2010 Storm Chase Summaries

Tuesday, August 17: Splitting Storm near Matador, TX

A bit of an interesting setup evolved this day relative to the usual pulse storms that frequent the southern plains this late in the summer.  I was lured out of chase hibernation after peeking at the mid-level flow this morning and noticing decent mid-level flow for a change.  If I recall correctly, there was a cold front stalling in the eastern Panhandle near I-40 and this is where I focused my efforts early on.  After observing a slow-moving windbag of a storm northeast of Clarendon, I pushed farther south to Memphis where new convection was attempting to organize.  Even more disappointed with these newer cells, I eventually dropped southwest and then south to near Matador where a vigorous SVR storm was likely producing copious amounts of hail.  Finally a quality storm!  While pressing south on HWY 70, a storm split was clearly visible to my south.  Of all the splitting storms I've seen, this was the FIRST time I can ever recall seeing such a well-developed wall cloud with the left mover!  No rotation was noted in the wall cloud, but this left mover likely had severe hail as evidence by the small hailstones still littering the highway well in its wake.  I continued south in pursuit of the right split that was now just east of Matador and moving ESE.  Several backshered anvil CGs were sparking as I entered the town, but aside from crisp convection along a stubby flanking line, the remaining storm structure was masked by a wet RFD.  In short, I dropped south of Matador and then east on some backroads that eventually turned into dirt slowing my progress.  However, by this time the storm's updraft base was shrinking and I opted not to follow it on the poor one lane ranch road.  Heading back to LUB, I encountered a photogenic linear mass of cells north of Dickens that were quite electrified.  Breaking out the tripod and locking the camera's mirror up, I was able to snag a few daytime CGs without the use of my lightning strike AEO (which didn't arrive in the mail until the following day).  The chase ended with a classic high plains sunset near Crosbyton.
 

Friday, August 13: Twilight CG Festival West of Morton, TX

I typically don't chase exclusively for lightning photography, but after the events of this past July 10 near Winner, SD, I've been more motivated to head out for short excursions with the hope of bagging twilight CGs.  This evening did not disappoint as linear, slow-moving clusters of storms erupted in far eastern NM late in the day.  I set up about seven miles west of Morton around sunset and for the next 30 minutes or so I was treated to a frequent CG display very near the state line.  At the time I thought these storms were much closer, but after I failed to hear any thunder (even with outflow winds at my location), I realized I could have driven farther west to get a more intimate view.
 

Monday, July 12: Distant Teaser Supercell in Southwest SD

My last day chasing in the northern plains was not a bust, but rather an irritating bruise!  The presence of multiple outflow boundaries, a quasi-stationary front, and ample shear and instability under WNWly flow looked promising for supercells anywhere from eastern MT south to northwest KS.  With a midday flight out of KRAP the following day, I wasn't keen on driving to McCook, NE today where it appeared the best tornadic threat existed, so I made the most out of a local target in the sandhills of NE.  I scrapped this idea shortly after noon in favor of a supercell progressing slowly SSE off the Black Hills to my north.  I had high hopes for this supercell as it would be tracking along an instability axis and a differential heating boundary formed from its own anvil shadow (although this doesn't necessarily guarantee higher SRH ingestion).  Amazingly, UDX's 88d reflectivity data clearly showed the anvil's differential heating outline!  Once again, from the natural storm observatory of Chadron, one could clearly see the entire supercell updraft and base complete with a wall cloud all from an astounding 58 miles away (no joke...photos forthcoming)!  I snapped a few telephoto shots with the 40D from Chadron north to Oelrichs, SD, but the 5D and its wide angle zoom lens never made it out of the camera case as the supercell couldn't survive its journey off the higher terrain which afterall was the focus for its ascent.  Background forcing was the only ingredient lacking here today, unlike in eastern MT and western ND where the impending upper trof is generating multiple supercells with a couple TOR warnings even as I sit here typing this after sunset!  Long-distance supercell photos from today will be uploaded once I get home and recover from this adrenaline-fueled, 6869 mile vacation spanning seven states and one province.

In all honesty, I can't say it's a huge drawback not being able to take extended chase vacations during the spring months while working at NWS-LUB.  Sure you'll miss out on some great setups, but being able to chase supercells and tornadoes from the northern plains into the Canadian Prairies during the much overlooked summer months without another chaser around is certainly worth it.  Don't get me wrong, I can deal with hordes of chasers on the same storm as me so long as they behave and drive responsibly, but there's simply no substitute for having a supercell and rural road completely to yourself.

 

Sunday, July 11: Late Evening Supercell in the Northern NE Panhandle

Post-frontal upslope setup today with a general target area of Hot Springs, SD.  I'm ashamed to admit I jumped on the sucker cell on the Black Hills early this afternoon and ended up watching the raggedy updraft and ill-defined lowered base wash out southwest of Hermosa.  The degree of mid-level clouds around the Black Hills was absurd, so I turned south for hopes of any convection in the sun-laden sand hills of NE.  The meager Cu fields in northern NE suggested otherwise and it looked like if anything went, it would be later rather than sooner.  So I boogied west to Chadron to secure a motel and have an early dinner.  By early evening, a small cell was looking very intriguing in northwest Cherry county, but this was over an hour to my east and moving away into the road void of western Cherry county, so I passed on this even though visually it was blossoming into a full-grown supercell complete with bulbous, heaped overshoots.  My storm of the day was still to come.  Marginal SVR cells were trekking ESE out of northeast WY this entire time and the southernmost cell eventually acquired a rotating core and turned more SEly on a line towards Chadron.  From the hilltop across the street from my motel, I had a perfect view of this HP supercell's base and wall cloud from 40 miles away!!!  The visibility from that location is simply superb.  After snapping a couple telephoto-zoom shots, I plugged NNW closer to this beast for a more intimate view.  The surface flow had already veered easterly by this point with long inflow tails extending eastward, so storm-relative helicities were likely quite high.  In spite of this ample shear, the near-surface environment of the supercell appeared a bit stable, but not elevated.  For the next half hour, I observed cyclical wall clouds along the northern end of the curled updraft base, but neither of these was rotating.  I later pushed my luck too far on the way back to Chadron by letting the updraft/downdraft interface hover just to my west and was punished by a few SVR hailstones (1-1.2" and amazingly no dents in the rental car).  I was too busy racing back to the motel's overhang for shelter and couldn't report this to NWS-CYS (no warning was in effect at the time, but this wasn't a huge deal considering most of the hail was pea size).  Night in Chadron.  Photos forthcoming.
 

Saturday, July 10: Brief Rotating Storms in South-Central SD and Incredible Twilight Lightning

I was supposed to have flown back to Lubbock the day prior to close out my final days of my summer vacation, but after peeking at the upcoming pattern I postponed this flight until next Tuesday...my final day off.  This day marked the return of quality moisture to the northern plains under decent WNWly flow.  I hung around Chamberlain, SD this afternoon in hopes of CI nearby along a developing dryline.  By 1500 CDT, high-based TCu dotted the sky to my west and within an hour I was watching a Cb become SVR just on the other side of the Missouri River.  This storm then decayed as new flanking cells to its SW organized.  This processed continued once more before a dominant cell emerged and began lifting slowly ENE.  I pushed north of Chamberlain and stopped at a scenic overlook of the Missouri River as the cell showcased a well-developed, non-rotating wall cloud.  The parent updraft base however did exhibit circular structure and a weak inflow band, but this diminished a short while later prompting me to evaluate a tail-end cell to my SW along I-90.  This latter, high-based storm also had its moments once an RFD sculpted out a horseshoe updraft structure and even a wall cloud later on, but within 30 minutes it too failed to maintain its organization.  I monitored new cells from south of Plankinton, SD, but the only feature I photographed was a wicked downburst.  By this point storms were simply becoming too common and it was obvious the window for supercells had closed in these parts.  So, I forged west to Winner, SD for a motel room but along the way stumbled upon an explosive Cb located NW of Coloma.  I deliberately entered this storm's core north of Coloma to get in the southern quadrant and along the way encountered only pea hail.  The storm transistioned to a front-flank updraft during this time with suspicious zones of low-level cyclonic rotation at times and one wall cloud.  For the next half hour, I meandered south on back roads (aside: DeLorme had several erroneous dirt roads south of Dallas and Gregory, SD that were since closed or simply overgrown with weeds and impassable.  I suspect another Bowdle mishap is in store if chasers remain overly reliant on their mapping software!).  After grazing a deer at 40 mph, I headed back to paved roads and entered what was left of a new cell's core tracking over Coloma with occasional 1" hail.

By the time I arrived at my motel in Winner, an awesome CG display was lighting up the western sky in the fading twilight.  I grabbed dinner and ate while heading west of town in hopes of finding a proper hill overlooking the surrounding terrain.  In short, I ended up with what I'd say are the best lightning photos I've taken up to this point thanks in large part to outflow winds keeping the mosquitoes down.  This high-based storm provided for tall CGs and when combined with subtle twilight color accents, I was amazed with the results.  I usually don't photograph lightning, but this setup was just too compelling to miss.  Of course digital lightning photography is rather simple and nothing like the trial and error approach with 35mm film of the old days.  Being able to review second-old images and adjust Av/Tv/ISO settings on the fly is cheating, but this way you're basically guaranteed to get it right so long as the lightning frequency cooperates...which this storm did and then some.

 

Thursday, July 1: HP Supercell and Bow Echo Evolution in Southeast MT

This was a frustrating day with multiple chase targets spanning from Billings, MT northeast to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.  I chose the southernmost target of this outlook.  Storms were a guarantee here with terrain-induced ascent, but I had really expected better moisture to be in place near Billings by the time I arrived around 1500 MDT.  I followed a few high-based, mostly virga bomb Cbs north towards Roundup before frustration and impatience led to an early end to the chase...or so I thought.  Later this evening at my motel all the way east at Miles City, I was sitting down for dinner when an obvious supercell emerged on the radar north of Billings!  I was in no mood to jump back in the car for a 2 hour drive, so I enjoyed my Seabeck pizza (business locations in WA and rural southeast Montana...what the???).  A while later I couldn't ignore this right-moving beast that was now certainly dropping significant hail just north of I-94.  Reluctantly, I loaded the gear back into the car and forged west where I met up with a broad, linear updraft base with two distinct precip cores.  Visually, the northernmost of these cores was wrapping around a strong meso that did feature a respectable beaver's tail to the NE.  Not wanting to subject the rental car to hail, I stayed well away from this beast in favor of twilight lightning and structure shots.  Relentless mosquitoes again limited my photo ops, but once the outflow surged through and the core passed to my north I managed some better CGs.  Night in Miles City before heading east to WI for the 4th.
 

Wednesday, June 30: Bow Echo and Night Lightning in Southwest ND

I spent far too much time at the Medicine Lake NWR in far northeast MT this afternoon and almost missed today's storms completely.  After enduring ubiquitous summer road construction, I arrived near Bowman late this evening to chase what earlier looked like a supercell (per radar) near Alzada, MT, but by this time the storm was highly linear and showing signs of bowing out directly over Bowman...how appropriate.  The shelf cloud was rather photogenic early on with at least three stacked plates, but photographing this while stationary was a chore considering the mobs of mosquitoes swarming my car.  Later on while north of Bowman I managed to photograph multiple CGs in low light ahead of what was left of the approaching shelf.  Night in Dickinson.
 

Tuesday, June 29: Soft Bust in Southern Saskatchewan

Drove from Regina northwest to Saskatoon late this morning for another favorable supercell setup along the warm front.  Unlike the previous day, today the upper ridge axis was directly overhead securing weaker upper flow, but I couldn't ignore a moist SEly 850mb axis along with a weak ridge rider upstream.  This impulse actually kicked off elevated TSRA early in the day near Medicine Hat that drifted northeast to near Saskatoon by mid afternoon.  With the influx of mid-level clouds into Saskatoon from this precip, I shifted well south of town to near Crazy Lake where I sat and watched two separate areas of TCu upstream for nearly two hours.  The northernmost area flared up late in the evening and this is what finally graduated into the trio of supercells in and around the Saskatoon area well after sunset.  My patience however was running thin well before this sequence of events unfolded and I chose to drive back to Regina for another overpriced motel.  At least the Holiday Inn Express had a complementary breakfast unlike the minimalist Best Western I stayed at the night prior...which for some reason still cost far more than tonight's motel!
 

Monday, June 28: Marathon Drive to Southern SK for a Textbook Supercell with Two Tornadoes (one multi-vortex, one ambiguous)

I departed Spearfish, SD early this morning for a 9 hour drive to Regina, SK to target a favorable setup for tornadic supercells along a NW-SE warm front under WNW mid & upper flow.   In short, I chased a rather long-lived, classic, high-contrast supercell near Liberty, SK that produced cyclic wall clouds and more importantly two tornadoes that I viewed early on from a distance of 8-10 miles.  At the time, I did not report these to EC or on spotternetwork as I could not discern rotation with either of these separate truncated lowerings, but after a quick review of my photos and some shaky video while driving, I now believe these were both legit.  At times, both of these lowering featured condensation filaments to the ground.  Again...confirming rotation from my vantage point was difficult at best and I'm certainly not one to count any look alike on the spot just to put another notch in the belt or brag about it on various forums.  For the next two hours, this supercell drifted ESE amongst wonderful conola fields and a low sun angle before decaying about 60 miles or so north of Regina shortly after sunset (which is quite late up here).  Spent the night in Regina.  On a humorous note, I ordered unsweet tea in Regina this night and to my surprise was handed HOT TEA to complement my cheeseburger...which I still drank!
 

Sunday, June 27: Lone Non-SVR storms east of Howes, SD

Expectations of a chase today were zero as I needed to drive from Yankton to Spearfish to get in play for storms in MT or the Canadian Prairies in the coming days.  After a much-needed Chinese meal in Pierre, SD, I continued west and encounterd a few high-based, shallow Cbs east of Howes.  No structure of interest was observed, but colorful photos with distant hailshafts (pea hail at best) contrasted with the vast range land led to me pulling off the road for photos several times.  Night in Spearfish.
 

Saturday, June 26: EF4 Damage Followed by a Handicapped Supercell in Southeast SD

Started this morning by inspecting damage from what was suspected as being a violent tornado near Little Rock, IA the night prior.  In short, no aerial survey was required to confirm this was a tornado as the corn fields showed a classic cyclonic damage pattern...some of which was reduced to stubble south of Little Rock.  Although the corn fields were only a bit beyond knee high, one-inch diameter stalks trimmed to the ground in places is an impressive feat.  The structural damage I came across (2 homes and 2 pig barns) suggested solid EF1 and maybe EF2 at points, but I wasn't able to visit all the homes impacted and I suspect that's where the EF4 rating was earned.

Shortly after noon, I cut the survey short to revisit the day's chase setup.  An elevated supercell was already in progress by midday southeast of ABR, but this was pretty far removed from the surface warm front and not likely to become surface based.  I targeted the area northwest of FSD just north of a weak, but persistent mesolow and exceptionally moist low levels (I think Madison, SD reported 84/75 E17G23 at one point!).  A few small cores went up and teased me north of Salem by midafternoon, but I aborted these in favor of a more robust cell that emerged farther southwest near the Niobrara River.  In short, this became the storm of the day for about 30 minutes as it exhibited CL-HP supercell structure before the wet RFD expanded tenfold and transitioned the once singular cell into a bowing mass.  During this metamorphosis, I drove through the core north of Dolton and only encountered pea hail and gusts to maybe 50 mph.  Much to the NSSL-WRF's credit, it nailed both today's convective evolution as well as Friday's in MN, but I was still expecting a bit more!  I chased one final storm northeast of Yankton later in the evening that for a bit resembled a quality storm; though the surging cold pool put an end to whatever balance there was between the FFD and updraft.  Night in Yankton, SD and prepping for what will likely be my first Canada chase since '08 in the coming days.

 

Friday, June 25: HP Supercells and a Large Mesocyclone in South-Central MN

Half tempted to abort the obvious warm front setup in eastern SD and MN today in favor of potentially more discrete, yet less prolific convection farther west, I forged east to Huron, SD this afternoon before continuing northeast to Canby, MN where a pocket of deep Cu congestus was amplifying by 1500 CDT.  This development quickly blossomed into a Cb, but with 40 knots of H7 flow I was finding it hard to keep up with this fast-moving cell.  I finally reached the sern quadrant of this nascent supercell just east of Montevideo after contending with several blasts of cool outflow in the RFD.  The storm's rear flank was laden with scud for much of this time with an obvious shelf cloud along its front flank.  In many ways this scene reminded me of a similar storm on 16 Sep 2006 in SD that I quickly aborted only to have it become tornadic a short while later.  With this thought fully in mind, I dropped south to Maynard to avoid the RFD core (storm motion had already become easterly).  While in Maynard, I caught a glimpse of a tall, coherent lowering on the immediate backside of this storm.  Upon moving northeast on HWY 23, contrast improved and it was painfully obvious this was the extension of the low-level mesocyclone!  The carousel motion to this lowering was quite strong, however my view was hampered by occasional dense cascades of wrapping rain.  The rain prevented any photos, but I do have video of this sequence and will need to make some vid grabs soon.  The base was around 1k ft agl, so I wouldn't be surprised if a brief tornadic circulation occurred at some point.  In hindsight, I should have reported this to NWS-MPX, but the TOR was already out along with a plethora of other chasers (did anyone else see this?).

I eventually aborted this supercell east of Prinsburg in favor of a distant storm organizing south of Fairfax, MN.  Like clockwork, this storm exploded into the next supercell that would be much more prolific than the earlier one.  In a nutshell, during the next hour I was prevented from getting in the preferred viewing quadrant of this HP tornadic beast as large hail was constantly wrapping around its backside limiting my eastward progress (I was in a rental car afterwards and managed to avoid the grapefuit stones reported at one point).  The chase ended in a swath of wet RFD surges with gusts easily topping 70 mph at times east of New Ulm.  Damage was most focused at Courtland where several trees were blown down (I was stopped by a road barricade and could only see a few at first!), but a light pole was completely bent over just east of New Ulm from these periodic RFD blasts.  Night in Estherville, IA and possibly doing an impromptu survey of significant tornado damage tomorrow morning about an hour west of here.

 

Thursday, June 17: West TX High-Based Supercell and Possible Tornado

A gentelmen's chase of sorts today as I had been occupied with house work much of the day and only glanced at a selection of data in the morning.  The little data I did see suggested any storms on the dryline today would be too high based and not worth pursuing.  What I failed to realize was an enhanced upper wind belt moving through the area that would foster decent storm structure including supercells.  By 1700 CDT, I was lured northwest of Lubbock to chase two promising and crisp Cbs-each about an hour's drive from town.  Stopping outside of Littlefield, the northernmost Cb commanded my attention with its steady-state updraft and impressive core per radar.  A shallow, non-rotating wall cloud developed around 1815 CDT and this forced me north to Springlake for a closer view of this storm's base.  Albeit high based, the updraft exhibited a pair of inflow bands on its eastern flank feeding into a lightly textured and otherwise smooth arcing updraft base.  My level III radar feed had dropped out at this point (likely due to the heavy server demand from the TOR outbreak in the upper midwest), but I recall ealier SRV products showing organized rotation.  Before jumping into the storm's core to verify hail and wind, I stopped about 8 miles south of Springlake for a panoramic sequence of photos.  During this time my photos captured something of great interest that I apparently misidentified at the time as a narrow and dense rainshaft.  What my eyes failed to absorb was a lowered, rain-wrapped base tucked on the southwest edge of the storm with a vertical column of either dense precip or condensate extending practically to the surface!  The three photos I have are *almost* enough to convince me this was a tornado especially considering the location of this feature relative to the tight, arcing wet RFD in this portion of the storm, but alas my doubting mind requires more evidence and until I can review the 88D data, I'll leave my suspicions alone.  Minutes later while about two miles south of Springlake, I was buffeted by multiple 60 mph gusts from the west and eventually some hailstones up to quarter size.  I'm not sure which was more foolish: me entering the core unaware of the possible tornado my camera captured earlier or a motorcyclist core punching the wind and hail!!!  After navigating SE and observing a high-contrast rainbow and multiple RFD surges manifested by west TX dirt (some stretched purely vertical as they encountered a fluid barrier, though none were rotating), I aborted the storm in favor of a pair of LP cells to its southwest that failed to mature prior to sunset.  A nice backyard chase considering I've been stuck at work for most of the other local setups this year!
 

Tuesday, June 8: Wet and Dry Downbursts and a Haboob in the SW TX Panhandle

I wasn't expecting a chase this day, but instead a leisurely drive back home after the chase the day prior.  I broke away from my usual route late this afternoon to take a gander at some SVR multicells exiting far eastern NM.  An assortment of dry and wet downbursts accompanied many of these cells, however the highlight was a drive through a developing haboob northwest of Muleshoe.  Below is a photo of this haboob taken from several miles southeast of Muleshoe south of HWY 84.
 

Monday, June 7: Supercells in the NE Panhandle

Text and photos coming.
 

Monday, May 31: Tornadic Supercell in SE CO and the Wrn OK Panhandle

My hopes this day were not high at all.  In fact, they had been higher in the days leading up to the event until Sun night's models came in with pathetic mid and upper flow (20-25 knots at H5) across the Srn High Plains.  With such weak flow, I was betting that any supercells this day would quickly turn into messy HPs and not be worth the 4 hour drive to Boise City, OK.  Nearly all of the hi-res models suggested convection would turn multicellular over time, so I was surprised when Bruce H. called this morning inquiring about a chase.  He was more interested in the warm front lifting north into the central Panhandle and sure enough that darned HRRR was consistently progging a supercell along the front by late day.  I've seen the HRRR advertise similar hopes before only to scrap the idea during real-world CI (May 21 and May 22 of this year are both classic examples).  Since he offered to drive, I tagged along for the conditional chase.  In short, the HRRR once again failed miserably with convective modes in our area of interest.  Garbage storms were all that developed near us in the deeply-mixed air and they failed to persist as they neared the warm front.  So, we were forced to dash from Four Way up to Stratford and then the OK Panhandle to chase what would be the only true supercell of the day found crawling SE out of Baca County, CO on the nose of a low-level moisture ridge.

From about 50 miles away, the structure of the Baca County supercell was nothing worth writing home about.  I've chased supercells before in upslope environments that possessed soft anvils and mediocre updrafts, so we were hesitant to dismiss this storm's potential.  While about 10 miles southeast of Boise City, OK, we could readily discern an occluded, sunlit lowering on the storm's rear flank that featured laminar-esque scud near the ground.  Given the persistence of these features and a confirmed tornado cited in AMA's TOR warning, we were confident this was a tornado roughly 25 miles to our NNW!  After taking a county road east of HWY 287 for better viewing, a narrow tornado was in progress at 1930 CDT before expanding into a stovepipe by 1935 CDT.  The contrast could have been far better, although considering our distance we were fortunate to have even had a sight of this tornado.  This tornado didn't enter a classic rope out stage, but instead dissipated from the ground up while tilting horizontally at 1943 CDT.  Storm structure eventually became more interesting as this supercell drifted ESE closer to us.  At 1959 CDT, a more substantial tornado emerged in the shape of a tilted, truncated cone.  This classic tornado then began an elongated rope phase at 2005 CDT.  A new lowered extension and wall cloud then appeared downstream of the previous tornado underneath a broad updraft base, so we elected to remain SSE of the supercell as it would continue tracking closer to us over time.  Over the course of the next hour, the updraft began constricting and structure dwindled, though a rotating base persisted well east of Keyes, OK.  Robust convection farther downstream eventually stabilized the inflow to this cell and the chase was called off shortly after sunset.  By all rights we should not have witnessed these tornadoes as our initial forecast tanked hard, so this day will always have a sore spot for me...albeit miniscule!

 

Sunday, May 23: Supercell in West-Central KS

Keeping in mind that I needed to be back to work Monday morning, I was determined to squeeze in one more day of chasing during my short break.  Northeasterly winds were in place across all of NW KS this morning in the wake of the overnight cold fropa, but these would be veering by midday as the front retreated north.  Tempted to scrap the warm front target in favor of the dryline farther south where forcing was not as big of an issue, I drifted down to Tribune, KS and then Garden City as the warm front surged northward.  The main caveat I saw with potential storms along the warm front was a problematic boundary-relative motion as storms would be moving north at a reasonable clip.  This could have explained the inability for storms to maintain rotation sufficiently long; however the only storm I photographed did get its act together near Scott City early in the evening.  I watched this cell amplify from its humble initial state to a CL supercell complete with cyclical wall clouds and a possible funnel.  I elected to stay well away from the storm mostly for distant shots and more importantly a quicker drive back home; although I was lured a bit north of Scott City later on in the supercell's life before its updraft completely dumped.  A nice chase overall, but once again the prized storm was found elsewhere...this time along the dryline near Clayton, NM.  After a long and tiring drive this day, I arrived back in Lubbock shortly before 3 am with just enough time to catch some precious sleep before work that morning.  I can't wait for my vacation in June and July when time constraints are not an issue!
 

Saturday, May 22: If I Didn't Live in Texas...

As the title alludes, the obvious chase target this day was not an option for me as I had to be back to work early Monday morning in Lubbock.  Had I made the additional seven hour drive this morning from Alliance, NE to the target area, I'd have faced at least an 18 hour drive back to Lubbock the next day which is ludicrous and suicidal.  So I made the most of a dryline and cold front intersect target near Chadron, NE.  I aborted this target by early afternoon once the cold front surged southeast (contrary to every model's depiction).  Driving to Ogallalah, NE late that afternoon while watching the textbook structure on ABR's 88D brought back sad and painful memories of 24 June 2003 (another historic day that I couldn't chase the real target).  I was surprised just how many chasers made the haul up there considering the cap was stronger than a tanker's hull for much of the afternoon, but they made a huge gamble and struck gold, platinum and just about every other precious metal known to man in the process.  While it looks as if most every chaser chose to stay close to the supercell, W. Ashley's distant wedge and structure shots are hands down some of the best photos from this day!  Night in Ogallala, NE.
 

Friday, May 21: Western NE Panhandle Classic Supercell

This day was my first true chase of 2010 as nearly every preceding setup conflicted with work requirements.  Enjoyable in that I chased a well-structured supercell, I must say at the same time this chase was absolutely frustrating as my original target area (500 miles from Lubbock) ended up growing to over 700 miles as the afternoon wore on!  Early this morning I made my mind up to pass on the conditional dryline setup in TX for the low CAPE and high shear environment expected across the central High Plains.  By early afternoon, I stopped in Last Chance, CO to monitor crisp MDT CU fields near the front range, but these never manifested further and this is what reluctantly forced my hand to drive even farther north near the low-level moisture ridge and even less instability.  Low CAPE and high shear environments can produce some gems ala 16 June 2007, so by 1600 MDT I found myself in Kimball, NE along with the entire V2 armada watching soft Cbs well to the WNW along the Laramie and Cheyenne ridges.

The first cells around Wheatland, WY were not enough to convince me to drive an additional 100 miles until one split and began turning ENE.  I may have been one of the last chasers to leave Kimball, but I arrived within range of this now beautiful supercell about 20 miles north of Mitchell, NE.  The storm had a well-molded circular updraft, flanged base, flanking convection to its WSW and steady inflow sustained around 20 knots.  As is typical with environments like this, I would have been better off wearing pants and a jacket in the seemingly cold inflow (temps were only in the upper 60s!).  I did observe two wall cloud cycles well after the confirmed tornado earlier, however none appeared to be rotating from my vantage point.  This supercell was not shy about anvil CGs as I was forced to retreat from the top of one sand hill to my car after two came dangerously close.  I followed this supercell east of HWY 29 to the Agate Fossil Beds Nat'l Monument where it became clearly obvious the storm was struggling to acquire instability.  Hopes for organizing convection to its distant WSW were dashed 30 minutes later when a lowered updraft base succombed to the lead cell's cold pool.  Overall a great chase, but very frustrating considering how far I drove and how poor my initial forecast panned out!  Night in Alliance, NE.

 

Wednesday, May 12: Colorful Multicells at Sunset on the South Plains

Backyard chase this evening from near New Home, Tx east to Post along a retreating dryline.  I was almost convinced on chasing from Childress north to I-40 this day, but a softball game this evening got the better of me and I opted out.  In hindsight I should have chased up there as the opposing team was several players short resulting in a forfeit!  Later this evening proved to be a good opportunity for some photo ops as multicells erupted to my south and tracked slowly northeast.  My goal was to capture nighttime lightning (of which there was a fair amount), but I ended up with more mosquito bites than photos!  Virtually no wind was prime for those little buggers to swarm on me, so after three attempts of setting up the tripod I called it quits and watched the show from inside the car.  The only photos of interest came earlier in the chase during sunset as a colorful anvil canopy overspread the vast fields.  Photos forthcoming.
 

Thursday, April 15: Surprise Funnel at the Guadalupe Mountains

A second journey to the Guadalupe Mountains for landscape photos proved more successful than I had hoped.  Afternoon convection under moist easterly upslope flow supported a rogue two minute funnel immediately SSW of El Capitan (1, 2).  At the time I was stopped at the salt flats well southwest of the mountains, but was able to snag several photos with the telephoto zoom lens.  Interestingly, a pair of supercells was also visible later in the evening along the southern horizon (most certainly in Mexico), but my slightly blurred photos did not do them any justice.
 
Back to Chase Logs