June 17th North Central Minnesota Storm Chase - Tornado Outbreak

06-17-10 CHASE LOG:  MN

Going into it, I knew this day would have tornado potential but never imagined it would turn into something like this.Peggy Willenberg, her daughter Molly Snyder, and I left the Twin Cities at 9am and headed west to Ortonville, MN where we waited a short while for initiation.Storms fired ahead of a dryline and on a pre-frontal trough near Ortonville shortly before 2pm.These storms took their time maturing while quickly moving north-northeast towards the I-94 corridor.The dryline seemed rather evident with a 20-30 degree dewpoint drop behind the boundary and little to no cold air advection.We followed the storms out of Ortonville on I-75, paralleling the storms to our east till we got to near Tenney.At this point, a pair of storms intensified near Morris, so we traveled east on Hwy 55 to Elbow Lake and then south on Hwy 59 to intercept the stronger storm that became tornado warned as we got on it near Hoffman.The environment for these storms was incredibly sheared and strongly unstable.Forecast hodographs were strongly curved in this area leading up to the event and they seemed to verify due to the strong southeast inflow winds that were gusting 20-30 mph at times and the 0-6 km bulk shear of near 50 kts and could have been higher.RUC Mesoanalysis indicated SB CAPE values of 2000-3000 j/kg helped fuel the explosive development, especially with nearly full sun ahead of the developing CU field leading up the event.The dryline and trough appeared to merge and surge (dryline bulge) upon entering west-central MN and this certainly could have increased the convergence and helped with the explosive development of these storms as well.

As the storm we were on moved north from Hoffman to Brandon and then north of I-94, it encountered the warm front that was slowly lifting through the area.This likely helped enhance the low level shear and lead to the development of the first tornado, and a big one at that, near Leaf Valley Township shortly after 3:30pm.This was a large tornado with multiple vortices that had wedge characteristics at times as it moved north, paralleling and crossing Cty Rd 6 to the north of Leaf Valley.We then drove east on Cty Rd 14 and then north on Hwy 29 to stay ahead of the developing wedge.We intercepted the storm again near Parkers Prairie where the wedge weakened some and became a large elephant trunk, then stovepipe, under a rapidly rotating and very large mesocyclone.We continued to parallel the tornado on Cty Rd 42 out of Parkers Prairie and then Cty Rd 75 towards Wadena.On this path to our west, the tornado grew to a massive size and appeared to be nearly a mile wide at one point and actually looked to have multiple wedge tornadoes on the ground at one time, although I cannot confirm for sure if the leading “wedge” was actually on the ground or another large, low meso that was nearly on the ground and rotating extremely fast.As we neared Wadena, the storm weakened and the tornado lifted as another storm was beginning to take shape and take over to the south of the original tornadic storm.We got through Wadena, north on Hwy 71, and then doubled back into Wadena to see what was on the storm to the south that had a couplet on radar already.Our plan was to head south on Hwy 71 and get just east of the approaching couplet.However, the road was blocked so we had to turn around and head east on Hwy 10 a mile or two out of town and watch the storm approach.Roughly 3 miles south of Wadena, shortly before 5pm, the tornado touched down and grew to massive size, becoming rain-wrapped upon approaching and eventually moving directly through Wadena.This was obviously a helpless feeling for us but we did call in the tornado to the NWS as soon as it touched down south of town.

We then attempted to continue to follow this large tornado on Cty Rd 23 after it had moved north of Wadena and the storm appeared to weaken and no longer have a tornado as we got to near Sebeka.There were more rotating storms moving up from the south so we attempted to stay ahead, traveling south on Hwy 64 to Hwy 210 towards Brainerd.In Pillager, we viewed a large lowering that was very close to the ground on a storm to our north.This was reported by a spotter as a tornado in that area, but I cannot confirm that it actually touched down from how far away we were.

What an incredible day this was as several more tornadoes were reported across the state and a few strong tornadoes that came close to friends and family in northern IA and southern MN.Certainly, I would consider this a tornado outbreak, especially by MN standards.My sympathies are with those that were impacted by the tornadoes, especially those families of the victims and others that lost animals, homes, businesses, and other personal property.

I will be adding more to this chase log over the next several weeks and hopefully finding the time to do a case study on this significant event.

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Hail core near Hoffman, MN.

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Looking right down the inflow tail into the wall cloud.

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Funnel about to drop on the storm near Leaf Valley Township, MN.

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Video capture of the tornado near Leaf Valley Township.

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Incredible multiple vortex tornado near Leaf Valley Township.

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Another video capture of the powerful multiple vortex tornado.

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And yet another video capture of the multiple vortex tornado near Leaf Valley Township.

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Tornado near Parkers Prairie, MN.

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Lightning out of the beast near Parkers Prairie.  The wedge tornado was directly behind the lightning bolt.

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Massive wedge tornado underneath the huge meso several miles to our west near Parkers Prairie.

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Closer view of the huge wedge tornado.

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Another large wedge tornado roughly 2 miles south of Wadena, MN.

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Large tornado near Wadena, MN.

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The wedge tornado ~1 mile south of Wadena, shortly before becoming rain-wrapped and moving into town.

More photos from this day can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157624188292825/

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Incredible velocity couplet at the time we were viewing the massive wedge tornado north of Parkers Prairie, MN.

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Strong velocity couplet on the storm as the tornado was going through Wadena.  Our position is noted with the dot in the white circle to the east of town.  Keep in mind that this is on the outer fringes of the Grand Forks radar.

Storm Reports:

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June 1st Eastern Nebraska Storm Chase - Supercell and Brief Tornado

06-01-10 CHASE LOG:  NE

This chase consisted of MaryLynn and I, and eastern NE looked like the place to be as a Slight Risk was in place for the area with the SPC issuing a 10% hatched area for tornadoes by the 1630Z update.The upper flow was fairly zonal but there was a shortwave trough forecast to swing through the region later in the day that would initiate convection on a stalled boundary that eventually evolved into a cold front.This front was enhanced by a convective complex that moved across the NE/SD border during the morning, which spit out an outflow boundary that intersected the boundary.The plan was to leave Sioux City, IA early in the morning and head south to Lincoln, NE to get ahead.The airmass ahead of the boundary was becoming quite unstable during the afternoon with SB CAPE values of 2000-3000 j/kg with higher pockets of instability.Moisture was not an issue with dewpoints in the upper 60’s, while inflow winds were from the south-southeast at around 15-20 mph.The idea was that any storms that fired in this airmass ahead of the boundary would be supercells with tornado potential due to bulk shear values of 40-50 kts and decent low level shear as well.Storms did not end up firing in this airmass ahead of the boundary due to the lack of any large scale forcing.Storms did fire on the boundary to the north around 1pm and did not look impressive at first and were taking their time to mature/intensify.One storm finally took on supercell characteristics around 3pm near Stanton, NE and this is the storm we went after, traveling north on Hwy 77.As we traveled up 77, the storm was reported to have produced a 5 minute tornado near West Point, NE.We were too late for this tornado, but we did intercept the cell near Oakland, NE.At this point, the storm began to move to the east rather quickly so, to stay out ahead, we progressed on Hwy 32 to Craig, NE and then stair-stepped south and east on some gravel roads.All the while, the storm had cycled with a new, rotating wall cloud.South of Craig at around 4:20pm we observed a large funnel that was moving rapidly northwest to southeast.This funnel got very close to the ground at this point, but we could not confirm that it touched down until a report came in from another storm chaser in the area that a tornado had truly been observed.We were quite a distance away at this point and the reason why we could not tell for sure if it was down or not.Thereafter, the storms began to congeal into a line but our storm continued to show strong signs of rotation embedded in the heavy rain and hail on the line as it crossed I-29 into western IA.Here is where we let the storm core us near Missouri Valley, IA as we were right in the notch and observing a lot of rising motion and several areas of rotation.Thereafter, we attempted to get ahead of the line, traveling south on I-29 through extremely heavy rain, high winds, and small hail, eventually calling it a day as storms had gone completely linear at this point.

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Suspicious lowering looking west from Oakland, NE.

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Blocky non-rotating wall cloud near Oakland, NE.

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Fuzzy picture of reported tornado near Craig, NE.

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Our position around the time the picture above was taken near Craig, NE.

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Another radar grab from near the time of the tornado and the approximate location of our position as noted by the arrow.

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View of the storm on I-29 near Missouri Valley, IA with continued, well defined mesocyclone.

More photos from this day can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157624131398817/

Storm Reports:

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May 26th Eastern Colorado Storm Chase - Slow Moving Supercell

05-26-10 CHASE LOG:  CO

This log is going to be relatively short and sweet as it did not involve any tornadoes, but it did involve a beautiful storm around 20 miles northeast of Denver, CO.Our group consisting of guests and guides for Silver Lining Tours left Lamar, CO by late morning and traveled north and west to intercept an intense storm that had already fired over Denver by early afternoon and was moving over the airport.Before we intercepted, the storm produced several landspout tornadoes as well as a funnel directly over the Denver International Airport.We intercepted the supercell northeast of the airport and observed the storm for several hours in this area as it was only moving northeast at 10 mph.Several lowerings and wall clouds were observed during this time and even a period of rapid condensation/rising motion where we all thought the storm was going to produce a tornado right in front of us.Even though the storm was tornado warned several times, this storm just could not get things together and drop a tornado but it did have beautiful structure, having a “mothership” appearance much of the duration of the storm and, at one point, a soda can appearance as the storm had a twisted look to the updraft.In addition, we experienced large hail to around ping pong ball size and some stones even larger as we let the hail core come overhead on a couple of occasions.Towards evening, we bailed on the northern storm as another was looking strong and coming at us from the south.This cell ended up dying as we intercepted near Strasburg, CO so we ended the chase here after taking pictures of an amazing sunset as more storms fired to our west over Denver.

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View of supercell over Denver as we are approaching from the east on I-70.

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Rapidly rising motion into wall cloud northeast of Denver International Airport.

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Continued rapid rising motion and rotation on lowering northeast of Denver International Airport.

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Incredible soda can appearance to this supercell.

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Structure of the storm.

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Another storm firing on the mountains near Denver at sunset.

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Another view of the developing storm at sunset.

More photos from this day can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157624130890455/

Storm Reports:

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May 25th Southeast Colorado and Southwest Kansas Storm Chase - Supercells and a Surprise Tornado

05-25-10 CHASE LOG:  CO/KS

This was a successful chase day in a Slight Risk area of southeast CO where we intercepted several supercell storms and saw an incredible tornado near Bartlett, CO.We had a long drive ahead of us already as we left Valentine, NE in the early morning and were targeting somewhere around Johnson City, KS.Our drive took us south on Hwy 83 through western KS and then west on Hwy 50 as a pair of supercells, one that had developed across southwest CO and another across the OK Panhandle.We originally decided to target the southern storm on the dryline, but the other storm was showing strong signs of rotation and close to crossing a stalled boundary around Hwy 96 to the north of Lamar.Upon reaching Johnson City, KS we went west on Hwy 116 and then north on Hwy’s 89 and 385 to near Sheridan Lake to intercept the storm that had already produced several landspout tornadoes.We did see a lowering and funnel upon approaching the storm, but it quickly weakened and became a big HP mess upon moving to the north of the boundary in the more stable air.

Our original targeted storm well to the south, which was now a tail end Charlie storm as others had filled in between, had been and continued to be tornado warned.This storm was only moving north-northeast at around 5 mph so it would be an easy intercept.We progressed south on Hwy 287 and then east on Hwy 116 to intercept this storm near Manter, KS.The supercell was still warned at this point and had unbelievable structure, while all the while having a big, rotating wall cloud underneath for around an hour.Another, beautiful LP storm was visible to the north and very photogenic.This supercell was barely moving at all so we were able to view from a close distance for over an hour before we decided that it was not going to do very much, plus it was looking rather high based with weak inflow winds.Wanting to see some of the large hail from this storm, we traveled south on Hwy 160 to near the small town of Bartlett, CO.Here we continued to watch the storm from the back and check out the ping pong ball and a few stones near baseball size that had fallen out of this storm earlier.After sitting for about 20 minutes, the storm started to have a lot of rising motion and then what appeared to be outflow on the southwest side.To our BIG surprise, the area of outflow started to have very fast and rotating rising motion and produced a funnel that quickly became a large cone tornado right in front of us!This was clearly not expected as the other vans had to be alerted to the oncoming tornado via radio and managed to get out just in time to view the tornado at a safe distance, but at very close range for around 3-4 minutes.Really, this was an unbelievable surprise to have this storm produce a tornado just before sunset, especially since it was not showing any signs of rotation before this tornado spun up.Clearly seemed like a “freak of nature” tornado more than anything and one that I will never forget.

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Low precipitation storm with incredible lowering near Manter, KS.

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Big Liberty Bell shaped lowering with funnel on storm near Manter, KS.

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Another big funnel forming on the supercell near Manter, KS.

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Tornado near Bartlett, CO!

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My favorite shot of the tornado near Bartlett, CO.

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Tornado starting to rope out.

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Tornado in rope out phase.

More photos from this day can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157624254094536/

Storm Reports:

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May 24th Southern South Dakota and Northern Nebraska Storm Chase - Supercell Storm and Mammatus

05-24-10 CHASE LOG:  SD/NE

  This was a difficult chase day with a strong storm system and fast moving storms in a large Moderate Risk for severe storms.A low pressure system was forecast to progress from western SD into southwest ND during the day with a warm front quickly lifting northward from near I-90 to the SD/ND border by evening.A dryline and cold front were expected to move into western SD and western NE through the day.After several long chases in a row, our group decided to meet by late morning in Valentine, NE and then head north on Hwy 83 to Murdo, SD.Storms already began to fire around midday ahead of the triple point near Rapid City, SD and additional storms began to fire on the warm front lifting north of I-90.Storms all day were moving at nearly 55-65 mph on average so anything that got by us was long gone.We decided to attempt to intercept a tornado warned storm near Rapid City, but soon realized that a storm ahead of the triple point on the warm front would be the storm of the day.This was our original plan was to play any storms in this area but, due to the late start in the day, we could not get to this storm in time to see the large tornado it did produce near Faith, SD.More storms began to fire in the warm sector in a highly sheared,unstable, and moist environment in central NE and move north towards our area, so we ended up bailing on the cell near Rapid City and turning around in Wall, SD and traveling back to Murdo, SD.Just east of here is where we intercepted our first storm of the day near Draper.This storm was severe and had nice structure and actually a nice rotating wall cloud for quite a while.Other storms were firing to the south into the early evening, while the storm we were on was not looking overly impressive so we ended up heading back south on Hwy 83 back towards Valentine, NE and intercepting a squall line about 20 miles north of town. This line had a messy shelf cloud, some gusty winds, and heavy rain, but nothing that was all too impressive.

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Storm with lowering near Draper, SD.

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Storm with rotating wall cloud near Draper, SD.

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Incredible mammatus in Valentine, NE.

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Mammatus in Valentine, NE.

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More mammatus at sunset in Valentine, NE.

More photos from this day can be found here:http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157624218639078/

Storm Reports:

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May 23rd Northwest Kansas Storm Chase - 3 Tornadoes Including a Nighttime Tornado Near Goodland

05-23-10 CHASE LOG:  KS

After an incredible chase the day before where we witnessed the Bowdle wedge tornado and 5 other tornadoes, our tired crew left Winner, SD early this morning and targeted northwest KS in a Slight Risk for severe thunderstorms per SPC.There was an area of low pressure that was expected to develop across northeast CO with a trailing dryline through eastern CO and a stalled boundary across northeast CO into southern NE.With a stout cap, thunderstorms took until nearly early evening to initiate and then took until sunset and after to mature.We targeted storms along the triple point but, as a few storms started to develop further south along the dryline, these storms began to rotate and soon became tornado warned.Our route was to progress west from Oakley, KS on Hwy 40 and then north on Hwy 27 as storms moved nearly due north, paralleling Hwy 27 towards Goodland.Two short-lived rope tornadoes did touch down right at sunset to the southwest of Goodland to the west of Hwy 27.However, the most significant tornado touched down 9 miles NNE of Goodland.This tornado was what appeared to be a rather strong, cone tornado that was visible through the occasional lightning.This tornado appeared for around a minute and then disappeared.Our course then took us north to Hwy 36 east where we took some lightning shots near Bird City. I cannot be disappointed with this day with 3 tornadoes and a pair of nicely structured supercell storms!

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Storm first going up with abondoned shed in the foreground.

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First funnel of the day!

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Incredible storm structure on the LP storm near Sharon Springs, KS.

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Wall cloud dragging on the ground on the tornado warned storm near Goodland, KS.  Shortly after this produced two different, weak spin-ups.

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Storm being lit up by lightning near Bird City, KS.

More photos from this day can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157624088058263/

Storm Reports:

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May 21st Wyoming and Nebraska Storm Chase - One Tornado and a Funnel

05-21-10 CHASE LOG:  WY/NE

The target this day was in the upslope regimen of the Cheyenne Ridge through southeast WY with storms expected to develop in the mountains and move out into the High Plains area during the mid to late afternoon.Our group left Colby, KS in the morning and progressed northwest to Cheyenne and then north on I-25 toward Chugwater, WY as a pair of intense storms were already firing on the Laramie Range and about to move off the mountains into the open High Plains.Consequently, this is where the better environment was at with moderately strong heating indicated by SB CAPE values in the 1500-2500 j/kg range, dewpoints adequately into the upper 50’s in a higher elevation area, and strong east-southeast winds at 20-30 kts which led to strong inflow and low level shear.In addition, these storms developed in an area of higher bulk/deep layer shear values of 40-50 kts and could have been higher with a shortwave moving through the region and helping to ignite convection.

Upon approaching the storm near Chugwater, it quickly produced a short-lived rope tornado that we did see from 15 miles south of the storm.This tornado touched down near Wheatland, WY.Being so far away from the storm at the time of the tornado, we were not positive that it touched down after seeing the funnel ¾ of the way to the ground, but confirmation came from spotters and chasers in that area that it did indeed touch down around 5pm.The tornado dissipated as we followed to the south of the storm on Hwy 316 and then north in Hwy 160 towards Fort Laramie, WY as the storm continued to right turn and actually take a more east-southeast movement.A couple of rotating wall clouds were seen along the storm path, as well as a very interesting lowering on the left split storm to the north of ours that did end up becoming tornado warned.Our storm ended up moving out into an area with no roads upon crossing the WY/NE border so we ended up going north on Hwy 85 towards Lusk, WY and then east on Hwy 20 where we intercepted again near sunset in Crawford, NE.We witnessed a spectacular lightning show before ending the chase here and traveling to Valentine, NE for the night.

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Tough to see, but this is the tail end of the tornado way in the distance near Wheatland, WY.

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Lowering underneath a new updraft on the storm near Wheatland, WY.

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Another storm coming off of the Laramie Range in WY.

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Two new explosive updrafts on our storm east of Wheatland, WY.

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Horizontal funnel forming on the leading edge of the RFD clear slot.

More photos from this day can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157624087897675/

Storm Reports:

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May 19th Oklahoma Storm Chase - 3 Tornadoes from a Long Lived Tornadic Supercell

05-19-10 CHASE LOG:  OK

This ended up being by far the worst chaser convergence I have every experienced and a rather stressful day, although we did see several funnels as well as a terrific rain wrapped tornado near Dover, OK.I was chasing for Silver Lining Tours and this was our Day 2 after seeing 4 tornadoes on day 1 of the tour.We woke up in Amarillo, TX to a moderate risk across much of OK and, while traveling east to our target area, the Storm Prediction Center upgraded to a High Risk for the potential for a severe weather and tornado outbreak.An MCS had gone through during the overnight and dropped an outflow boundary that intersected the warm front from northwest to southeast across OK.This likely helped to enhance the low level shear along the boundary.A surface low was forecast to move into northwest OK during the afternoon with a dryline mixing east into western portions of the state as well.Extreme instability of 2500-3500 j/kg and strong low and deep layer shear was forecast to develop ahead of the dryline and along the warm front during the afternoon on the 19th.The idea was to wait in Clinton, OK and wait for initiation either on the triple point, warm front, and/or dryline.There were also upper 60’s and lower 70’s dewpoints feeding into this area so moisture was a big bonus.

The triple point produced the first storm of the day shortly before 3pm and we waited for a half hour in Clinton until we were sure this would be the storm to go after.More towers were going up on the warm front and dryline and they were sure to fire soon, but the storm that was now west of Leedey, OK was really starting to look terrific so we took off after that north on Hwy 183 and west on Hwy 47.The storm produced a brief tornado near Leedey, before we got on it, but we did manage to see the tail end of the tornado from around 6-8 miles away as it was lifting.This storm had intense, new updrafts going up on the flanking line to the southwest of the storm with several nice wall clouds as each updraft went up.

The supercell was drifting to the east at 15-20 mph but it quickly became apparent that chaser convergence was going to be a major issue as this storm was continuing to progress into a more favorable environment and was the best storm anywhere in the country.Hundreds of chasers converged on this cell and Hwy 33 from Watonga to Kingfisher became a mess of chasers battling for position while trying to stay out of each other’s way.The storm kept recycling wall clouds and several funnels were noted on the route as we attempted to stay ahead of the storm.Near Watonga, the storm produced a rapidly rotating mesocyclone and we were barely able to stay head of a developing tornado at that time.Upon moving towards Kingfisher, we decided to travel north on Cty Rd 2740 and then east on Cty Rd 720, just ahead of the hook on radar and clearly in the notch as the hail core began to wrap around with the rear flank downdraft.Approaching the Dover area, the storm dropped a rain wrapped, cone tornado only around a half mile from the road which is seen in the photos below.We attempted to stay ahead of the tornado and wanted to drop south and get ahead of it, but were blocked by other chase vehicles and the tornado managed to cross the road directly in front of us and then off into a field very close to our position.The tornado was rain wrapped but I did get some short video of it at that time.In addition, this tornado did reportedly produce some damage to a farmstead in this area.

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Lowering underneath the updraft of the storm north of Aledo, OK.

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Intense, new updraft on the storm as we first got on it north of Aledo, OK.

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Rain wrapped cone tornado!

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Another shot of the tornado near Dover, OK.  This thing almost ran us over due to other chasers blocking the road in front of us!

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Edge of the mesocyclone of the supercell.

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Another storm going up well to the south at sunset.

More photos can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157624106808676

Storm Reports:

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May 22nd South Dakota Storm Chase - The Bowdle EF4 Wedge Tornado

05-22-10 CHASE LOG:  SD

This chase definitely tied with June 24th, 2003 as the best chase of my life!  We started the day in Valentine, NE after chasing and seeing a brief tornado in eastern WY the day before.  There was an area of low pressure that was progressing towards central ND with another low that was expected to reach central SD by late afternoon.  Ahead of this low a warm front stretched from near Pierre, SD down into southeast portions of the state and was slowly lifting northward through the afternoon, as a cold front south of the low slowly worked eastward as well.  The idea was to play the triple point near these boundary intersections as models had continued to develop storms ahead of this feature and some held off storms till evening further south where a stout cap was in place, per the special 20Z observed sounding out of Aberdeen that indicated +18 deg C at near 800 mb.  There must have been an amazing amount of forcing and convergence on the triple point, because several towers developed by late afternoon and a big storm broke through to the west of Akaska, while we were positioned to the southeast near Gettysburg.  This was an incredible environment for this storm to go up in as dewpoints ranged from the upper 60’s into the lower 70’s and even a few 74 degree dewpoints pooling along the warm front and triple point.  In addition, it was very unstable with a nose of 4000-6000 j/kg of SB CAPE poking up into the region in a strongly sheared environment due to the southeast winds near 20 kts and some locations gusting over 25 kts at times.  The dry punch into the region from the southwest, as indicated by the drop in dewpoints, likely helped convergence as well and possibly a forecast shortwave that was forecast to move into central SD at the time storms initiated.

The storm quickly became tornado warned near Lowry and produced a lowering with rotation soon after.  The first tornado of the day dropped northeast of Lowry as a stovepipe and then became an elephant trunk and appeared to weaken.  However, the circulation gained intensity upon moving close to us on Hwy 47 and we quickly moved north to stay ahead of this tornado.  The tornado crossed Hwy 47 and Hwy 12 shortly after we had moved east and observed the tornado at close range to the road.  This is where the tornado downed powerlines and poles, blocking the road from anyone wanting to travel east and stay with the tornado.  As we moved towards Bowdle, our plan was to head north on Hwy 47 and observe this tornado that was holding together.It quickly grew into a wedge tornado to the northwest of Bowdle and we were able to experience this mammoth beast at close range as the track continued to take it to the east-northeast.  About 1 mile west of Hwy 47 is where the wedge, unfortunately, appeared to hit a couple of farmsteads and one of the families was in their vehicle right next to ours, watching their home get destroyed.  It was a sad moment as we tried to console them over their eventual loss.

At this point, we became cut off from heading north and needed to head back on Hwy 47 back towards Bowdle and through the RFD winds that were very strong just north of town.  We then traveled east on Hwy 12, observing a second tornado near Roscoe and then 3 more weak elephant trunks northwest and then 4-5 miles north of Ipswich.  Here is where the storm became very HP and we bailed south on another tornado warned storm near Faulkton where we witnessed incredible storm structure and a couple of funnels that could not quite make it to the ground.  What an amazing chase day and one I will never forget!

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Storm going up right on the triple point near Lowry, SD.

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First tornado of the day to the northeast of Lowry, SD.

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Same tornado starting to become more of an elephant trunk and weaken.

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Tornado to our southeast as we were driving on Hwy 12 trying to stay ahead of it.

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Wedge tornado on the ground to the northwest of Bowdle, SD.

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Getting closer to the incredible wedge tornado near Bowdle, SD.  Probably the number one tornado of my life so far to this point!

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 Second tornado of the day touching down very close to Roscoe, SD.

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The tornado near Roscoe and the storm structure.

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Closer view of the tornado near Roscoe, SD.

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The third tornado of the day touching down northwest of Ipswich, SD.

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Blurry photo showing the fifth tornado of the day around 4-5 miles north-northwest of Ipswich, SD.

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A different storm near Faulkton, SD with awesome structure and stacked plates.

More photos from this day can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157623992903309/

Radar image around time of the wedge tornado:

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Velocity image around time of the wedge tornado:

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Storm Reports:

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May 18th Texas Storm Chase - 4 Tornadoes and a Beautiful Supercell Storm

05-18-10 CHASE LOG:  TX

  This was a Moderate Risk day from eastern CO southward through western TX with good promise of producing tornadoes, fairly well forecast several days in advance.I was driving for Silver Lining Tours and this was Day 1 so we wanted to get a good chase in right away.The tour group flew into Oklahoma City, OK the day before and we left there in the morning to target Dalhart, TX for late afternoon initiation.There was an upper level trough that was starting to move out into the High Plains late on the 18th and a low pressure system had been developing through the day across northeast CO.This system had already produced a few strong supercells that were already tornado warned across eastern CO by mid afternoon.The one concern in our area was the limited moisture as dewpoints were only in the upper 50’s, and that this would lead to high cloud bases and more of a damaging wind threat and limited tornado threat, even with decent low level shear.As the dryline began to mix out of the Rockies and the backed, southeast surface winds began to increase and become sustained at near 20 kts by the afternoon, convergence ahead of the dryline began to significantly increase and led to intense development of a storm shortly after 4pm only around 10-15 miles southwest of Dalhart where we were already in place.This storm quickly had 55,000 foot tops and went severe with very large hail rather quickly as we intercepted.Right away the storm produced a large, rotating wall cloud near Hartley, TX but we became blocked from getting ahead of the storm due to the baseball sized hail that was falling out of the core and blocking our east route.We waited behind the supercell southwest of Hartley at this point until the core had passed and then we progressed east on Hwy 87 towards Dumas.Upon moving through Dumas and then due east on Hwy 152 towards Stinnett, the storm produced 3 very brief and weak tornadoes.I was not able to get pictures or video of the first 3 tornadoes of the day as I was driving the vehicle.This storm did have some of the most amazing structure of any storm so far this year and was truly a sight to see as we followed the very slow moving storm due east.Near Stinnett the storm began to produce a huge mesocyclone and this is where we saw a stovepipe tornado just to the northwest of town.Thereafter, the storm began to lose organization and it was getting dark so this was the end of the chase day.Definitely a good way to start a 10 day storm chasing trip!

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Beautiful structure already on this storm around 8 miles southwest of Hartley, TX.

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Rapidly rotating wall cloud with possible large funnel underneath this storm to the east of Hartley, TX.

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Inflow tail to the wall cloud with scud rising into the base that is nearly on the ground at this point.

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Amazing structure on this storm near Dumas, TX! Starting to get a laminar shape and big hail core in there.

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Another shot of this storm near Dumas, TX.

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Stovepipe tornado touching down near Stinnett, TX!

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Closer shot of the stovepipe tornado near Stinnett, TX.

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Another shot of the beautiful stovepipe tornado!

More photos can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157623978621641/

Storm Reports:

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April 30th Eastern Iowa, Northern Illinois, and Southern Wisconsin Storm Chase - Lightning and a Lowering

04-30-10 CHASE LOG:  IA/IL/WS

  Not too special of a chase overall with a lot of miles put on, but it was fun regardless.  Peggy Willenberg, Melanie Metz, and I left Council Bluffs, IA after bagging a tornado and some amazing supercells near Washington, KS the day before.  Our plan was to get ahead of a cold front and chase a line of storms racing east of Des Moines, IA already by midday.  We raced east on I-80 into eastern IA and finally managed to get ahead of the storms near Iowa City, IA.  Storms were moving to the northeast at 60-65 mph so it was nearly impossible to stay with them, so our only hope was to get ahead of the line and wait for a strong storm to come up at us from the southwest.  A few finally did as we approached Davenport, IA and I did manage to get some video and screen captures of the occasional cloud to ground lightning.  Storms that managed to stay discrete did have nice bases and even a few visible updraft areas, but everything was rather embedded and tough to see.  The Storm Prediction Center issued a tornado watch for much of IL into southern WI as we got into eastern IA as this area was very highly sheared and destabilizing ahead of the front.  However, it became fairly clear as we entered into IL that storms were going to be more of a linear mode along this front with the strong forcing and a 100 knot 500 mb jet, albeit in a very highly sheared environment.  A decent storm developed to the north of Sterling, IL and was moving northeast towards southern WI.  We traveled north on I-39 and I-90 to near Janesville, WI where we intercepted and watched the storm pass, which had a nice base and cloud to ground lightning.  After that, it was time to start heading home as everything became very messy.  As we passed through Madison, WI, I noticed on radar some rotation coming at us from the southwest with what looked like some sort of mesolow.  We ended up intercepting this storm near the Arlington, WI exit where there was a lot of motion and even a wall cloud that I did not get a picture of since I was driving.  This storm later produced a tornado to our northeast in Green Lake County, WI.

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Screen capture of lightning strike near Davenport, IA.

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Lightning screen capture from storm near Davenport, IA.

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Cloud to ground lightning strike near Janesville, WI.

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Nice base and updraft of storm near Davenport, IA.

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What appeared to be a wall cloud starting to form on cell near Janesville, WI.

Storm Reports:

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April 29th Northeast Kansas and Southeast Nebraska Storm Chase - Washington Tornado, Several Wall Clouds, and Massive Shelf Cloud

04-29-10 CHASE LOG:  KS/NE This ended up being a great chase with several wall clouds, 1 tornado near Washington, KS and probably the best shelf cloud I've ever seen near Belleville, KS.  Our chase group consisted of me, Peggy Willenberg, and Melanie Metz.  The plan was to stay in Council Bluffs, IA the night before and then target extreme north-central to northeast KS for Thursday's event.  Concerns for the day were the lack of moisture and how fast the upper 50's to around 60 dewpoints were going to make it into the area as well as the presence of a rather stout cap as indicated by the morning observed soundings on OAX and TOP.  These concerns were alleviated as we traveled down to Concordia, KS to position during the early afternoon and dewpoints were already in the upper 50's with a small pool of lower 60's in northeast KS as moisture had been quickly advected north with the 25-40 mph surface winds and nearly 60 knots at 850 mb over the past 12 hours.  Morning forecast models were cooling temperatures aloft across the area as well so there was optimism the cap would break before dark.  This was a day of very good low and deep layer shear with modest instability.

By mid-afternoon, a line of enhanced cumulus began developing, out of seemingly nowhere, along the dryline/boundary that was draped from southwest to northeast across the state.  Feeling was that this was a dryline due to the 8-10 degree dewpoint drop behind the boundary.  We positioned around 8 miles north of Minneapolis, KS at this time to watch the development take place.  Within an hour, high based convection began to fire and nice cell started to form to our north.  Wanting to get on the first cell of the day, we drove north on Hwy 81 and then east on Hwy 24 and then north on a gravel road through Aurora and (appropriately named) Nelson townships.  The storm was starting to get its act together at this point and we could definitely see a nice hail shaft.  Trying to take a muddy and slick road east, our truck began to slide and nearly put us in the ditch.  However Peggy was able to maintain control and back out to the road we came from.  Heading north we finally reached a paved road and went east on Hwy 9 to near Clyde.  Our storm had a small lowering at this point but had several updrafts and was starting to become rather messy, while another cell was firing to our southwest.  We bailed on the northern cell and went west on Hwy 9 to intercept this new cell that was rapidly developing near Concordia, KS.  As we got on this cell on the north side of Concordia, the storm produced a very nice and blocky wall cloud, not rotating at this time but it was the first good indication that the storm was surface based and developing quickly.  Cloud bases were lowering dramatically at this point as LCL’s started to come down.  As we followed north on Hwy 81 and then east on Hwy 148, the meso began to rotate produced a couple of very picturesque wall clouds to the north of Hwy 148 to the southwest of Washington.  Following the storm north on Hwy 15 and then east on Hwy 36 the storm produced a rapidly rotating wall cloud that stirred up a short lived tornado, as indicated by a debris cloud, shortly after 7pm to the north of Washington, KS.  After producing the tornado, the storm became loosely organized till there was no wall cloud or even a lowering visible.  We decided to bail on this storm around Odell, NE and travel west on Hwy 8 towards Fairbury, NE where a tornado warned storm was moving up from the southwest.  Upon moving south of Fairbury on Hwy 15, the storm began gusting out and produced the best shelf cloud I've ever seen!  The shelf looked like a snowplow with teeth and was nearly vertical at the front edge, seemingly very near the ground.  An interesting feature was noted just to the west of Fairbury at this point where there appeared to be a large wall cloud and possible funnel very close to the ground, becoming embedded in the rain and hail core.  A tornado was never reported here but it would not surprise me if one touched down at this point.  Wanting to stay ahead of the shelf and not get cored, we traveled back east on Hwy 8 and then ended the chase at this point as night fell.

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Big rotating wall cloud to the northeast of Concordia, KS.

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Scud being rapidly lifted into the base with strong inflow to the northeast of Concordia, KS.

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Incredible, well lit wall cloud wrapping up near Agenda, KS.

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Backlit, rapidly rotating wall cloud to the southwest of Washington, KS.

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Blocky wall cloud transition taking place with strong rising motion near Washington, KS.

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Wall cloud reaching towards the ground shortly before tornado touchdown near Washington, KS.

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Very close to the time the tornado near Washington, KS was reported.  We did see a brief debris cloud at the base, which you can see in the video below.

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Awesome looking shelf cloud near Fairbury, NE.  Even better in the video.

More photos from this day can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157623847576173/

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Base Reflectivity near time of Washington tornado:

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Storm Relative Velocity near time of Washington tornado:

Storm Reports:

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April 23rd Eastern Nebraska Storm Chase

04-23-10 CHASE LOG:  NE

This ended up being a somewhat disappointing chase overall, but it was certainly good to just see some storms!Our group consisted of me, MaryLynn Nelson, Peggy Willenberg, and Beau Gjerdingen.The forecast was for severe storms to develop across eastern NE on an occluded front, warm front, and dryline by the late afternoon hours and especially into the early evening.After staying in Omaha the night before, our course of action was to drive to Lincoln, NE and re-evaluate towards midday.Storms were already starting to fire on the occlusion to our west at this point and a tornado watch has been issued for this area.After a few hours, we traveled to York, NE on I-80 thinking that these storms could develop back down on the boundary and we could at least have a look at them.The Interstate also offered a quick escape east in case additional storms would fire across eastern NE where the better moisture and low level shear resided.Storms did not end up building down the boundary and the dryline was quickly approaching our location with the occlusion being lifted well north.A nice cumulus field began to develop across far eastern NE and northeast KS, so we ended up moving east on I-80 all the way back to Omaha in the vicinity of the moisture and convergence axis.Our first storm of the day began to develop around 15 miles south of Omaha near 6pm.This storm was moving due north-northwest towards our position so we stayed put.All the while, new storms and turkey towers were starting to form all around us but were finding themselves very difficult to break the cap and sustain their updrafts.The aforementioned storm did end up moving just to the west of our position while new storms developed along a convergence boundary near Lincoln, NE.These storms near Lincoln quickly went severe with large hail and even a tornado warning but we decided to stay on the more northern cell, following the storm north on Highway 133 out of Omaha towards Blair.As we approached the base between Omaha and Blair, we headed west on a dirt road and found ourselves staring at a beautiful vault/updraft and lowering underneath the storm.At this time, the anvil started to produce some nice mammatus as well.This storm ended up weakening some and new updrafts were starting to our north so we continued to follow these cells to the northwest towards Fremont and then eventually to West Point, NE where we finally gave up the chase and ended up core punching into some pea size hail.South of West Point, we did see a nice non-rotating wall cloud that only stuck around for several minutes or so.

Definitely a disappointing chase considering how good the low level shear along the boundaries was forecast and how it looked per the Mesoanalysis during the event.One thing that I was very worried about before the event was the lack of upper level winds.The main upper level jet had been forecast and ended up being well south of the area and the reason why portions of MO ended up having quite a bit of severe weather.In addition, there was a stronger cap than expected as shown on the special 20Z sounding out of Omaha.This was even more evident on the Topeka sounding.Another factor was the late arrival of the shortwave to the area that finally made it by 00Z ignited all the storms in the area during the evening and primarily after sunset.I also noticed that the inflow into these storms was quite chilly but with dewpoints around 60 degrees so moisture was not much of an issue.

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Storm updraft developing very quickly directly over Omaha, NE.

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Beautiful vault and base on this storm near Omaha, NE.

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A closer view of the storm base and associated strong updraft region of storm near Omaha, NE.

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Fuzzy picture of brief lowering on storm near West Point, NE shortly after sunset.

More photos from this day can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157623800381923

Storm Reports:

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2009 Storm Chasing Highlights Video

  2009 turned out to be a great year after a slow start.  MaryLynn and I decided to take a chance and head down to the Southern Plains in early May to see if we could get lucky since the weather pattern for that time period did not look promising.  Maybe not the smartest thing to do, but we both had vacation and thought at least the road trip would be a fun idea.  We ended up having two successful chase days with some very photogenic storms but ultimately did not end up with any tornadoes, which was fine with us as we got to witness some incredible storms.  Thereafter, it was quite slow for the Upper Midwest till the middle and end of June when I was fortunate to witness and film the Austin and Alden tornadoes of June 17th and 21st, respectively.  These two days were by far the best days of my chase season, although I did have a couple more decent chase days in late June and July, one of which was in southwest WI where a pair of supercells produced several wall clouds and a brief funnel over relatively rough terrain to chase in.  It was difficult to find the time to chase this year due to traveling for work weeks on end, but the days I did go out ended up being very good this year, although I have to admit that there were a few busts as is with any year.  You always take the bad with the good.  Now on to the 2010 Chase Season!

August 11th Central Minnesota Storm Chase - Supercell and Wall Cloud

08-11-07 STORM CHASE:  MN

Myself and MaryLynn Voth went out from Burnsville during the mid afternoon, targeting central MN.  Thunderstorms were expected to develop to our west and then drift towards our position by the late afternoon.  The first storms of the day started to develop near Dassel and we were able to intercept the best looking cell near Cokato.  The storm was in the first developing stages but was already beginning to produce a lowering and nice inflow tail.  The storm continued to intensify as we followed on Highway 12 and then south on County Road 6 to Winsted.  The storm was moving to the southeast around 20 mph so we were able to keep up quite easily with the good road network we faced in this area.  Upon reaching an area near New Germany on County Road 33, the storm produced a rotating wall cloud and nice beaver tail.  In the last picture below, there is even a lowering from the wall cloud that looks quite interesting upon further review, but could be just condensating air into the wall cloud.  This feature did not stick around long enough to distinguish exactly what it was.  The storm kept the wall cloud for 20-30 minutes before starting to go outflow dominant and produce a shelf cloud as we reached the southwest side of the Twin Cities Metro near Chaska.  At this time, the storm took on an incredible hue of yellow and orange as the sun was setting behind the storm and the hail core.  Getting close to sunset and realizing we were likely to get cored if we stayed at our location, we ended the chase as the storm was very outflow dominant with expanding heavy rain.

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Lowered base on the storm soon after developing near Winsted, MN.

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Lowered base starting to form into a wall cloud between Winsted and New Germany, MN.  Notice the rain core starting to form.

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Another view of the base starting to form into a wall cloud between Windsted and New Germany, MN.

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Condensating inflow tail into the storm near New Germany, MN shortly after 6pm.

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Beaver tail into the storm and developing wall cloud near New Germany, MN.

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Beaver tail into the rotating wall cloud.  Notice the interesting appendage on the bottom right side of the wall cloud.

More photos from this day can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157621682736939/

Storm Reports:

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June 21st Southeast Minnesota Storm Chase - Shelf Cloud

06-21-07 STORM CHASE:  MN   This was a Slight Risk day in southern MN with a low threat for tornadoes but decent potential for supercells to produce damaging winds and large hail.  I was targeting southeast MN near the MN/IA border and that is exactly where we ended up.  Our group of myself, MaryLynn Voth, Michael Nardozzi and Ron Borquin left Burnsville, MN at 3pm and headed south on Highway 52 towards Rochester.  Two storms fired in this area as we approached and we decided to get on the northernmost cell that was moving from the north to the east side of Rochester.  We progressed east on Highway 14 and then north on Highway 42 to the intersection of Highway 9 where we watched the storm approach.  At this point it was still developing and not supercellular, but the storm did intensify upon moving south of I-90 as we followed.  Near Chatfield, we watched several brief lowerings as the two storms began to merge.  Our route took us on Highway 52 and then back north on Highway 74 back to I-90, all the while becoming cored by the merging storms with a lot of heavy rain and some small hail.  All of the pictures below were shortly after 5:30pm near St Charles.  This is where the merging storms began to become outflow dominant and produce a shelf cloud.  The shelf quickly moved overhead while we observed and we let ourselves become cored by the storm.  Thereafter, the storms became rather messy and it was not worth staying with them as they were racing east with a lot of rain and nothing all that impressive to continue the chase.  At that time, another storm was starting to look impressive and became severe warned to the south of Mankato.  We raced west on I-90 and intercepted the storm near Blue Earth as the storm was weakening greatly.  Here we got a few nice shots of the storm before it completely fizzled out.

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Shelf cloud just starting to form on a storm approaching our location near St Charles, MN.

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Another view of the shelf cloud approaching our location near St Charles, MN.

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View of the western part of the shelf cloud approaching us near St Charles, MN.

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Shelf cloud about to overtake us near St Charles, MN.

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Silver lining on a storm as it was fizzling out near Blue Earth, MN.

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Sunlight peeking through the clouds around the dying storm near Blue Earth, MN.

More photos from this day can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157621681673765/

Storm Reports:

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June 7th Eastern Iowa and Northwest Illinois Storm Chase - Fast Moving Supercells and Wall Clouds

06-07-07 STORM CHASE:  IA/IL  

After chasing the day before in the Badlands of South Dakota, our group consisting of myself, the Twister Sisters, Karen Miller, Beau Gjerdingen, Eric Whitehill and the crew from Original Productions found ourselves leaving Fremont, NE.  We planned on targeting east-central IA where there was a High Risk issued by the Storm Prediction Center for severe weather and tornadoes.  This was our last day of chasing for the television show and we wanted to make it a good one, although storms were expected to be moving very fast off to the north-northeast.  Storms began to fire before we could even reach our target area and our group quickly made it east of Des Moines on I-80, planning on intercepting a line of training thunderstorms that were becoming supercellular south of the interstate and quickly moving north.  Upon reaching Gonoa Bluff, IA, we moved south on Highway V52 to intercept a good looking cell near North English, IA.  We watched a pair of developing supercells cross ahead of us by a few miles, both having lowerings/bases as they went by, but nothing all that interesting.  We decided to follow these cells northeast and soon realized we would have a tough time keeping up as the storms were moving at 40-50 mph.  Many chasers may think that this was a wasted cause, but we persevered as every storm that went up was becoming tornado warned or exhibiting signs of rotation.  The cells crossed I-80 near Iowa City, IA, and we were actually able to get out ahead of the storms and progress north on Highway 1.  The best wall cloud that we saw this day was viewed near Mt Vernon, IA (as seen below) when the storm was tornado warned, but the storm never produced any funnels as far as we could tell.  Our car ended up being the only car in the group to attempt to stay ahead of the storms any further as they were moving so fast.  To do so, we had to quickly move east on Highway 30 to the east of Mt Vernon and then north on Highway Y24 in Lowden, IA.  At this point, the storm was tornado warned again as we intercepted near Lost Nation, IA and this is where another nice wall cloud formed with a lot of rotation.  Unfortunately, this is the best the storm ever looked but we still followed east on Highways 136 and 64 where we crossed the MS River at Sabula, IA.  We ended up following the storm till nightfall and reached Forreston, IL before finally giving up the chase and heading back to Iowa City, IA to meet back up with our crew.  All in all, several nice wall clouds and lowerings on this day.

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First storm of the day with a lowered non-rotating base near North English, IA.

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Nice wall cloud with feeder band near Williamsburg, IA.

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Lowered base and condensating inflow air into the storm near Iowa City, IA.

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Rotating wall cloud in Mt Vernon, IA.

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Lowered base of a supercell near Lost Nation, IA.

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Action area of the storm with inflow and lowerings on the MS River near Savannah, IL.

More photos from this day can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157621799857036/

Storm Reports:

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June 6th Southwest South Dakota and Central Nebraska Storm Chase - Supercell and Small Funnel

06-06-07 STORM CHASE:  SD/NE  

This was one of the last days of filming for the "Twisters Sisters" reality TV show with our group consisting of myself, Peggy Willenberg, Melanie Metz, Karen Miller, Beau Gjerdingen and Eric Whitehill.  This was a highly anticipated moderate risk day with a 10% risk for tornadoes as forecast by the Storm Prediction Center.  Our forecast was targeting southwest SD near the Black Hills for tornadoes.  Before storms fired, we waited in Murdo, SD on I-90, chatting with other chasers and admiring all of the chaser convergence in a gas station parking lot.  Many were anticipating supercells to fire to our west and produce tornadoes upon moving towards our position, hence the reason for the number of chasers that had converged on the area.  Storms fired by mid-afternoon and our group quickly raced west on I-90 to Belvidere, SD, then dropped south on Highway 63 to intercept the cell as it  became tornado warned.  We got on the storm after it had already produced a tornado, around 5 miles to the southwest of Wanblee, SD at the entrance of a ranch.  This storm had a lot of motion and originally had a wall cloud leftover from the tornado that we missed by only 20 minutes.  This storm produced a weak, short-lived funnel before gusting out as the storm overtook us and we raced east to attempt to stay ahead.  The storm continued to exhibit a lot of motion and produced a couple of gustnadoes at this time.  After realizing that this storm was turning into a gigantic heavy rain and hail mess with the tornado threat diminishing, our next plan of action was to race east on Highway 18 through southern SD and then drop south on Highway 281 and east on Highway 91 to intercept another supercell around sunset near the town of Sterling, NE.  This storm turned the entire sky orange and large hail to the size of nickels was starting to fall as we quickly retreated east of town.  Thereafter, it because too dark to see anything, so our plan of action was to drive to Fremont, NE for the night to prepare for the next days High Risk in IA.

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Tornado warned storm as we were approaching on Hisle Road ~5 miles southwest of Wanblee, SD.

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Small funnel cloud out of a wall cloud, 20 minutes after the storm had produced a tornado to the southwest of Wanblee, SD.

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A lot of rising and sinking motion on these lowerings from this storm as it approached.

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A lowering that was rapidly rotating  and quickly approaching our location near a ranch just outside of Wanblee, SD.

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Incredible motion with these clouds as the storm was gusting out upon moving directly overhead. 

More photos from this day can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157621675013229/

Storm Reports:

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June 2nd Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle Storm Chase - Downburst, Large Funnel, and Amazing Lightning Show

06-02-07 STORM CHASE:  OK/TX   To be honest, I do not know exactly where we chased this day but what I do know is that it was a successful chase in the OK and TX Panhandles, filming for the reality show "Twister Sisters".  This was the last decent severe weather chase day before several down days were expected during the 2007 Chase Season.  Our crew of myself, Peggy Willenberg, Melanie Metz, Karen Miller, Beau Gjerdingen and Eric Whitehill left Amarillo, TX in the morning and did not have to go far, as storms were expected to fire in this area by the early afternoon.  It ended up being a very nice day with impressive supercells, the best downburst/microburst I have ever seen, as well as one of the more intense lightning shows that I have experienced.  Unfortunately, typing this chase log three years later, I realized that I forgot exactly the route we took and where we ended up this day.  So, on to the photos!

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Storm towers first starting to go up.

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Awesome downburst/microburst.

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A pair of updraft condensation curls on the edge of downburst.

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A large funnel cloud completely rain-wrapped, dropping out of the mesocyclone.

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Interesting action area.

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Incredible lightning strike with supercell on the left side of the image.

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Impressive lightning show with this supercell!

More photos from this day can be found here:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157621673295841/

Storm Reports:

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June 1st Eastern New Mexico and Western Texas Storm Chase - Two Weak Tornadoes

06-01-07 STORM CHASE:  NM/TX  

  I chased this day with Karen Miller, Beau Gjerdingen, Eric Whitehill, Peggy Willenberg and Melanie Metz as we were out filming for the reality television show, "Twister Sisters".  We started the day exploring Palo Duro Canyon State Park just outside of Amarillo, TX.  Here we goofed off and did some filming until the mid afternoon before storms started to fire in the western TX Panhandle.  Our group disbanded and our car consisting of Karen Miller, myself and our cameraman progressed west on on I-40.  Upon reaching Vega, TX we went north on Highway 385 towards Channing, TX.  Realizing our storm was not developing as well as we liked, we decided to turn around and head back on Highway 385, crossing I-40, and attempting to intercept another cell near Hereford, TX.  Another cell developed in eastern NM that looked like the storm of the day so be abandoned the cell near Hereford and progressed southwest on Highway 60 towards Clovis, NM.  The cell was now rapidly developing into a slow-moving and intense supercell just to the west of Portales, NM where we soon intercepted and watched very strong rear flank downdraft (RFD) kicking up a lot of dirt, dust and debris.  We did see a lowering embedded the storm where the meso appeared to be located on radar and started to get excited at our prospects at this point.  Upon reaching the intersection of highways 480 and 70 just southwest of Portales, the RFD kicked in fierce and our view of the action area became blinded by blowing dirt and debris.  At this point, we were very close to the action area and looked up to view a funnel directly in front of us possibly touching down about 100 yards in front of us.  That is where I took the photos below of the dirt wrapped funnel.  This feature crossed the road in front of us and soon dissipated, although the RFD continued to kick up a lot of dust and dirt to the southeast of Portales.  A vehicle of two gentleman came up to us immediately after and asked us if we had just seen that tornado that was close to us.  Obviously we did and were fortunate to not have driven any further in front of the possible tornado at this point and had stayed parallel to the action area as it had progressed just south of Portales. 

  Soon the chase was back on as we continued to follow the storm on Highway 88 southeast of Portales, following the supercell that was picking up speed at this point and exhibiting strong signs of rotation.  We chased this cell southeast and ended up on Highway 214 to the north of Morton, TX where we witnessed our second brief and weak touchdown of the day.  I actually did not realize that this tornado had touched down until reviewing the photos that night.  There was so much dirt and debris being blown around that it was hard to tell in person, not to mention that the sun was setting at this point.  Below is the photo from the second tornado that touched down this day.  Not very photogenic tornadoes but there was enough evidence that they did touch down.  After abandoning the chase, we drove all the way back to Amarillo, TX for the night.

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Our chase vehicle (with hail cam strapped to the top) on a cell ~8 miles west-southwest of Portales, NM.

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Tornado that  touched down around 100 yards in front of us, 4 miles southwest of Portales, NM.

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Another view of the tornado with RFD kicking up dirt, 4 miles southwest of Portales, NM.

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Mesocyclone with blue, hallow interior and double rainbow.  Notice the RFD kicking up dirt directly head of us on the road.

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Underneath the supercell and looking at another intense supercell in the distance.

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Tornado cutting in from the left and kicking up dirt north of Morton, TX.

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Zoomed out view of the tornado kicking up dirt to the north of Morton, TX.

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View of the supercell anvil at sunset near Levelland, TX.

More photos from this day can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/39991047@N02/sets/72157621672525853/

Storm Reports:

070601_rpts