Thursday 31 May 2018
May 31st plans
Hello. A travel day today...we will head for North Platte, Nebraska. A risk for severe storms in the northern Plains tomorrow.
May 30th report
Hello.
Just a brief write-up as it's now 1.47am!
We left Enid to head pretty much due west to the Oklahoma Panhandle, stopping at Guymon for lunch. Thunderstorms had formed over the higher terrain of New Mexico (and Colorado) and were heading in a general east direction.
We headed west to Boise City, and noted a 'tail end' storm on the southern side. We dropped south-east and then south - the updraught bases of these storms were visible to the west, over 40 miles away! We paused for a time to watch - but there were a lot of flies around, mainly midge-type flies...not pleasant!
We then kept (just!) ahead of the storms as the moved ever more quickly eastwards, eventually stopping to watch the southern storm move away to the east from a point south of Perryton. We had observed some nice structure to the storm, lots of dusty outflow, and, now, as it moved away into the evening darkness, impressively-frequent lightning.
We decided to stay at Dodge City - but it was a 160 mile journey, much of it through rain, so we were pretty tired by the time we got here after midnight. Further frequent cloud-ground lightning for a time as we drove north, but it was dry in Dodge.
All-in-all a great chase day!
Just a brief write-up as it's now 1.47am!
We left Enid to head pretty much due west to the Oklahoma Panhandle, stopping at Guymon for lunch. Thunderstorms had formed over the higher terrain of New Mexico (and Colorado) and were heading in a general east direction.
We headed west to Boise City, and noted a 'tail end' storm on the southern side. We dropped south-east and then south - the updraught bases of these storms were visible to the west, over 40 miles away! We paused for a time to watch - but there were a lot of flies around, mainly midge-type flies...not pleasant!
We then kept (just!) ahead of the storms as the moved ever more quickly eastwards, eventually stopping to watch the southern storm move away to the east from a point south of Perryton. We had observed some nice structure to the storm, lots of dusty outflow, and, now, as it moved away into the evening darkness, impressively-frequent lightning.
We decided to stay at Dodge City - but it was a 160 mile journey, much of it through rain, so we were pretty tired by the time we got here after midnight. Further frequent cloud-ground lightning for a time as we drove north, but it was dry in Dodge.
All-in-all a great chase day!
Wednesday 30 May 2018
May 30th thoughts
Hello. We're starting the day in Enid, Oklahoma. Storms should develop on the higher terrain of NE New Mexico and perhaps SE Colorado and then move ESE overnight. We'll head west towards Guymon, Oklahoma, and await developments.
May 29th report
Hello.
We started the day in Burlington, and set our sights on S Kansas/NW Oklahoma. We headed for Dodge City for lunch, and then continued south.
We got onto a big storm in NW Oklahoma and followed it all the way across to Enid, where we are staying the night. The storm had some good rotation at times, but we never saw any ground circulation - however, there was some impressive cloud motions. Early on, we saw a very strongly rotating lower portion of cloud, which was occluded from the main updraught. Later, we saw a strongly rotating wall cloud which very nearly produced a tornado, but not quite.
In the end the storm ran over us at Enid, but the large hail passed south of town - but it got very windy for a time. Another severe storm passed over as we finished dinner at Applebee's, and so we got rather wet getting back into the car. A few chunks of hail came down, but not much - plenty of close lightning and loud thunder!
A few chasers caught a very impressive tornado near Dodge City - something which is a little painful to see for us as we had passed through at lunchtime, noting the decent low-level shear, etc!
We started the day in Burlington, and set our sights on S Kansas/NW Oklahoma. We headed for Dodge City for lunch, and then continued south.
We got onto a big storm in NW Oklahoma and followed it all the way across to Enid, where we are staying the night. The storm had some good rotation at times, but we never saw any ground circulation - however, there was some impressive cloud motions. Early on, we saw a very strongly rotating lower portion of cloud, which was occluded from the main updraught. Later, we saw a strongly rotating wall cloud which very nearly produced a tornado, but not quite.
In the end the storm ran over us at Enid, but the large hail passed south of town - but it got very windy for a time. Another severe storm passed over as we finished dinner at Applebee's, and so we got rather wet getting back into the car. A few chunks of hail came down, but not much - plenty of close lightning and loud thunder!
A few chasers caught a very impressive tornado near Dodge City - something which is a little painful to see for us as we had passed through at lunchtime, noting the decent low-level shear, etc!
Tuesday 29 May 2018
May 28th report - tornadoes!
Hello.
Today was a cracking chase day. We started in Cheyenne, and decided we would target a very obvious outflow boundary across NE and E Colorado. We headed for Limon, but in the end carried on past Limon a few miles, to Bovina. We met up with a couple of chaser friends, Dan Holley and Pete Scott. We watched the sky for a while, noting the pronounced low-level shear as the bases of the cumuli moved south-westwards, whilst the tops were being pushed to the north.
After a while we decided to continue eastwards, reaching Flagler, where we picked up some lunch - but didn't eat it then - we needed to push on! A storm had developed to our north-west, so we made it to Seibert, and then headed north.
On our way up to Cope we noticed some dust off to the west, which turned out to be a non-mesocyclone tornado (colloquially known as a 'landspout' - they form from local vorticity being stretched by a passing updraught rather than by complex interactions underneath a strongly rotating low-level mesocyclone - they're still tornadoes, though!).
We then continued north to Cope and then westwards by a few miles. We found a good vantage point but the extensive low-level stratus clouds being pulled into multiple updraughts meant we couldn't see much structure.
However, what we did see was a series of further non-mesocylone tornadoes developing one after another, some way to our south-west. At times, at least 2 were occurring at the same time.
These appeared to develop on the flanking line feeding into the main updraught, which soon started to exhibit strong low-level rotation. Hail started to fall so we retreated eastwards by a few miles.
We could then see the low-level mesocyclone just to our south-west, which tightened up and produced a brief tornado, which quickly got wrapped in rain. We headed east again, and then looked right into the notch of the HP supercell, and another tornado developed just about a mile to our west. It was a narrow rope tornado, but was heading towards us. When it was within about 1/4 mile we decided to head off to the east.
The storms then formed more into a line, and so we headed, via several stops, to Burlington. We decided to stay here for the night, despite the prospect of a long drive tomorrow to SW Kansas, the TX Panhandle, or W Oklahoma. We saw a number of other chasers when we went for dinner at The Dish Room - which was a very good place for dinner!
Today was a cracking chase day. We started in Cheyenne, and decided we would target a very obvious outflow boundary across NE and E Colorado. We headed for Limon, but in the end carried on past Limon a few miles, to Bovina. We met up with a couple of chaser friends, Dan Holley and Pete Scott. We watched the sky for a while, noting the pronounced low-level shear as the bases of the cumuli moved south-westwards, whilst the tops were being pushed to the north.
After a while we decided to continue eastwards, reaching Flagler, where we picked up some lunch - but didn't eat it then - we needed to push on! A storm had developed to our north-west, so we made it to Seibert, and then headed north.
On our way up to Cope we noticed some dust off to the west, which turned out to be a non-mesocyclone tornado (colloquially known as a 'landspout' - they form from local vorticity being stretched by a passing updraught rather than by complex interactions underneath a strongly rotating low-level mesocyclone - they're still tornadoes, though!).
We then continued north to Cope and then westwards by a few miles. We found a good vantage point but the extensive low-level stratus clouds being pulled into multiple updraughts meant we couldn't see much structure.
However, what we did see was a series of further non-mesocylone tornadoes developing one after another, some way to our south-west. At times, at least 2 were occurring at the same time.
These appeared to develop on the flanking line feeding into the main updraught, which soon started to exhibit strong low-level rotation. Hail started to fall so we retreated eastwards by a few miles.
We could then see the low-level mesocyclone just to our south-west, which tightened up and produced a brief tornado, which quickly got wrapped in rain. We headed east again, and then looked right into the notch of the HP supercell, and another tornado developed just about a mile to our west. It was a narrow rope tornado, but was heading towards us. When it was within about 1/4 mile we decided to head off to the east.
The storms then formed more into a line, and so we headed, via several stops, to Burlington. We decided to stay here for the night, despite the prospect of a long drive tomorrow to SW Kansas, the TX Panhandle, or W Oklahoma. We saw a number of other chasers when we went for dinner at The Dish Room - which was a very good place for dinner!
Monday 28 May 2018
May 28th - afternoon plans
Hello. We started the day in Cheyenne and decided to head towards Limon, Colorado. Upslope flow and a boundary in the area were the targets. It's now 3.15pm MDT and we're at Arriba, Colorado. Cells are starting to develop to our north with towering cumulus to our east. We'll continue east and prepare to intercept the developing storms. A tornado watch is in effect as there is plenty of low-level wind shear, and low cloud bases.
May 27th - tornadoes!
Hello.
We headed north from Denver to chance our luck with upslope flow over Wyoming, just north of a cold front. As we headed north, storms formed over the Rockies to our west, and so it was an early start to proceedings!
We found our way to the north-west of Cheyenne, on the road to Horse Creek. We watched our storm to the SW, which had been severe thunderstorm warned for a time, start to fizzle somewhat. A tornado warning was issued for a storm to the NE of Denver, and this seemed like rubbing salt into the wounds.
However, we persevered with our storm, and continued to head towards Horse Creek. We waited for a while and it began to crank up again, with numerous bands of low cloud racing into the updraught area.
We found a better position and watched as one, then another, funnels formed to our south-west. Over the next 20 mins or so we watched a tornado develop, and then die out, but further funnels formed. We're unsure whether some of these funnels, especially the very first, were tornadoes - the first may well have been. Thus, by these point we had seen at least one tornado.
Hail started to fall, and we decided to head north, on the road to Chugwater. I noticed the base was looking very good again, so we stopped, and watched a large cone tornado form, and last for several minutes.
We then continued to Chugwater, driving through quite a barrage of CG lightning. On reaching Chugwater we headed south on I-25, before stopping and watching the impressive supercell to our south. We spied the closing moments of a large tornado within the rain curtains, but it wasn't something which came out well on pictures. We then saw a cone tornado develop within the rain curtains to our SE, which made it 4 tornadoes for the day, and perhaps 5 if the initial funnel was one, which some chasers have reported it was.
Unfortunately a number of houses were damaged by the tornadoes, and we saw a vehicle and its trailer overturned at the side of I-25 as we headed south to Cheyenne for the night - the emergency services were on scene, and this would have happened as the storm crossed the road, as we were a number of miles to the north.
All in all an impressive storm,
We headed north from Denver to chance our luck with upslope flow over Wyoming, just north of a cold front. As we headed north, storms formed over the Rockies to our west, and so it was an early start to proceedings!
We found our way to the north-west of Cheyenne, on the road to Horse Creek. We watched our storm to the SW, which had been severe thunderstorm warned for a time, start to fizzle somewhat. A tornado warning was issued for a storm to the NE of Denver, and this seemed like rubbing salt into the wounds.
However, we persevered with our storm, and continued to head towards Horse Creek. We waited for a while and it began to crank up again, with numerous bands of low cloud racing into the updraught area.
We found a better position and watched as one, then another, funnels formed to our south-west. Over the next 20 mins or so we watched a tornado develop, and then die out, but further funnels formed. We're unsure whether some of these funnels, especially the very first, were tornadoes - the first may well have been. Thus, by these point we had seen at least one tornado.
Hail started to fall, and we decided to head north, on the road to Chugwater. I noticed the base was looking very good again, so we stopped, and watched a large cone tornado form, and last for several minutes.
We then continued to Chugwater, driving through quite a barrage of CG lightning. On reaching Chugwater we headed south on I-25, before stopping and watching the impressive supercell to our south. We spied the closing moments of a large tornado within the rain curtains, but it wasn't something which came out well on pictures. We then saw a cone tornado develop within the rain curtains to our SE, which made it 4 tornadoes for the day, and perhaps 5 if the initial funnel was one, which some chasers have reported it was.
Unfortunately a number of houses were damaged by the tornadoes, and we saw a vehicle and its trailer overturned at the side of I-25 as we headed south to Cheyenne for the night - the emergency services were on scene, and this would have happened as the storm crossed the road, as we were a number of miles to the north.
All in all an impressive storm,
Sunday 27 May 2018
May 27th thoughts
Hello.
A broad risk area today with a cold front across Wyoming and dry line through Colorado, which will mix eastwards. Better instability along the dry line but high cloud bases vs lower instability around the cold front but lower cloud bases, and backed surface flow. Southern Wyoming and vicinity probably looks best. We'll make a choice soon and head off from Denver.
A broad risk area today with a cold front across Wyoming and dry line through Colorado, which will mix eastwards. Better instability along the dry line but high cloud bases vs lower instability around the cold front but lower cloud bases, and backed surface flow. Southern Wyoming and vicinity probably looks best. We'll make a choice soon and head off from Denver.
May 26th
Hello.
Today was a positioning day in order to chase on Sunday. We drove from Amarillo to Denver, taking the route via Clayton and Raton, New Mexico...it's quite a scenic drive.
Tomorrow brings a risk of severe thunderstorms from Colorado northwards. We will evaluate where to go in the morning.
Today was a positioning day in order to chase on Sunday. We drove from Amarillo to Denver, taking the route via Clayton and Raton, New Mexico...it's quite a scenic drive.
Tomorrow brings a risk of severe thunderstorms from Colorado northwards. We will evaluate where to go in the morning.
Saturday 26 May 2018
May 25th quick summary
Hello. It's late so just a quick summary before bed...pics should appear tomorrow.
Had lunch in Woodward before heading to Arnett and then points south.
Nice chase today with a couple of marginal LP storms, the second of which appeared to have its roots from either residual lift from a previous left split from the first or convergence from anvil cooled air and hotter air outside. Some good dusty outflow, cracking colours and rainbows, CGs, and a heat burst! The temp went up to 94F in outflow! Followed it all towards Mangum before calling it a night. Took a long slog to Amarillo and now it's burger time! Good to catch up with Oliver Ewers, Adam Simpkins, David Johnny Vicary, Lou Ruh, Ed Sweeney.
Edit: pics here now!
Had lunch in Woodward before heading to Arnett and then points south.
Nice chase today with a couple of marginal LP storms, the second of which appeared to have its roots from either residual lift from a previous left split from the first or convergence from anvil cooled air and hotter air outside. Some good dusty outflow, cracking colours and rainbows, CGs, and a heat burst! The temp went up to 94F in outflow! Followed it all towards Mangum before calling it a night. Took a long slog to Amarillo and now it's burger time! Good to catch up with Oliver Ewers, Adam Simpkins, David Johnny Vicary, Lou Ruh, Ed Sweeney.
Edit: pics here now!
Friday 25 May 2018
May 25th thoughts
Morning.
A cluster of storms moved SE through Oklahoma overnight and has left an outflow boundary in its wake. A dryline is out west and should mix east, with a surface low forming over the OK Panhandle. We'll head to Woodward and await developments, but being E or NE of the surface low, near the boundary, is the goal.
A cluster of storms moved SE through Oklahoma overnight and has left an outflow boundary in its wake. A dryline is out west and should mix east, with a surface low forming over the OK Panhandle. We'll head to Woodward and await developments, but being E or NE of the surface low, near the boundary, is the goal.
May 24th - report
Hello. We started the day in North Platte, Nebraska. We decided to head south into NW Kansas as various models simulated thunderstorms developing to the west, and perhaps across the area too. We had lunch in Goodland, and waited for a while, having intercepted a dust devil on the way down! We could see a line of cumulus bubbling away to our east and south-east, and this marked a wind shift line. Later runs of hi-res models showed thunderstorms developing from this so we headed east, to Colby, which was pretty much under the line. We briefly saw Berni King, before her tour van drove off and left her - for a short while!
We waited here for a while, and I Facetimed my Mum and Dad - that was around 4pm CDT. Towards 5pm, the cumulus was getting rather larger, and so we headed just a little east to get a better view, away from the truck stop. We could here thunder rumbling occasionally. This storm intensified, and so we headed eastwards, towards (but not as far as) Hoxie. We got into the back of the storm and found some hail which was around 0.5 inches in diameter. A few larger stones, to 0.75-1 inch were occasionally mixed in, but it was mainly marble-sized. We headed east and then south, towards Oakley, but stopped as the hail got quite heavy. After a while it eased, and we carried on southwards, but found some hail lying on the road, which looked cool (ha!).
We continued to Oakley, and watched the storms for a while - Lou Ruh, Ed Sweeney and partner, and Nathan Edwards showed up too, so we had a nice catch-up. Lightning was putting on a nice show, and we had a bit of a dust storm as the gust front blew through.
After a while longer we decided to head to Garden City for the night - lightning was playing along the eastern horizon, and also to the south-east, from another cell.
It was a fun chase day with some nice photo ops.
We waited here for a while, and I Facetimed my Mum and Dad - that was around 4pm CDT. Towards 5pm, the cumulus was getting rather larger, and so we headed just a little east to get a better view, away from the truck stop. We could here thunder rumbling occasionally. This storm intensified, and so we headed eastwards, towards (but not as far as) Hoxie. We got into the back of the storm and found some hail which was around 0.5 inches in diameter. A few larger stones, to 0.75-1 inch were occasionally mixed in, but it was mainly marble-sized. We headed east and then south, towards Oakley, but stopped as the hail got quite heavy. After a while it eased, and we carried on southwards, but found some hail lying on the road, which looked cool (ha!).
We continued to Oakley, and watched the storms for a while - Lou Ruh, Ed Sweeney and partner, and Nathan Edwards showed up too, so we had a nice catch-up. Lightning was putting on a nice show, and we had a bit of a dust storm as the gust front blew through.
After a while longer we decided to head to Garden City for the night - lightning was playing along the eastern horizon, and also to the south-east, from another cell.
It was a fun chase day with some nice photo ops.
Thursday 24 May 2018
May 24th - lunch
Hello. We've stopped in Goodland, Kansas, for lunch. Storms should develop across this area through this afternoon and evening, or move in from the west. A severe thunderstorm watch has been issued, mainly for winds, but some hail possible too.
May 23rd report
Hello.
We started the day in eastern Denver, knowing that our aerial was likely to arrive at some point - we'd received the exciting news that it had got to Denver, and was out for delivery! We packed up and left the motel at 11am and drove to the previous motel, and engaged in some kind of stake out, outside the hotel, waiting for the USPS delivery to arrive!
A storm then developed so we headed a few hundred yards away to get a look at it - quickly we then noticed that the status of the package had changed to 'delivered'! We legged it back, picked up the package, installed the aerial, and we were 'good to go'.
We headed NE on I-76 - our storm had developed into a weak supercell, and we got a few nice pics before it fell apart.
We continued north-east to Fort Morgan and got some lunch. We then noticed a new storm or two had developed, and so we continued NE and then N to Sidney, Nebraska, and then east, briefly saying hi to Mike Olbinski in the process.
We paused at a rest area near Big Springs (after a short stop beforehand) and saw some pretty cool structure on the storm to our NW. We continued east and then north towards Oshkosh, pausing to get further pics and some timelapse. Nathan Edwards joined us and it was great to catch-up.
He headed off, and we did too, heading east from Oshkosh. We found a nice spot overlooking Lake McCanaughy and got some shots of the storm as it moved away.
We then headed to North Platte for the night, where we met Jimmy Deguara from Australia in Applebee's, and we ate dinner together. Nathan joined us too and we had a nice catch-up and de-brief.
All in all a lovely day's chasing. And funny to think the last time we were in North Platte was 2 days before the total eclipse last August.
Here are a few pics.
We started the day in eastern Denver, knowing that our aerial was likely to arrive at some point - we'd received the exciting news that it had got to Denver, and was out for delivery! We packed up and left the motel at 11am and drove to the previous motel, and engaged in some kind of stake out, outside the hotel, waiting for the USPS delivery to arrive!
A storm then developed so we headed a few hundred yards away to get a look at it - quickly we then noticed that the status of the package had changed to 'delivered'! We legged it back, picked up the package, installed the aerial, and we were 'good to go'.
We headed NE on I-76 - our storm had developed into a weak supercell, and we got a few nice pics before it fell apart.
We continued north-east to Fort Morgan and got some lunch. We then noticed a new storm or two had developed, and so we continued NE and then N to Sidney, Nebraska, and then east, briefly saying hi to Mike Olbinski in the process.
We paused at a rest area near Big Springs (after a short stop beforehand) and saw some pretty cool structure on the storm to our NW. We continued east and then north towards Oshkosh, pausing to get further pics and some timelapse. Nathan Edwards joined us and it was great to catch-up.
He headed off, and we did too, heading east from Oshkosh. We found a nice spot overlooking Lake McCanaughy and got some shots of the storm as it moved away.
We then headed to North Platte for the night, where we met Jimmy Deguara from Australia in Applebee's, and we ate dinner together. Nathan joined us too and we had a nice catch-up and de-brief.
All in all a lovely day's chasing. And funny to think the last time we were in North Platte was 2 days before the total eclipse last August.
Here are a few pics.
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