Lack of funds may be the big issue here. We'll just have to wait and see. I wanted to take at least one more long distance chase trip this year. We'll just have to wing it! If there is an awesome setup, I think I could always find a way. :)
For Dixie Alley, we have been holding in this summertime pattern for a good while. We've had a few pop up storms here and there, but nothing of significance. Is it possible we have completed our severe weather season already? I don't see anything impressive on the horizon and usually by the end of May it is most certainly over.
Again.. lots of speculation here... stay tuned for details!!! Hopefully, I'll get one more decent chase in before we call it a done deal for Spring of 2012!
The SPC did a phenomenal job with predicting this system, and getting
the warnings out there. The graphical models had indicated this one
would be a biggie for quite sometime.
Just as testament to how spot on the SPC was with their forecast, look at this graphic released today:
Saturday morning we woke up in Topeka KS and our initial target was
Kearney, NE. We were going to make a play along the warm front that was
draped across southern NE.
We were on our way out to NE when we got the word we just woke up
slightly outside a PDS tornado watch. So we decided to hang out in KS..
PDS Watch # 165
We intercepted a supercell near Russell, KS. It was an HP mess and not
much to look at. If there was a tornado in that mess, we couldn't see
it.
We decided then to drop south to a nice string of pearls forming to the
south. The cell we chose was one developing just outside of Greensburg,
KS. We followed the cell for sometime.. Trying to keep up with it.
Unfortnately, we ended up finding the only trees in Kansas for just a
minute, but when we went through the clearing.. This is what we saw:
We were further away than we would have liked to be, obviously.. haha
Here is the NWS information about this particular supercell:
We dropped down to intercept another cell, we thought we MIGHT have had a tornado, but we lost daylight and couldn't tell anymore. After that, we decided to find a place to eat our steak dinner in Wichita and then we would head home.
We saw the supercell on radar and we were certain it was going to go much further south than where we were going to be eating. We were watching the coverage on the TV that was on at the bar, and noticed the TV met drew an arrow for the storm direction STRAIGHT for where we were eating. Note that this was a LARGE, EXTREMELY dangerous tornado that had been confirmed. We through some money down on the table and ran (yes, we all RAN) to the car so we could bolt west out of the way. We were in the core of the storm at that point. It was raining like crazy, and the wind was just insane... I have never been in winds that strong!!! You could hear the wind from inside the car and the car was shaking when we were stopped at a red light. Once we were finally to safety, we found a nice vantage point and watched the light show. There was one moment when we were sure that the lightning had illuminated the tornado, but again... we couldn't be sure, so it doesn't count. :)
I am so happy I got to chase in the Great Plains!!! I cannot WAIT to go back out there again.. it was an amazing experience
I would like to thank Wes and Brian for being awesome chase partners on this trip. We never got annoyed with each other. We had some good laughs! :)
I would also like to thank Jenn N from South Georgia... I remember stumbling on her blog one day and reading that SHE was a chaser from Georgia, too!! So I started following it.. reading.. and she was a real inspiration. Here was a real person not from the Plains who was a storm chaser. It gave me hope and belief that I could do it. She's an awesome gal, and I'm so glad to have her as my friend.
I'd also like to thank Jo, Spike, Ed, and Doug for being amazing friends. TVN is like a family to me. We are a tight knit group. I know I talked Jo, Ed, and Spike's ears off the whole trip. All of them have been such an awesome support system. I have never met any of them in person, but I truly do count them as friends.
Miles Traveled: 3300
What did we see: Rolling plains and prairie, ONE super awesome incredible WEDGE tornado, amazing storm structure, and lots of dirt roads <3
Well, yesterday was a BUST!!!! No winner winner steak dinner! But I saw FIVE different states in 24 hours! :)
We left the Manchester TN area about 1am CDT. Many hours (and I mean MANY hours) of driving later we crossed over into the giant data void we can call the state of Oklahoma! Can someone tell me what the deal is? As soon as we crossed over into KS it was like.. BAM! And we had data again!!! Very weird..
Anyway, our initial target was Dodge City, KS. We stopped outside of OKC at a McDonalds with some free wi fi and reviewed the models. The RUC showed a nice little dryline bulge around Childress, TX so we decided to head in that vicinity. Blindly driving without data until we got into OKC, I got the updated outlook from SPC. Clearing was happening in W KS and there was too much uncertainty in our southern target, so BACK to Dodge City we go!!!
Drive, drive, drive, drive.. I watched the rolling flat plains go by. It is absolutely beautiful here. I never imagined I would believe it to be as amazing as it is, but.. I was just in awe of it. Fields so green.. we passed several canola fields, too! No time for photos yesterday though.. we just pushed forward to our target. Once we got to Dodge City, we realized.. this is not looking good. We would need to make it to Goodland, KS at the very least to see anything. We were still quite a distance away and socked in cloud cover. We decided to eat some din din and get a room to get some shuteye finally.
We had some okay Mexican food in Dodge City and started the hunt for rooms. We passed through Greensburg. It's being rebuilt, and it looks great! But you can still see the scars...
For today, I'm picking a target of Enid, OK. I'm not super excited about today's setup, but there are some largely curved hodographs in that area, and some stuff could start happening before dark!
UNLIKE SATURDAY, which after further review, looks to me to be a scary situation after DARK, but slim to nothing happening before the sun goes down.
Just for the record, here is Saturday's probabilities:
More to come tonight! :)
Miles traveled: well over 1000 :D
What did we see: The beautiful rolling plains of the central US, Dodge City, KS (The WILD WILD WEST, and yes, I made the joke.. Let's get the hell outta Dodge), Greensburg, KS, and the giant data hole known as OKLAHOMA
In approximately 30 hours, I begin the trip of my dreams.
In 30 hours, I go west.
Those of you who aren't weather aficionados or storm chasers may not be aware that there are several days of severe weather possible in the Plains. Well, my chase partner, myself, and another chaser are heading out around midnight tomorrow night to a target not yet selected, but probably somewhere in W Oklahoma or SC Kansas.
Stay tuned to this blog for further details. :D Hopefully, I will post from my hotel room after we declare WINNER WINNER STEAK DINNER, but we'll see how that goes! Regardless, soon I will be places I have never seen before!!!
Look out, GREAT PLAINS of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! :D Here I come! :)
Well, on April 5th I did a small local chase of some thunderstorms that came through the area. The chase, honestly, was quite frustrating. I couldn't make up my mind whether to go after the storms that had already formed or hang south and wait for development. In the end, I went after those storms that had already formed. The storms I saw were less than exciting.. haha :D But it helped.... :D
The best shot of the day came from the top of Lookout Mountain:
It wasn't a bad day, and I have a feeling, the best is yet to come. ;) Stay tuned for details!
On Friday night, I went to see one of my all time favorite bands on the planet, of Montreal! Let me tell you... they put on an AMAZING show! I have been a fan of theirs for quite sometime! I've seen them play several times. This show was well performed and just over all entertaining!!! It made for an incredible weekend! :D
Stay tuned for a big announcement in the next couple of days... I don't want to jinx it, but let's just say.. IT COULD VERY WELL BE HAPPENING!!!!!! :D
Miles driven: 90
What did I see: Some amazing structure and a lot of construction!
Whoooo.. I didn't realize it had been so long since I have updated my blog!!! How disgraceful! Poor blog..
Well, to start off, there really has been only one grand chase-a-tunity since my last post, and I was working that day so I watched from the sidelines. March 2nd was a pretty significant severe weather outbreak, even in our area. An EF3 tornado hit the Harrison TN area around 12:30pm that day, and I got a view of a funnel cloud from the front porch!!!
Stupid powerlines and stuff in the way, but the scene was pretty amazing out there!
Other than that, the season has been relatively boring. Not too much weatherwise going on... However, we had my dad's 80th birthday party which was absolutely amazing! It turned out so well!!!
Now then.. it is possible that I am taking the day off for storm chasing on Tuesday, but we will see how that pans out. Right now, I'm thinking we'll save the day off for another time.
And now to go and do the one thing I have kept up with as far as new years resolutions go.... HIKING! Rerun and I are going to go and hit the trails!!!
