Wooo

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!

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

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

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!

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: