapid City - Mount Rushmore
Now in Rapid City, S Dakota - stopped for a couple of hours on the way here at Mount Rushmore, to do the tourist bit! Very impressive nonetheless! Shorts split on way to motel though - too many burgers perhaps!
Friday, 28 May 2010
Rather a marginal set-up for today's chasing - I think we'll probably head north or north-west of Rapid City, South Dakota. A slow-moving cold front may well have a wave develop on it, and with backed surface flow in the area, deep-layer shear may be sufficient for supercells to develop, if the cap can be broken.
Chadron, Nebraska
Drove from Limon, Colorado, to Chadron, Nebraska today ready for possible supercells tomorrow to our NW...ate dinner at a very nice place called The Heritage Grill - anyone staying in Chadron in the future should check it out.
It's very windy outside at the moment (11pm) - winds gusting over 40mph and yet it's 24-25C!
Thursday, 27 May 2010
Nice supercell near Limon
Drove from Amarillo to Limon today - a cell popped up near Springfield, CO, but soon died. A new cell developed to the west of Limon and become supercellular. We parked up to the north of Limon with a fantastic view to the west and saw several wall clouds develop. Very nice!
Wednesday, 26 May 2010
Springfield
In Springfield, Colorado - a few storms to the west. Wondering whether to head west or continue towards Limon/Denver.
Supercell!
Just seen a fantastic supercell south of Amarillo - wall cloud; striations; CG; corkscrewed appearance - lovely!
Tuesday, 25 May 2010
More storms
Eventually got some storms close to McCook, NE, and then dropped south towards Colby, KS. Got a tornado-warned cell en route near Danbury, NE - got a wall cloud/RFD rain curtains just to our SW for a short time but soon lost it's structure - gave us a great display of mammatus and sunset colours though! Absolutely beautiful.
Now in Colby, KS - again! Heading south tomorrow for more storms towards SW KS or the TX/OK Panhandles.
Monday, 24 May 2010
Fizzle
Cells have fizzled - shear ripping them apart. Heading east to McCook for some late lunch and to await the dryline.
Westbound
Heading towards Benkleman, NE, to intercept a severe warned cell which is racing up from the south.
Southbound - and a few pics from yesterday
Heading south back towards McCook - tornado watch for this area already.
Meanwhile, some pics from yesterday from Bren's blog:
In North Platte
In North Platte for the night after another long day! Some great lightning, a raging gust front, a tornado-warned cell (but no tornado), and spectacular mammatus!
Sunday, 23 May 2010
Southbound again
Leaving McCook for Oberlin, KS - warm front is moving NW with storms firing to SSW.
McCook
Currently in McCook, Nebraska - supercell risk should expand northwards into this area towards late afternoon/evening.
South to McCook, NE
Dropping south to McCook from North Platte. Keeping the surface low in sight, and positioning just to its north-east.
Heading south
Heading south towards North Platte - looking to target just NE of the surface low which is currently in N Cent Kansas, but which is progged to roll WNW or NW this afternoon/evening.
Southbound
We're currently in Valentine, Nebraska - shortly we will head south towards NW or N Cent Kansas - a warm front lifting northwards should set the scene for thunderstorm development later this afternoon and especially this evening. Supercells are possible, with a small risk of tornadoes. The storms may grow upscale after dark as a strong low-level jet impinges on the frontal zone.
A long day!
Enjoyable chase with plenty of lightning and some reasonable structure for a time - now in Valentine, Nebraska - it's 2.20am - we did 638.9 miles today!. Up and out by 10am in the morning to head to N Kansas.
We missed a big tornado in N South Dakota (just too far away), but we still ended up with some decent storms in S Cent S Dakota. One attempted to form into a high based supercell but couldn't quite do it - some nice structure for a time. We also met up with Pete (Scott), Steve, and Simon for a time.
As it just about got dark we headed east to get ahead of the line of storms, and one to the south was tornado warned. We found a great scenic overlook just off of Interstate 90, at Chamberlain. At this stage we were back in the warm inflow air, which was about 29-30C, with a 25-30mph SE'erly wind! This was at around 9pm or so!! We let the storms roll over us just to the east, in Kimball, when it became clear that the circulation had weakened alot. Plenty of CGs, including several very close ones.
All in all an enjoyable chase - we got storms in our target area, and so can't complain about that! It was always apparent that the northern area would be in line for tornadic storms, but it was just too far for us to reach.
Tomorrow, it looks like the cold front will stall somewhere in N Cent KS, and then start to return northwards. A dry line will be out in eastern Colorado/perhaps western Kansas. Storms should form close to the front and perhaps the dryline, and with good moisture, instability, and directional shear, supercells are possible.
Severe thunderstorm
Currently in a severe warned cell in Kimball, SD - plenty of wind, rain, and lightning!
Active cell
Skirting the top of a tornado warned cell in S Cent S Dakota - CGs hammering out of it like crazy!
Saturday, 22 May 2010
Development
A cell has developed close to Pierre, SD - we're heading E and then N to try to intercept.
S Dakota
Heading north in S Dakota at present - CAPEs close to 5000J/Kg - initiation far to our north, but cumulus getting deeper around this area too now
Northbound
Passed through McCook and continuing northwards towards South Dakota...blazing sunshine, 29C, and a 30mph southerly wind.
Heading north
In Colby, KS, to start the day - soon heading north through Nebraska into S Dakota - possible severe storms later on.
In the meantime, have a look at Bren's blog for stories/pictures:
Friday, 21 May 2010
Brush
Currently in Brush, Colorado - hoping that the towering cumulus to the SW continue to develop.
Character
Just met the most fantastic character who is controlling the road works! Pics will follow later!
Onwards towards Wray
Heading north from Burlington in Colorado towards Wray - just found some road construction on 385, with one-way traffic controlled by a pilot car - one to avoid perhaps!
Colorado today
Will be heading out from Colby soon into eastern Colorado - wonder whether to head further N towards I-76 or to see if anything develops over the Palmer Divide and moves ENE.
Montana Mike's!
We've just got back to the motel after a nice dinner at Montana Mike's, here in Colby. This motel has a nice lounge area complete with leather comfy chairs/sofas, so I've headed down here for a decaf evening coffee to do a bit of surfing ahead of tomorrow's possible storms. Bren and Matt have joined me.
We've been chatting about some of the driving we witnessed yesterday in Oklahoma: much of it was absolutely fine, but a few chasers seem to think that possessing light bars and, in one case, a siren, allows traffic laws to be violated.
Anyway, that's all behind us now, and we're looking forward to attempting to intercept some storms in the more open terrain of the High Plains. I don't think we'll be alone, though, as there are other chasers about in the motel we're in. However, I think there will be many fewer than down in OK yesterday!
Will obviously refine the target in the morning but right now, I quite like the look of eastern Colorado, around the I-70 corridor. I think the area further NW towards the Cheyenne Ridge may be pretty good, but I wonder whether to try for a less obvious target, so we can get a nice, quiet chase in!
NW Kansas
Arrived in Colby, NW Kansas - looking to do some high Plains chasing tomorrow.
It was a long drive today from Oklahoma City to NW Kansas...we headed north to Salina, and then west to Colby. The weather today was rather familiar, being rather UK-ish: stratocumulus clouds with temperatures of around 17-18C. Tomorrow it should get much warmer, and there is a risk of severe thunderstorms to our west and north-west.
Thursday, 20 May 2010
A driving day ahead
We'll be heading NW today, to somewhere in N or NW KS. Meanwhile, please check out Bren's blog + pics here
Wednesday, 19 May 2010
Continuing east
Just passing Sayre on I-40, in western Oklahoma. Triple point is to our NW, and towering cumulus has already been observed by us in its vicinity. This may evolve into thunderstorms over the next couple of hours, and will be in a very favourable environment for severe storms, and perhaps tornadoes.
Eastbound
Just passing Shamrock, TX, heading to Weatherford - re-assessing once there, but possibly heading towards Watonga.
Heading to central Oklahoma
We've left Amarillo and are currently heading eastwards on I-40. Looking to stop in Clinton or Weatherford I think - there is a remnant outflow boundary in the area and with the approach of an upper system, along with surface heating, the dry-line will mix eastwards towards that area. Strong low-level shear along with ample deep-layer shear brings the risk of tornadoes, some strong - the SPC has issued a high risk of severe thunderstorms for this afternoon/evening.
Hail in Dumas
Just got under an awning in Dumas, TX, and filmed some heavy hail to 1.50 inches, perhaps the odd 1.75 inch. Very hard hail, and it made quite a din on the awning roof.
Off to Amarillo
Heading to Amarillo now after not seeing an awful lot in Colorado - some nice structure for a time and some lightning, but extensive high cloud scuppered it a bit - should have gone with my initial instinct of the OK Panhandle/NW TX Panhandle.
Tuesday, 18 May 2010
Dropping south
Just heading south from Limon - a cell to the south looks OK but there are also some developing towers closer to us.
On the road!
OK, so we've got everything set-up in the car - Baron system, DeLorme, GRLevel3, etc. Took a little while but now it's working. Just off to (hopefully) get a Kestrel wind device, and then to Limon, Colorado, where we'll re-assess. The moderate risk area has been extended northwards - the S/W trough appears to be a little to the north of earlier progs.
Arrived!
Hello! Well, we got here OK yesterday evening, and had a good night's sleep in the Sleep Inn at Denver. Just activated the Baron System (always seems to confuse them!!) and am now about to turn my thoughts to today, which looks like somewhere from SE Colorado into the TX Panhandle. A moderate risk for severe storms exists including supercells with large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes.
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