Weatherscapes

Days like this make me wonder if I could chase my way out of a paper bag.

The day started in Belleville, KS, on the KS/NE border. I had driven up to Belleville from Norman OK the day before, to be in position for what was shaping up to be a significant outbreak in southern NE and northern KS. I hung around the Super 8 until 10:30, then sauntered north and west to Hastings, NE, then west to Kearney. I checked satellite and observations in Kearney, then headed south to Holdredge as storms began to pop to the southwest.

The decision was made to head farther west, toward a developing storm moving into Frontier county, NE. Driving west out of Funk, NE, I had a little visit with the NHP, who gave me a warning for 68 mph in a 60 zone. Unlike other chasers this season, I had no problems with the LEO encounter, and it didn’t set me back as far as time went. I continued toward the storm, which went from nothing to severe-warned in about a half hour.

By the time I reached Elwood, NE, the storm was tornado-warned, and I could see why. A large, blocky wall cloud was present about 15 miles to my southwest, and it was quickly moving toward me. I stopped south of Elwood and took some pics of the storm structure, but the view due west was blocked by the town and trees. Once I headed east again, I could see what the fuss was all about…a huge, ground-hugging wall cloud and a dark green hail core were just to my west. It was fan-diddly-tastic.

The road I was on led southeast, while the storm was moving northeast, so of course the updraft base got away from me. I tried to keep up by going north, but got into a really bad position…just south of the hail core, in the strong winds of the rear flank downdraft (RFD). Very strong wind gusts made me leery of the telephone poles along the road, so once I reached the next N-S highway, I headed south away from the beast.

Of course, this storm went on to produce multiple tornadoes after I fell behind. So I tried to blast east on I-80, then south through Hastings on US281 to maybe intercept some storms in northern KS. But I didn’t make this decision quickly enough, and my dive south toward KS was in vain as a precip core containing baseball hail cut me off near the border.

I threw in the towel and headed to Hastings for the night. But first, I had to get out of the way of yet another tornado-warned storm zipping northeast from Kansas. It was very electrified, so I shot some lighting photos and then got the hell out of the way. And, of course, the target storm in KS produced multiple tornadoes.

So, in summary, I drove in circles in southern NE, went through Hastings 3 times, and all I have to show for it is some lighting photos and a warning from the NHP. Beautiful.

- JB

After spending a stormy night in Kingman, KS, I headed south to Oklahoma to hopefully see some marginally severe storms along the Red River.  The target of the day was Frederick, OK, in the southwestern corner of the state, where an outflow boundary would initiate storms in the afternoon.  As I headed west from Lawton on US62, I watched cumulus towers build to the west near Altus.  One tower was becoming a thunderstorm to the south, so I headed south toward Frederick on US183.

This storm fizzled soon after I caught up to it, so I headed southwest into Texas after a severe-warned storm west of Vernon.  But this storm weakened too, so I turned back north toward Altus, where a nearly-stationary storm was strengthening.  This storm looked fantastic from the south – a well-defined precip core, sharp updraft towers, and a turbulent anvil.  As I crested a hill south of Altus, the storm base came into view…and WOW was it fantastic!  I turned west toward the storm, proceeding through the town of Elmer before stopping on a gravel road.

The storm developed one or two ragged wall clouds, then began to accelerate southeastward.  Reports of golfball hail came over the radio, so I bailed east a bit to stay out of that.  The storm soon became elongated, with smooth, laminar cloud features that were otherworldly.

After the storm moved southeast across the Red River, I turned back north toward Norman, where I was meeting up with friends for the evening.  I encountered a bit of photographic luck on the way, however.  Near Lawton, I noticed a large cumulus cloud in the southeast, with a stable wave-like cloud above it.  The sun was starting to set, turning everything orange.  As I scrambled to find a place to pull over, I came across a gravel lot.  Next to this lot was a field of wildflowers, complete with a wooden fence.  An entire roll of film was spent here.

Day 5 was a re-positioning day, heading north from OKC toward Nebraska for a possible chase on Thursday.

Awoke to muggy, hazy conditions in Great Bend, KS this morning. The target for today was southwest or south-central Kansas, so I knew that I didn’t have to drive too far. Therefore, I took it easy getting ready, allowing plenty of time for coffee and forecasting. The target was refined as Dodge City, KS, due to good surface convergence and proximity to the better upper-level flow. The plan was to get to Dodge by noon or so, check data there, and refine the target further.

After doing another data analysis in Dodge, I moseyed around the area for a while. I sat by the side of a wheat field for over an hour, watching the cumulus go from flat and mushy to sharp and agitated. I headed south a little bit toward Sitka, KS, to see if the cumulus were any better there, but they weren’t, so I went back north. Eventually, several storms fired in a line just north and just south of Dodge City. I chose the one just south, and stayed with it as it moved east.

As I headed east on US54, I passed through Greensburg, which had been destroyed by an EF5 tornado in May of last year. It was very eerie going through there. There are still some piles of debris, lots of trailers, and stripped trees. The trees were the spookiest part for me. They were completely denuded by the tornado, but by this time, had started to grow leaves and limbs. Life is making a comeback here, thankfully.

As for the storm, it became tornado warned near Greensburg, with the circulation located a few miles south of town. I set up to the east of the storm, trying to get some structure shots, but the heavy rain kept me in the car for the most part. The low clouds were streaming into the storm from the southeast, which blocked my view of the updraft until I went south for about 10 miles. I finally got some good shots of the storm near the town of Coats, KS.

The storm was then absorbed into a developing line, just like the storms on Sunday. This time, though, I stuck with the original cell for a little longer, watching it as it drifted over Pratt, KS. A tornado was reported east of town, but from my position, I couldn’t see it. The color of the storm was amazing…a deep aqua green, signifying the large hail core that was inside. I gave up on the storm after several smaller cells started popping up around it, obscuring the updraft once again.

It looks like the active storm pattern of the past week will be breaking over the next couple of days, so I’m heading down to OKC to visit some friends. The next chase day looks to be Thursday, when I’ll make a return trip to southwestern Kansas. Perhaps I should make motel reservations now?

- JB

My day started in Norfolk, NE, after Saturday’s chase.  My original plan was to play the Iowa target, but after considering the conditions in central KS, and the fact that Monday’s target was central KS, I headed south toward…wait for it…central KS.  My route was US81-I70-KS156-US56 to Great Bend.

After checking radar and surface obs in town, I headed west on KS96 toward a developing storm southwest of Rush Center, KS.  I blasted south on US183 in Rush Center, keeping an eye on the precip core to my west and a ragged wall cloud to my southwest.  I stopped just past the Rush-Pawnee county line and watched as the storm became more organized.  Soon, it was apparent that I needed to head farther north, so I turned around and went back to Rush Center.

I pulled off on a gravel road a few miles south of town and shot photos of the amazing storm structure, including a rapidly rotating wall cloud that came close to producing a large tornado.  Alas, it never did, so I continued north toward Rush Center, and my easterly road option, KS96.

Upon entering town, the wall cloud looked like it was going to move right over me, and was spinning like crazy, so I bailed east.  I turned north toward LaCrosse a few miles later, then east again on KS4 as a funnel made its way down near the town.  I didn’t see the dust whirl, probably because I was a little farther east and there were trees in the way.  Who woulda thunk it…trees in western KS.

After that, the storms all merged into a line and became outflow dominant, so I tried some lightning shots near Great Bend, then holed up for the night at the Days Inn.  It was a good chase day, the best I’ve had in a long time.

- JB

I left Sacramento on Thursday afternoon and headed east on my chase vacation.  I got to the high plains by Friday afternoon, but wasn’t really in the “chase mode” frame of mind after driving through rain, snow, hail, and wind.  So my first chase-related post will be from today.

The day began in Lexington, NE.  The target today was southeast Nebraska, where the moisture and instability would be juxtaposed with the better dynamics aloft.  I made it to York, NE in the early afternoon, and waited for storms to form.  And waited.  Finally some cumulus started to bubble to the west, so I went north a little bit to get out of the river valley and gain some visibility.

After about an hour and a half, a storm took root in the boundary layer, so I headed northwest after it.  I caught up to it around Fullerton, NE, and watched as it went from a nice, weakly rotating classic supercell to a linear, gusty piece of photogenic crapvection.  I shot off a roll of film while the storm was still good, then meandered northeast with the updraft until I got to Norfolk, NE, where I am staying for the night.

Tomorrow’s target is southwestern Iowa.  My history with Iowa isn’t a good one, so hopefully we’ll buck that trend tomorrow.

-JB