Storm Chasing for Dummies

Coming attractions

2007-05-21T01:38:00.001-04:00

Jake and I are sorting through all the video and photographs we took during the week, and will have some of this media posted to the blog within the next few days.

Homeward bound

2007-05-17T01:26:00.001-04:00

Soooooo today had an extremely slight chance for storms in Wisconsin and Illinois. We slept in too late and decided it was too late to drive out west that far, in addition to being more distance we'd just have to backtrack in the future. The chance for severe weather was just too small, so we headed home.

There is nothing else to report. Tonight we are sleeping at Vassar College, where Jake's sister has taken us in. We'll be home tomorrow night.

Oh, and nothing happened in Wisconsin or Illinois today. Whew.

More fun without the sun

2007-05-16T00:18:00.000-04:00

Today was another great day, even though we were just a little late getting to everything we wanted to see. We targetted the area ahead of the advancing cold front, which at the time was developing from northern Minnesota all the way into Kansas. This put our target in the central part of Michigan. This air just in advance of the cold front had a good setup for severe weather, but a very small chance of supercell storms because of the weak wind shear.

We drove back eastward across the upper peninsula of Michigan, and crossed over the Macinac Bridge, which connects the upper and lower parts of the state. When we stopped for a break soon thereafter, we found that the temperatures had risen nearly 20 degrees from where we had left; we'd overtaken the cold front. That didn't last for long, however, as the front blasted east. We finally caught up with some cells in central Michigan, and made several stops and turnarounds to get a good look at the storms. The storms were forming explosively as the cap finally broke, and it was amazing to watch the giant towers of clouds go up. We have some good video and photographs to show for this effort. The two biggest difficulties were seeing structure through low cloud cover and finding good road options. It was hard to find roads that had visibility of the horizon (stupid trees), and it was also difficult to find roads that didn't lead to major metropolitan areas (i.e. Detroit).

Finally, our options ran out, and the cold front caught up with us, bringing to us strong winds and heavy rain, and briefly some pea-sized hail. We had planned in advance for this, and took some shelter from the hail at a gas station off the interstate.

In our quest to stay in a different state every night, we drove further south and are now residing at the Red Roof Inn in Toledo, OH. Unfortunately, it looks like our chasing is done for this trip. This cold front will leave a pool of stable air behind it, removing the chance of chase-worthy severe weather for at least a week or two. We can't afford to stay out that long, so we are going to find some amusement for the next few days as we weave our way back home.

Success

2007-05-15T01:46:00.000-04:00

Here is another map of today's progress.

After Watersmeet lost its charm, we decided to meet our cold front south of the border of Michigan and Wisconsin. We drove south to Eagle River and found a beautiful field tucked away from the road where we sat and waited. For several hours we watched the patch of would-be-severe weather creep up to us, pass, then continue on to the east without developing. It was then when we decided to drive south (then east) to try to intercept it as the system matured. After perhaps thirty minutes of driving, it became clear that "The little storm that could" could not. We shifted our attention to the Northern Peninsula of Michigan to where a huge system had engulfed Duluth and had continued heading east. This was our chance.

We rushed back the way we came, through Eagle River, over the border, made a left at Watersmeet, and headed west on Route 2. "You are headed towards a twisting storm," piped the computer (the first noise it has made all trip). We parked by the road and watched as a huge mass came towards us. To the south was a precipitation screen, and to the west was a swirling cloud ready to eat us alive. Lightening was flashing on all sides but one, so we got back in the car and headed back to Watersmeet, then south. Soon, rain was coming down in torrents and visibility was nearly impossible. Then, I heard something slam into the windshield. Then the roof. It made a metallic thud as it bounced off onto the road. Quarter to half inch in diameter hail was now falling as fast as the rain. Rockwell feared for the newly replaced windshield as I tried to stay on the road.

After a bit of driving, we got out of the hail storm and were headed south. While deciding on where to spend the night, the thought of Iron Mountain came up. It was north east of where we were, so it would allow us to skirt around the edge of the storm that we had been trying to escape the past hour or so. As we made our way, the sun set behind us as we experienced one of the most amazing lightening shows I have ever seen. We pulled off the road to watch it for a bit, and that is where I snagged the picture below.

Tired, but victorious, we rolled into Iron Mountain and crashed at the first hotel we could find. Not a bad day. Not bad at all.

Jake

Waiting in Anticipation

2007-05-14T16:20:00.000-04:00

This morning we woke to the sound of thunder as a small storm system passed over Duluth. After jumping out of bed, grabbing breakfast, and filling up on gas, we jumped into our trusty chasing-mobile and were off east. Headed on rte. 2 we made our way into Wisconsin and drove alongside a beautifully formed shelf cloud (pictures to come later). We then continued through WS and crossed into the upper peninsula of Michigan where we wait at a crossroads for warm enough air to break the cap. If it holds, we will wait for a cold front that has been a day behind us to catch up. We currently sit in an abandoned baseball field in Watersmeet, MI. Hope to see some activity soon.

Jake

Day Fo(u)r Frustration

2007-05-14T01:53:00.000-04:00

Stupid, stupid cap.

Here's a map of today's adventure. Follow along while you read, if you like.

Out initial thinking was that storms would fire in southern Canada (due to better upper-air divergence) and move south-easterly into the US, where we would gladly welcome them into our country. So we drove north, and then west, to International Falls, a mere stone's throw from Canada. We could literally see it right across that little river.

Then we made a realization: sitting right on the border severely limited our travel options if storms were to initiate. After all, we could only ever travel south from that position, anyway. We grabbed lunch and ate it just outside of the southern end of the town. It soon became apparent that no Canadian storms were planning to smuggle themselves into the U.S., so we went further south to bide our time. We found a beautiful rest area in Orr, with a little playground, a lake, and - most importantly - a Porta-Potty(tm). We chilled there for several hours, tossing a Frisbee(tm), playing Wiffle-Ball(tm), photographing the freight trains that went by, and generally enjoying the downtime.

As we expected, the SPC issued a mesoscale discussion around 7 PM CDT, outlining the possibility for the cap to break west and south of our position. We cruised further south out of Orr (population 600-something), targetting Grand Rapids (population 2000-something). However, an hour later another severe weather outlook was released, and this time the outlook was abysmal. The cap was just too strong, and the possibility for storms in our target area faded to nothing. We accepted defeat and drove another hour southeast to Duluth (population 86,000), where we are currently residing at (surprise!) a Comfort Inn. They should sponsor us or something.

Despite the severe weather bust, the day had its moments. For the first time, we were travelling off the interstate highway, and it was a very different experience. Some of the roads this far north are absoultely deserted. We passed one town with a population of 57. There aren't even many farms up here; it's mostly small houses and forested areas with some light logging. It is very different from the southern part of the state.

Today was frustrating, but it was more of a unique experience than anything else. It's not as if we missed any storms because we made a bad decision. After all, there were no storms to be chased in the first place. We could have trekked out to Montana and chased that gusty, outflow-dominant, mesoscale mess, but then tomorrow's cold-front chase in MN and WI would have been out of reach. Overall, today was maybe our most interesting so far.

Wait a second... Minnesota?

2007-05-13T00:36:00.000-04:00

Yup, that's the plan. But how'd we get here in the first place?

We're actually staying in Grand Forks, North Dakota, barely a mile from the Minnesota border. The day started early with us heading north through Madison and out of Wisconsin, then heading west with the initial hope of finding some storm action in South Dakota. We descended into the lush Mississippi River valley, then rose back out into the vast flatness that is southern Minnesota. In fact, everything was pretty freakin' flat from there on out. We took I-90 due west, then turned north on I-29 as the wimpy South Dakota storms petered out as the afternoon wore on. Not a lot happened after that. There was some more flatness, and two dudes on fast motorcycles who kept racing us on the highway. Well, they pretended to race us, at least, since we had no chance of ever catching them.

We had a little trouble finding a room in Great Forks. Apparently, the nearby University of North Dakota holds graduation tomorrow, so we had to call around for a long time before snagging the last room at the "C'mon Inn," which is actually really nice and has a cool indoor courtyard with waterfalls and plastic trees. The idea is to position ourselves equidistant from a few possible plays for tomorrow's storms: mainly, extreme northern Minnesota, and northeastern South Dakota. The SPC is calling for good stuff in Minnesota, but looking at the models I disagree with that forecast and see South Dakota as a more favorable region. We will see how things turn out when the new outlooks are posted tomorrow morning.

Here's a map that indicates our route so far and our nightly stops. We did about 700 miles today, bringing the total mileage in excess of 2,000 miles. Whoa.

Today would have been fantastic, if not for the extremely strong cap. All day, the skies were remniscent of what an "early morning" textbook storm day should look like. Altocumulus castellanas clouds were everywhere, indicating good instability trapped beneath a layer of stronger convective inhibition (the cap). The cap is just a layer of warm air aloft that inhibits vertical development of storms. On a good day, the cap would eventually break and allow storms to fire by mid-afternoon, but moisture was insufficiently shallow and the stupid cap was just too damn strong to let this happen, so the conditions did not improve as the day went on. Blech.

One last note: Montana is looking good for severe weather tomorrow, but we decided that Big Sky Country was just too distant, especially with a somewhat-decent setup in the upper Mississippi valley for the next two consecutive days. We'd never make it back east for Monday's storms in MI and WI if we went to Montana tomorrow.

Northern Minnesota, here we come!

"Yeah, we kinda ruled today..."

2007-05-12T00:17:00.000-04:00

... said Jake, to sum up today's trek. We nearly doubled yesterday's mileage (roughly 450 miles), and put in about 800 miles today! We left around 7 AM and cautiously navigated the Pennsylvania fog, blowing by all the I-80 construction without a hitch. There were very few slowdowns after that. Interstate 80 became home as we cruised west, and mountains and forests gradually slipped into gently rolling fields and pastures.

We survived the roads of Ohio, and then sped through Indiana without even stopping for a break. Illinois was a little trafficky and more populated, because we were skirting the southern suburbs of Chicago. Finally, we turned north on I-39 and settled in to watch the golden sun slide below the horizon, turning wind farms and grain silos into sillhouettes. Now we're in Wisconsin just south of Madison, deciding on tomorrow's possibility for blasting west into South Dakota in time for storm initiation.

Yeah, it was a good day.

Partway there

2007-05-10T21:38:00.000-04:00

Okay, so today didn't go exacly as planned. We made really good time until we ran into construction and lot of traffic on I-80W in Pennsylvania. We cut today's trip short and are staying at the Comfort Inn in New Columbia, PA.

We got to watch some fun little storms fire up in western MA, and tracked them on the XM WxWorx system. All you out folks there in readerland got to follow along, as well.

Going to go to sleep soon to get an early start tomorrow. Forecast is looking pretty consistent for Saturday and Sunday! Can't wait.

Chaser Positioning System

2007-05-09T20:40:00.000-04:00

Well the car is locked down, wired up, and tricked out. Thanks to the amalgamation of several disparate technologies, you, the cyber-chaser, can now follow along in our misadventures. The patented Chaser Positioning System™ - CPS for short - provides real-time updates of location, speed, bearing, and position relative to storms. It will also have a near-real-time webcam feed from the car dashboard (provided I can fix the program that enables this feature during the car ride).

You can access the CPS here. A link is also available at the top of the navigation column to the right. ----->

Plan B

2007-05-08T20:13:00.000-04:00

Okay, so here's the new plan. The fairly-recent 12Z GFS model run reveals some chase-worthy setups for Saturday and Sunday, and again later next week. That being the case, and assuming the windshield is replaced without any problems, we're going to head out Thursday morning.

Woo.

Oh well

2007-05-07T11:13:00.000-04:00

So the windshield screwed us over for this week. The earliest I could get it replaced would be Tuesday, and by the time that happened and we drove west, the trough in the southern Plains which would have produced the severe weather would have passed. We could be on the road right now, but instead we'll have to wait for a few more days.

I will get the windshield replaced this week, and then we will look at the patterns next week for possibly some high Plains chasing next Wednesday, assuming sufficient moisture can get that far north.

Video: Curse of the Windshield

2007-05-06T21:40:00.000-04:00

Pointless Forecasting: A First Look

2007-04-20T21:29:00.000-04:00

The GFS model has finally provided us with a look two weeks into the future, indicating weather patterns that will, in all probability, have no bearing on what actually happens. Nonetheless, it is fun to speculate, so here goes.

Below is the 500mb plot for Sunday, May 6, hour 384 from the model-run time. Scrolling through the data shows constant cycles of troughs heading in from the Pacific, each followed by strong surface return flow from the Gulf to replenish the moisture. This plot shows another low cruising in from the northwest, maybe providing a good setup for May 7 or 8.

Below you will find a forecast surface plot for the same time period. We see 15º C dewpoints surging north out of the Gulf of Mexico, and a dryline roughly around the TX and OK panhandles.

It will be interesting to see how this evolves as the forecast period grows closer. If that Low comes in any later, we might even be able to blast west on May 6 and catch it.

Again, there's no way to tell what will actually happen, but now speculation can officially begin.

Video: Spring Break Preparations

2007-03-10T19:19:00.000-05:00

It Starts Again

2006-12-20T00:15:00.000-05:00

As 2006 draws to a close and SDS sets in, the time has come to start planning for the 2007 chase season. The chase team this year will be made up of myself and my great friend, Jake. We will begin our treck westward around May 5, depending entirely on atmospheric conditions and when our final exams are scheduled. It could be days before, or it could be weeks later; Mother Nature will decide. It will take about three days of travelling just to get into chase territory, with the third travel day being a potential chase day. Then we will chase around for a week or so, and schelp back to boring Massachusetts.

We will be documenting the snot out of everything. Jake will man the camcorder, I the trusty Nikon DSLR. The final product will be a storm chasing DVD so extravagent, so outlandish, so amazing, that it will blow away all precedents. You'll see. Blog posts will recount our exploits step-by-step, and you will be able to follow along with realtime GPS tracking and a dashboard webcam. Just you wait!

Day 6 Summary - The Grand Finale

2006-06-23T23:17:00.000-04:00

Waking location: Lamar, CO
Sleeping location: Denver, CO
Distance travelled: Your guess is as good as mine
Short summary: Had fun with two LP storms; stared down the gullet of another HP beast

Long summary

What a great day for a chase tour finale. We travelled straight north out of Lamar for the entire day, meeting up with a beautiful, extremely high-based LP storm around 5:30 just north of Scottsbluff. Like every other LP storm we encountered, it ran into dry air and promptly shrivelled up.

We went further north again and intercepted another ridiculously high-based storm just suspended in the air. As we watched from the southeast it developed a very strong RFD cut that nearly killed the storm, but it slowly rebuilt its base. As we travelled north yet again, it became apparent why; looking back on the storm from the northeast, rock-hard updraft towers were boiling up into the atmosphere. It looked rather ridiculous, with these massive updraft towers so high off the ground just slamming into the jet stream and racing westward. That thing didn't quit sucking air for another couple of hours.

As you probably guessed, we again travelled north to meet up with a supercell screaming southwest towards us. We had watched this storm develop on radar over the past hour or two, thinking it out of reach, but it was trucking southward and by the time we reached it, it had developed a massive shelf cloud and was gusting like nobody's business. It was definitely supercellular, with the rain core wrapping fully around the rapidly rotating meso, totally obscuring any chance of possibly seeing a tornado, had it been able to produce one. This storm then gusted out and proceded to race with us back southward.

The motion along the leading edge of this storm was unlike anything I've ever seen. The gust front was churning and scouring the atmosphere. Little rotating eddies created all kinds of rotating clouds. Standing a few miles in front of the beast, you would feel a warm southeast wind at your back being sucked up into the storm. Then it would be calm, as the storm approaches and the air is literally rising straight up into the monster. Then the cold outflow wind hits your face and kicks up dust. That's your cue to get out of the way.

What an experience. We're on the way back to Denver tonight, and I fly home tomorrow. Thanks to Roger, Dave, Steve, and everyone at Silver Lining Tours for an amazing week. Given the conditions and 2006's dreadful reputation, I could not have asked for anything more. The best of luck to everyone in the high plains tour next week; it looks like a Death Ridge is approaching that might send you packing to Canada looking for storms.

Photos

I have lots of good photos. These are coming soon.

Final Final Thoughts

Final tally: we saw 10 Wal-Marts and 18 Pizza Huts (all data are considered preliminary).
I don't want to go home!
I think I may puke if I have to ever eat fast food again.
Watch for a "Best Of" post with all the best photos post-processed for your enjoyment.
Time to start getting ready for the 2007 chase season.

2006-06-23T16:42:00.000-04:00

Day 5 Summary

2006-06-23T00:21:00.000-04:00

Waking location: Great Bend, KS
Sleeping location: Lamar, CO
Distance traveled: 603 mi.
Short summary: Got on several tornado-warned storms; was chased by an HP beast; core-punched a little bit

Long Summary

Today was another frustrating chase day of 2006, but we did as well as we could have done, given the situation. We did not miss anything major, since most of the “tornado” reports today were likely false. From everything we saw, the conditions were not in place at all for the formation of tornadoes. That being said, we did get to see some awesome gust-front action.

We went west from Great Bend along I-70 and into Liman, Colorado. I forget exactly what happened here. I know we passed through Liman several times after that, traveling north to catch some cells that quickly died, and then we went back south on some tornado-warned cells that quickly gusted out and went linear.

That was when the fun began. We ended up on the leading edge of a massive gust front. We stopped to photograph it for a bit, but as the hail core came up over the next hill, Roger yelled “We gotta go! We gotta’ go now!” and oh how we went. We blasted ahead of the massive high-precipitation beast of a storm that was bright green in its center. That’s an indicator of large hail; Roger was very eager to stay in front of it after all the hail damage the van received last week. This thing was massive, and was bearing down on us quickly. Looking behind the van, the shelf cloud looked like a the mouth of a giant monster ready to eat the van.

Out in front of this storm, the winds were gusting in a straight line almost at the speed of the van. Those were straight-line winds of fifty, maybe even sixty or seventy miles per hour! We were racing along with the wind to our back, and blowing dust decreased the visibility to zero at some points. We also saw many, many gustnadoes. Cows, too.

We went further south, out of the path of all that garbage, to intercept another line of garbage. An embedded meso in the line gave the storm a tornado warning, with first indications being the tornado was spotted on the ground. We core-punched that storm through heavy rain, wind, and some hail, and drove right underneath the rotating mesocyclone. Short of being on a roller coaster, I didn’t previously think there was any other way to get such an adrenaline rush while sitting down.

Eventually the tornado warning was dropped. We went south and then east through a squall line twice, but turned around the second time when all chances for a tornado had gone to zero (not that there was any chance to begin with).

For all the crappy storms out there today, I think we did quite well. The pictures definitely confirm that.

Photos

This is a suspicious lowering we spotted in a storm early on.

This is the first good view we got of this massive storm. It has already taken on a shelf cloud and a gusted-out appearance.

Soon it started bearing down on us. Notice all the bluish-green under that thing? Hail, hail, and more hail.

This is a huge gustnado that kicked up tons of dust when it died.

There was all kinds of vorticity along the gust front. The movement in the clouds here was tremendous, but it was nothing dangerous.

Here's one more look at this monster. Amazing structure.

Final Thoughts

"What a beast!"

2006-06-22T17:03:00.000-04:00

2006-06-22T15:58:00.000-04:00

2006-06-22T15:42:00.000-04:00

2006-06-22T15:06:00.000-04:00

2006-06-22T12:01:00.000-04:00

Day 4 Summary - More Frustration

2006-06-22T01:28:00.000-04:00

Waking location: Ogallala, NE
Sleeping Location: Great Bend, KS
Distance travelled: Beats me
Short summary: Intercepted a squall line; watched a nice lightning show after dark

Shorter Than Usual Long Summary

I'm exhausted, so this is going to be quick. There were three major plays for today: north-central Nebraska, central Nebraska, and northeastern Colorado. Nebraska had tons of instability (3000+ J/kg of CAPE) and moisture, and a little bit of shear. Colorado had upslope flow going for it, and lots of shear, but not so much moisture and a massive cap.

We went south and then west to lunch at Twister's Bar and Grill in Colby, Kansas ("Just across from the big blue water tower!") and make a choice. We finally decided to blast east to meet up with the boundary spreading across the center of the state. In fact, conditions were so good in this area that the cap broke all at once and all the good-looking storms quickly formed a linear, outflow-dominant system. Blast.

We drove south through the line of storms and ended up on the south side, and stopped briefly to watch an embedded meso with a massive wall cloud propigate over our heads. It didn't last long, and we then went back north up to Great Bend to get our hotel.

Roger and I, instead of going for dinner at Perkin's, grabbed McDonald's and drove east a few miles outside of town in order to get some lightning video and stills. We got some good ones of lightning striking a radio tower (see below).

Of course, back in northeast Colorado, many individual supercells formed three hours after we left. They quickly became tornado-warned for the rest of their lives. Despite this, there was only one confirmed tornado report from an NWS employee, and it was likely a landspout-type tornado.

Photos

Whoa.

Probably the only twister we'll see this week.

This was the scene in the early afternoon as we approached the boundary from the west. Too bad there was too much of this around.

This was one supercell we caught up with underneath all of that linear crap. It had an ominous wall cloud for a while, but then it quickly dissipated. Blah.

This is ground-to-cloud lightning forking up from a radio tower. I got a handful of shots like this.

Final Thoughts

Note to self: try not to get camera gear so wet next time; condensation inside the lens is no fun.
Chasing is such a learning experience; I learn new strategies each day. I love it.
2006 strikes again. Blah.

2006-06-21T20:08:00.000-04:00

2006-06-21T16:03:00.000-04:00

Goooood morning

2006-06-21T12:04:00.000-04:00

Good morning from the wonderfully-named Ogallala, NE (yes, we're still in NE). The Dodd City, Kansas balloon sounding is a textbook "loaded gun" sounding. I love it. We are headed to Colby, KS (!) to assess the situation, and then either head west or east depending on which setup Roger likes better.

Day 3 Summary - Success!

2006-06-21T00:57:00.000-04:00

Waking location: Grand Island, NE
Sleeping location: Ogallala, NE (actual name)
Distance travelled: Far
Quick summary: witnessed two long-lived supercells, one LP and one classic; saw a killer lightning show

Excessively Long Summary

Words alone can't describe how unbelievable today was. Months of reading, learning and discussing all came together in this chase. Today was all about making the right decisions. We travelled 90 miles east of Grand Island just so we could sit at another Wal-Mart and make a decision of whether to go east into Iowa or back west to Colorado. Iowa had insane sheer but also an insane cap, whereas northeast Colorado had upslope flow and good moisture going for it, but nonexistant directional sheer.

Roger decided that the COlorado setup looked better, so we retraced our steps from that morning. By the time we were around North Platte, storms were already firing off the Cheyene Ridge and were intensifying as they moved westward. The first few cells went up in a cluster, but one storm quickly dominated. It did a hard right-split, as expected, but unexpectedly the right storm quickly shrivelled up and the left storm took precedence. We followed this cluster of storms north from the I-80/I-76 split.

Way off to the south, we could see rock-hard updraft towers of storms in northeast Colorado, 100 miles away. Roger then made the hardest decision of the day to retrace our steps back south to catch up with those storms. It turned out to be the right decision.

We sped south and approached the biggest storm from the north, which soon became tornado-warned from a "trained spotter sighting," but this was likely a false alarm. Either way, the storm was intensely rotating on radar, with over 160 knot gate-to-gate shear. We drove through the leading edge of its precipitation core and observed two massive inflow bands streaming into the storm. We stopped south of the storm to see its structure. It was a textbook LP storm, with a very high base and a corkscrewing updraft tower, with striations all along the base. It was truly amazing.

Over an hour or so, the storm slowly propigated directly over our heads, creating lowering after lowering, just trying to spin something up. A huge RFD cut form and occluded part of the meso, and there may have been a tiny funnel back in there, but the occlusion disconnected from the storm and promptly died. After that the storm basically quit, but it tried for the longest time to stay alive and fooled us a few times even as it was gusting out.

We moved slightly further south to watch another, much larger, supercell approach us. This one had classic structure with a nice round base that was relatively low to the ground, and it had strong, strong rotation. Scud was being sucked up into the base, and a wall cloud formed, but the storm gradually gusted out.

As if those displays of nature's power weren't enough, soon the sun sank behind the supercell and lit up the whole underside of the storm, with lightning to complement it. What a show. The pictures tell the whole story.

Well, the pictures tell most of the story. To know what it feels like to stand in the path of a storm twenty miles across and twelve miles high, you really have to just go do it. Read all the textbooks, watch Twister a dozen times, or look at the pictures over and over; they are all static. Nothing can truly express the dynamic nature of these beasts, short of being there to witness - no, experience - it.

What a trip.

Photos

Check out those two inflow bands! Craziness.

Finally on the south side of the storm. Check out the stacked-plate base. Insane.

Getting a little artistic as the storm drops some suspicious lowerings.

The storm is much closer now; check out that awesome lowering out of the base.

What lighting!

Shot of the day, right there. This was the last shot I took before the rain came and we had to pack up.

Final Thoughts

* Everyone agrees that today was absolutely worth the two days of frustration. You would, too.
* Iowa didn't see crap today! Phhhbbbbtttttt :-P (and I even wore my Iowa shirt!)
* I'm beginning to see the advantages of chasing outside of a chase tour, namely not having to climb out of the back of the van whenever we stop.

2006-06-20T22:38:00.000-04:00

2006-06-20T20:03:00.000-04:00

2006-06-20T19:26:00.000-04:00

Steve's quote of the day:

2006-06-20T19:00:00.000-04:00

Steve's quote of the day: "You've got to watch out, Roger; you wouldn't want any hail to dent the van."

2006-06-20T18:33:00.000-04:00

Roger's quote of the day:

2006-06-20T18:31:00.000-04:00

Roger's quote of the day: "I can't do it. I can't chase this thing. It's crap." (as we turn around)

2006-06-20T15:52:00.000-04:00

2006-06-20T12:42:00.000-04:00

2006-06-20T09:40:00.000-04:00

Day 2 Summary - The Hichhiker's Guide to Nebraska

2006-06-20T01:54:00.000-04:00

Distance travelled: 576 mi.
Waking location: Valentine, NE
Sleeping location: Grand Island, NE
Quick summary: Observed a small, struggling, high-based storm; ate at Arby's

Long Summary

Today's forecast was marginally better than yesterday's, yet still no better than marginal. We moved our target much closer from Montana to eastern Wyoming, so we had plenty of time to kill in the morning. We had a teaching session in Roger's Hotel Room for an hour before leaving, and then we cruised west on Route 20 to Chadron, where we took a break in Chadron to have lunch, go to Wal-Mart, and to assess the situation. Alex had the bright idea of playing everybody's favorite one-hit wonder,Lou Bega's "Mambo No. 5," on the jukebox at the Pizza Hut. Boy did we leave there in a hurry.

The biggest limiting factor today, as forecast, was the amount of moisture available. Alex and I tried hopeleslly to play frisbee or football in the Wal-Mart parking lot, but it was impossible because of the steady wind screaming out of the southeast. We were hoping that this wind would bring up moisture from the gulf, but dewpoints in the region failed to rise above the low 50s.

On radar, we watched a huge storm go bonkers in northeast Colorado and then decided to cruise south into more moist air. We intercepted a little storm in Sioux county, just off Route 71, and watched it for a while. The first advice I received upon stepping out of the van? "Watch for snakes." The storm was multicellular with two updraft bases, but everything was poorly defined and fuzzy, and it showed no sign of intensifying.

Roger was going nuts about a storm just moving into southwest Nebraska, about an hour south of our location. He was concerned because he didn't want to get so far from our hotel reservations way up in northeast Nebraska, but we were finally able to get cellphone reception, he cancelled our rooms, and we shot south into Kimball county. Of course, by the time we arrived, the once lightning-intensive storm had gusted out and had turned to crap. Blast.

We had dinner in Sidney, claiming itself as "One of America's favorite stopping places since 1867" in brochures, and witnessed some awesome mammatus out of the dying supercell. I talked with a truck driver who was en route from Seattle to Memphis, and he told me, as you have probably guessed, about his UFO encounter out in Nevada.

Meeting time is 8 AM tomorrow; we'll see what happens.

Photos (all times are MDT)

4:52 PM - This is the first little storm that we stopped to observe. We saw a few lightning strikes and heard some thunder, but that was all. Nobody around for miles.

5:24 PM - As the storm propigated over us, it tried desparately to develop a new updraft base, but failed. We left right after this picture.

7:36 PM - Arby's and mammatus clouds: it just doesn't get any better.

8:17 PM - Looking out the window on the way back. I wish we could have stopped to photograph that for real; it was just beautiful.

Realtime Summary

(coming soon)

Last Thoughts

* I apologize for the poor picture quality; I will post-process these pictures when I return.
* I may not be a severe storms researcher, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
* I am reeeeeally excited about tomorrow! You out in Readerland should be, too!
* "Mambo No. 5" is still stuck in my head.

2006-06-19T22:09:00.000-04:00

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2006-06-19T19:50:00.000-04:00

2006-06-19T17:39:00.000-04:00

2006-06-19T15:52:00.000-04:00

Wooo

2006-06-19T11:40:00.000-04:00

We just had a little learning session with Roger in his hotel room on supercells and how they form. He has some awesome photos of all types of storms and tornadoes as examples.

The setup for today is quite a bit better than yesterday. We are targeting east-central Wyoming, where there is good shear, decent mid-level wind speed, and a moderate amount of moisture. Dewpoints in northwestern Nebraska are already in the mid-50s, and the easterly wind combined with an upslope flow of the surface winds should fire off some storms by mid afternoon. These will likely be high-based, but hopefully will move into the better, more moist air to the east, where we can follow them back towards tomorrow's target of Iowa. Tomorrow's going to be the big day, but I'm hoping today will not be too shabby, either.

Good Morning, Tornado Alley!

2006-06-19T08:57:00.000-04:00

Morning everybody. Another day, another change of plans. We were originally going to leave at 8 for Montana, but now we're chilling until 10 and we're just going a little further west into northeastern Wyoming. Luckily our new target is quite a bit closer; today was looking to be a really long day. It looks like there is a good potential for some nice rotating supercells, maybe even a tornado. (I did it! I said the T-word!)

Day 1 Summary

2006-06-18T23:30:00.000-04:00

Distance travelled: 441 miles
Waking location: Denver, CO
Sleeping location: Valentine, NE
Quick summary: No severe storms :(

Long summary

Before this morning, today's outlook for severe weather was less than ideal. We were originally intending today to be a relaxed travel day to get into position for tomorrow, but the situation had changed by morning. The SPC issued a slight risk area for central NE, which Roger agreed with and we subsequently went after. Dewpoints were great in the high 50s, but other factors did not fall into play.

Radar showed a great boundary which formed a cumulus field early in the day, but this convergence quickly dissapated. The cumulus were completely gone by mid-afternoon. We briefly stopped at Merna, NE, at the intersection of routes 92 and 2, to assess the situation. We watched as a small cumulus cloud built up, then was quickly ripped to shreds by shear (see photos below). Roger then determined that Mother Nature was not going to deliver any storms today. We are now further north at a Holiday Inn Express in Valentine, NE, just south of the South Dakota border.

The setup for tomorrow is much more insured. We are leaving tomorrow at 8 AM to blast west into Montana, follow those storms east, and then cruise on back east so we can be in Iowa for initiation on Tuesday.

Realtime Summary (note the timezone change)

11:15 AM MDT -

1:33 PM MDT - Currently going E on I-76, 20 mi from NE. Watching an outflow boundary developing in central NE. Targetting North Platte for lunch and gas.

4:04 PM CDT -

5:23 PM CDT - Heading E on 92 towards a scattered cu. field. Beautiful country out here; a little hilly and lots of green. Cows (moo) and horses! So cool.

Photos

2:20 PM MDT - Observing a boundary early in the afternoon

4:15 PM CDT - Took a pic of the license plate at our North Platte break; you should see the expressions some drivers give us when they pass on the highway

4:16 PM CDT - Taking a break at North Platte

5:37 PM CDT - Watching some cumulus get ripped apart at Merna, NE

9:30 PM CDT - Observing a storm way off in the distance; yes, it is still light out at this time! Crazy.

Final Thoughts

Chasing is a blast.
It's so flat!
Damn, daylight is really long here.
I can't wait to see a storm; hope tomorrow is as good as it sounds.
Mooooooo!

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

2006-06-17T09:47:00.000-04:00

Just checking in from Logan! I'm here excessively early, as always, with over an hour to kill. I'm taking United flight 267 at 11:20. Everything is going smoothly so far. My carry-on bag was screened at the security check-in, probably due to the excessive electronic gear inside (laptop, camera, iPod, Nintendo DS Lite, etc.).

Okay, enough with the boring details. More posts to come.

Update after meeting up with the tour group and having dinner:

Chasing next week!

2006-06-16T18:20:00.000-04:00

Finally! The time has come! I leave for chasing with Silver Lining Tours tomorrow. We will be chasing from Sunday through to next Friday. Hopefully this nuclear ridge that has held in place for the past month will move on and hopefully the mid-level winds and moisture levels pick up by the end of the week.

I will be posting to this blog very often. In addition to regular posts and pictures when I find Internet access, I will also be recording voice messages while we're on the road, so check the blog often during the upcoming week.

Here's a preview of an audio blog post:

2005 NSCC

2005-02-22T11:37:00.000-05:00

Well, the 2005 convention in Denver was a huge success. I got to meet a ton of prolific chasers... Tim Marshall, Tim Samaras, Tim Vasquez (the three Tims), Roger Hill, etc. etc. I met many people from the Stormtrack forums and IRC channel, also. What a great time. To top it all off, I won the grand prize in the raffle: an XM WXWORX system! Wow, I can't wait to use this beast.

I've posted a few pics in the photos blog, mostly of the DOWs (Doppler On Wheels) that were on display there. There are more pictures here.

Props to Roger Hill and Dave Drummond for putting on one killer convention, and to Baron Services for raffling off the XM system!

Storm Chaser Convention

2005-01-04T16:04:00.000-05:00

It looks as though I'll be able to attend the 2005 National Storm Chaser Convention in Denver!!! The agenda is just jam-packed with awesome speakers! Wow. I can't wait.

Photo Album Blog

2005-01-02T15:03:00.000-05:00

I've created another blog on which to post photos so that this blog's content can be limited to chase accounts and the like.

Supercell Deprivation Syndrome

2004-12-05T11:06:00.000-05:00

Supercell Deprivation Syndrome (SDS) is a disease that many chasers have recently been associated with. Its sympoms should not be taken lightly. SDS chasers should be glad that Supercell Deprivation Treatment Centers exist to help remedy their infirmity.

The Art of Storm Chasing

2004-11-21T13:09:00.000-05:00

No, the video The Art of Storm Chasing is not about a storm chaser named Arthur. (rimshot) Actually, this video done by none other than - you guessed it - Tim Vasquez. It looks to be really comprehensive, especially as a complement to the aforementioned book.

I am going to have one impressive-looking stocking this year, I can tell.

Storm Chasing Handbook

2004-11-19T21:58:00.000-05:00

I found out that one of the authors of the FAQs linked to in this blog, Tim Vasquez, has several weather books published. One is none other than the Storm Chasing Handbook!

Now you know what I'll be looking for in my stocking this year...

XM WX Satellite Weather

2004-11-16T15:03:00.000-05:00

This has to be the coolest thing I've seen. XM radio can provide hours of listening enjoyment for the long road trip. Now, reams of live weather data and maps are available over XM satellite radio! Who could've imagined? The FAA has even approved it for aviation use. The downside? It's mo-expensive. Yes, it's not only $1600+ for XM and GPS receivers, it's also $100 per month for the actual service.

Nonetheless, check it out!

Chasing the Dream

2004-11-15T21:31:00.000-05:00

Imagine speeding down the highway, o'er amber waves of grain and purple mountain majesties. It's a beautiful day in the midwest: the sun is shining, there's a slight breeze, and there are a few puffy clouds off in the distance. You are on the cautious lookout for stray cattle that may be loitering in your path. Unless you want hamburger for dinner, then you'd better stay vigilant. That fourth cup of coffee is helping out, for sure.

It's an hour later. The sun had given up shining long ago, and the slight breeze has picked up to a brisk gale. Those puffy clouds of cauliflour have mutated into black seething anvils of doom and, from the light and sound coming from them, you might even believe that the gods are actually forging steel up there. You still haven't stopped driving. In fact, you've been driving for the past five hours, indeed, the past several days, just to arrive at this moment.

A massive wall cloud drops down right in front of you. The pounding of your heart nearly drowns out the pounding of the hail against your windshield as you pull off the road and turn on your hazard lights. You set up the camera and tripod as you've fruitlessly done a hundred times before, yet today's storm brings a different spectacle. A tornado drops right out of the churning cumulonimbus cloud a mile distant and quickly develops into a well-rounded and very devastating F-3 twister. You have reached... storm-chasing nirvana.

What happens from then on... it defies my explanation, because I haven't experienced it. Yet this experience (or lack thereof) is what defines this blog. It's the thrill of the chase, 20th-century style.

So, here we are, the autumn of 2004, and our supplies are as follows:

One (1) crazy-brained idea that, some day in the not-to-far future, a storm chasing expedition will be held, and it will succeed.
Two (2) tornado seasons before college during which to accomplish this feat.
One (1) vehicle (with four (4) tires) ready to be outfitted with all sorts of storm-chasing goodies.
Many (>1) available technologies (GPS, wireless internet service, radios, etc.) to assist in reaching this goal.
Two (2) parents who think otherwise.

So! Here we go! Hopefully, when all is said and done, Storm Chase '06 (projected date) will have been a huge success. But we've got a long way to go.

To get everyone out there in reader-land started, here are a few resources on this unique hobby. These are also linked to in the side-bar on the right-hand side of the page.

The Online Storm Chasing FAQ
The Tornado FAQ
Stormtrack - check out their "Chase humor"... bundles of fun
Tornado Safety Poster (PDF) - not quite what you'd expect
Chuck Doswell's Chasing FAQ - while his comments may be unnecessarily harsh and unexpected, this FAQ and linked essays contain a motherlode of information; Chuck Doswell has been chasing since 1972!