Severe Plains

April 29, 2010 Chase Summary

// May 5th, 2010 // No Comments » // Chase Account, Photography, Severe Weather, Storm Chasing, Weather Recap

The first chase of the 2010 season is a successful one with two confirmed tornadoes, some nice landscape photos and a nice after-sunset wall cloud.

Left Kansas City shortly before 1pm with an initial target along I-70 near Salina, KS. This target was decided upon with hopes of initiation along the dryline in central Kansas, but without taking the play away from the dryline and cold front intersection which was likely along the Kansas/Nebraska border. Some concerns about storm initiation before late evening based upon earlier forecast models, however the morning RUC was persistent in convection developing by 21z in north-central Kansas and south-central Nebraska. Meager dew point values were in place, however with continued influx of higher dew point values expected through the evening hours. Arrived to Salina ~3:30 pm with a localized cumulus field already present, shortly thereafter a few cumulus began to show reflectivities on radar and rapidly developed into the first severe thunderstorms of the day. (See Images: IMG_7136 & IMG_7139-42. My chase partner and I initially let this storms move northeastward as we sat near Salina, however with the lack of cumulus growth to the south did finally give in and drove northward to the edge of the initial storms. Stopped between Minneapolis, KS and Concordia, KS to watch the initial storms, and at that point did make the final decision to watch them move northeast away from us and watch the new development to the southwest.

Storms took their time to initiate and organize for the second round of development, and in the meantime we enjoyed the view of these towers and rain shafts (See Images: IMG_7145 & IMG_7146&7). Also spent a brief moment with the TWISTEX crew, nice to see both Tim, Tony & Carl again!

Finally saw good organization with the next round of storms and took off northward. Initially fast storm motion had us behind by a good distance, luckily were able to catch up in time to see a somewhat organized lowering and rotating wall cloud. Shortly thereafter produced a funnel that from our perspective reached over half-way to the ground, (Images added soon) it was at this point where a few chasers with a closer vantage point viewed dust-whirls on the ground therefore confirmed our first tornado of the day to the north of Washington, KS. We followed this storm for a while longer before letting it go as we reached the town of Hanover, KS. Other storms had now developed back along the cold front and dryline intersection and held better promise as our initial tornadic storm had quickly decreased in intensity. Plotted our path to intercept the next tornadic storm, passing into Nebraska and stopping just west of Steele City, NE to view an ever growing outflow appearance to the storm (See Panoramic). Kept with our storm as it moved east-northeast, watching it quickly reorganize as we sat south of Diller, NE. At this point we watched a solid RFD punch into the storm and Mark (chase partner) was able to pick out what he believed to be a tornado at the time (See IMG_7168). Later video review also shows what appears to be a power flash, and the Omaha NWS report verified what we saw as an EF-1 tornado. Continued to follow this storm eastward as it was nearing twilight and the path took us on our way back to Kansas City. Following to the south of the storm brought some nice lightning which illuminated this lowering on the southern periphery of the storm (unwarned at this time) – See IMG_7188. Nothing was ever produced by this lowering or by this storm until it reached the Missouri River valley later on that night. Made our journey back into Kansas City and arrived back home right around Midnight that night…

Just under 11 hours 30 minutes of chase-time, 560 miles, with two confirmed tornadoes for the first chase of the year!

Links of Interest:
April 29, 2010 GPS Log (Google Map)
NWS Topeka Washington, KS Survey
NWS Omaha Jefferson County Survey

April 29 Chase Recap

// May 3rd, 2010 // No Comments » // Chase Account, Severe Weather, Storm Chasing, Weather Recap

Took a trip back to northwest Iowa for the weekend, thus the late response to recap last Thursday’s storm chase which yielded two tornadoes. Both of these tornadoes have been confirmed by the respective NWS offices, with ratings of EF-0 and EF-1.

A complete recap will be posted later on, along with some photos or video stills from the chase…

4/29/10 Chase Update (3)

// April 29th, 2010 // No Comments » // Chase Account, Storm Chasing

Chase is coming to an end as we follow the only storm that appears to be ahead of the southeastward moving cold front in southeast Nebraska. Managed one (1) severe warned cell, and two (2) tornado warned cells. While positioning wise we were not the closest to either areas of rotation, we still have a possible two tornadoes to count on the day pending verification by video and other reports.

Should be back home to Kansas City around Midnight…

4/29/10 Chase Update (2)

// April 29th, 2010 // No Comments » // Chase Account, Storm Chasing

Continuing west past Junction City with an initial staging area of Salina still sounding best. 18z RUC shows a very nice dry bunch and surface low development which backs winds nicely by 00z. Thus maximizing several parameters just to the south of Salina… 18z NAM much less potent with a lack of instability present, limiting the overall potential.

Current analysis indicates ~60 dew points just south of the Kansas border and continuing to trek northward. South winds should surge this moisture along I-135 through the afternoon, reaching near Salina by late afternoon. This will likely be the key to good surface based development, thus hoping we don’t see any more veering of the winds…

Should reach Salina in ~20 minutes…

4/29/10 Chase Update (1)

// April 29th, 2010 // No Comments » // Chase Account, Storm Chasing

Finally on the road heading west out of Kansas City… Initial target area is along I-135 somewhere north/south of Salina. Additional updates likely as we reach the Salina vicinity, hopeful with the latest model progs of a decent dry punch and backing of low level winds somewhere in that area.

Live stream will be active today, likely once we reach the target area later this afternoon.

Chase Account – July 9

// July 10th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Chase Account, Severe Weather, Storm Chasing

Several rounds of severe weather swept across portions of northwest Iowa yesterday, from mid-afternoon hail to evening and overnight storms that left hail, winds, and heavy rainfall across parts of the state. I made a trip out to view the storms on two occasions yesterday, once during the mid-afternoon hours between 3:30 and 4:30 PM. This was the initial round of storms that produced some large hail from the SD/IA borders eastward to near Highway 71. Upon arrival to the storms, they were weakening significantly and led to only heavy rains that would obscure your view pretty good. On this trip we would also arrive upon an accident that occurred just west of Ruthven, IA where it appeared a vehicle may have been pulling out of a private lane onto the highway and did not see the cross traffic. A bad scene there as both vehicles were badly damaged, however, have not heard any news about this accident and how either drivers/passengers fared.

The second chase came during the waning daytime hours, from ~8:30 PM to after 10 PM across portions along the Dickinson/Clay county lines and back towards Wallingford in Emmet county. Several occasions of strong lightning strikes, and torrential/blinding rains with the multiple storm cells that we crossed paths with. On the backside of the last cell to be severe warned across these counties we were able to capture several occasions of 3/4″ hail and strong east-southeast winds of 40+ mph. Video was captured from the dash cam for the entire trip, however, nothing significant to really note and share… A nice local chase/spot to add on for the year; now we’ll wait for some true summer isolated cells to actually have some photogenic quality to the storms!

Severe Weather Recap – July 7

// July 8th, 2009 // No Comments » // Chase Account, Severe Weather, Storm Chasing, Weather Recap

A cluster of thunderstorms developed in eastern South Dakota during the afternoon hours yesterday, and entered into northwest Iowa during the evening hours. These clusters of storms were at times severe warned with the potential for both damaging winds and large hail, estimated 60 mph winds were reported and hail up to 1.5″ in diameter also occurred. The severe weather was intermittent at best, with little in the way of damage reported.

I ventured outside of home for a short while as the leading edge of what was a bow echo entered the state in northern Emmet county. Upon arriving outside of Wallingford I did capture very brief video of a gustnado on this leading edge. I estimate the location of this gustnado near Dolliver, IA given its’ distance away from me at that time. An otherwise uneventful night as gusty winds and heavy rains were all that occurred…

I will try to get a vidcap of the gustnado up at a later time… Along with a few panoramic images of the shelf as it entered Emmet county.

May 6, 2009 Chase Report

// May 7th, 2009 // No Comments » // Chase Account, Severe Weather, Storm Chasing

Had an impromptu chase yesterday evening as a weak cold front and associated disturbances kicked off thunderstorms yesterday afternoon over northwest Iowa. One cell was able to become severe warned over Osceola county, and within a few minutes was also tornado warned. At this point with the tornado warning I quickly gathered items into the vehicle, then myself along with my dad and fiance hopped in and began our quick chase. Our total path is shown below, under 2 hours of drive time and just under 80 miles round trip make this a very short and good warm-up chase for the northern plains this year.

Our chase led us to intercept the storm near Royal, IA where we encountered mainly nickel sized hail just ahead of the large rain/hail core. It was just about at this point where the storm really dropped all of the energy it had left before rapidly dissipating. Went ahead and drove south just ahead and then as confirmation was received that the tornado warning would be canceled dove back into the core to see if any hail was remaining, and none remained. All in all, a bunch of nickel sized hail and some impressive rainbows (shown below) and a nice impromptu chase in early May for northwest Iowa.

September 23 Lightning Pictures

// September 25th, 2008 // No Comments » // Chase Account, Photography, Weather Recap

I decided that I would upload some of the pictures that I took last night of the lightning near Ames, Iowa between 8 PM and around 9 PM. I was positioned southwest of Ames waiting for the storms to arrive, they were previously severe warned, but at the time of arrival to my location the storms featured only 40 mph winds and some heavy rain. The lightning even within the core of the storm was quite impressive, several CG strikes that were nearby to create amazing thunder.

The images that I captured were definitely not the greatest, as the heavy rains and windy conditions meant that I couldn’t pull out the tripod. This led me to capture all of the images featured by holding the camera against the door frame and using manual shutter release. Another problem with the photos was the manual focus was off, creating many of the images to look ‘soft’ or in other words, the lightning isn’t the sharpest that it could have been. Either way, no amazing shots that I really missed out on, so chalk it up as having to be more prepared next time.

September 23 Lightning Gallery

As you can see, this is a new type of setup that I have for this gallery. I believe that with time I will make all my galleries in this format, or some variation of sorts. Using the flash slideshow leaves the images clearer, and with less distortion compared to my ongoing gallery I have now. Let me know what you think of the new format, and which one you’d rather see!