Year: 2008

The morning SPC outlook maps looked like this: SUMMARY:

• 1000C – Daily Briefing:
• 1030C – Left Ogallala, NE (Super 8 Motel) – fueled partially ($4.289/gallon!) – Dove S to Imperial,NE via Grant, NE. An illegal U-turn with 3 highly ‘decorated’ vans attracts the attention of a Nebraska state patrolman and we spend about 20 minutes roadside while Woody successfully negotiates for 3 written warnings (one per van).Exciting!
• 1338C – S on NE61, crossing the NE/KS border and mving to Bird City, KS.
• 1354C – We observe a large. reddish dust devil — several hundred feet high! — to our SE as we come into Bird City.
• 1355C – We jog west on US36 then S to Goodland, KS on KS27. MD1179 is issued.
• 1501C – Lunch at the Goodland,KS Subway. I am 20th in line. Ugh!
• 1542C -We continue west on I-70 (about mile 437), crossing into Colorado.
• 1647C – After lunch we stop S of Arriba, CO. EB storm outflow catches us, bringing huge plumes of black dust with it.
• 1652C – Jog west 1/4 mile then south
• 1700C – Our storm weakens and decayes into a loose cluster of cells aligned SW-NE
• 1702C – Headed E on US40/287.
• 1752C – Held for road maintenance about 15 minutes. Took “Little (Out)House on the Prairie” photos, as some of our group take a pit stop at a Porta-Potty along this lonely stretch of highway.
• 1753C – Exit Kit Carson, CO, on the east side of town
• 1828C – Exit Cheyenne Wells, CO after a bathroom break at “Penitentiary Park” baseball field. Coldest toilet seat of the trip, so far! (about 45 degF!)
• 2010C – Blasting S on US83, trying to outrun a storm. We get spectacular dusty outflow video, including a drive in near-zero visibility. Coal dust blowing off a pasing train adds to the dusty darkness.
• 2030C – E os KS4. The sun makes a brief cameo appearance.
• 2230C – Arrive at motel in WaKeeney, KS as the storm does. We get strong winds, heavy rain, and a good lightning show as the storm pounds the hotel while we unload our bags. After we check in, we double back one exit to grab a late dinner of omlettes, acon, eges, and our breakfast treats.

ESTIMATED TRAVEL

START TIME	START ODOM.	START LOC.
1030C	______ (T1 Chase Van)	Ogallala, NE
FINISH TIME	FINISH ODOM.	FINISH LOC.
2230C	______ (T1 Chase Van)	WaKeeney, KS
ELAP. TIME	MILES TTL.	REMARKS
12:00	_____	______

The morning SPC outlook maps looked like this:

• 0700C – Got about 6 hours sleep. Grabbed a light continental breakfast. Checked the models.
  My target: NE panhandle, west of I-76/I-80 junction.
• 1000C – Group met. we looked at surface obs, model data etc. as follows:
  • RAP surface obs (wind, dew point, etc.)
    Discussed wind convergence, location of front, storm genesis, rotating storms, and supercells
  • GOES visible satellite image for Nebraska (hi-res image, Weathertap)
  • UCAR/RAP/ETA model
    • 500mb winds — eastward trough to our west — supportive of storms; southwest inflow we like
    • 700mb (10,000 feet MSL) — turning winds in NE Colorado
    • 0000Z CAPE – Nebraska panhandle has CAPE bullseye (less CAPE needed, due to altitude)
    • 0000Z Theta E (available moisture) – identified moisture axis runnng NW-SE north of NE panhandle
    • 0000Z 12-hr precips – storm area in Nebraska panhandle, NE Colorado
    • 0000Z Storm relative helicity (SRH)
  • SPC Day 1 (D1) Outlook
    • Target west edge of best risk in our chase range: NE Colorado, Nebraska panhandle
    • D1 Wind Outlook
    • D1 Hail Outlook
    • D1 Tornado Outlook
  • Glance D2 Outlook for planning/logistical purposes
    • 700mb – -10 degC isotherm indicates where cap should hols storms for the afternoon
      Cap too strong(-15 degC isotherm): no/weak storms, Cap too weak: unfocused, widespread storms, Ideal: explosive, focused storms
    • 500 mb winds – only good strength and direction on SE Kansas
  • D3 Outlook
    • E Nebraska / W Iowa (start by Lincoln, NE?)
    • 500 mb winds – only good strength and direction on SE Kansas
  • D4-D6: A cahnce for severe weather
• 1030C – Left Super 8 Motel at Colby, KS, moving toward far western KS and eastern Colorado.
• 1630C – Double back S from Wray, CO through Burlington, CO. 3-inch (baseball-size) hail seen scattered on lawns there, as well as sporadic street flooding. Full sun at Burlington. We blast east on I-70, following the storm that dropped the hail. We turn around about at Goodland, KS.
• 1840C – Returned to Burlington, CO after blasting east to Goodland, S following hailer. Storm fizzled.
• 1953C – North from Wray, CO (again) toward Julesburg, CO, I-76 and our next decision point. Storms develop just south of he NE panhandle.
• 2101C – Lv US6 for CO14 at Sterling, CO — moving west — stopped at N road to Kimball for lightning/sunset photos

ESTIMATED TRAVEL

START TIME	START ODOM.	START LOC.
10:30C	17876 (TT4 Uplander)	Colby, KS
FINISH TIME	FINISH ODOM.	FINISH LOC.
22:30C	18311 (TT4 Uplander)	Ogallala, NE
ELAP. TIME	MILES TTL.	REMARKS
8:01 est.	435 miles	TT4 Uplander – finally, Scott gets a turn at driving

We are on our way. There are about 20 people with the group:

• T1 van: 8 people
• U1 van: 6 people
• U2 van: 6 people – Scott (Driving), Maria, Diane, Barton, Howard, Lisa

The morning SPC outlook maps looked like this:

• Started near I-40 at the Wingate Hotel in OKC (on Meridian Blvd.)
• Charged off to western Kansas, a move to position for storms in central Nebraska on Monday afternoon
• Looked over severe- and tornado-warned storms near North Platte, NE. One storm looks like we might catch up to it in far northwest KS, but it fizzles before we get the chance. It’s diurnal, that is grows or fades based on available daylight; as our sun fades, so does our storm.

ESTIMATED TRAVEL

START TIME	START ODOM.	START LOC.
1300 est.	17451 (TT4 Uplander)	Oklahoma City, OK
FINISH TIME	FINISH ODOM.	FINISH LOC.
2101	17876 (TT4 Uplander)	Colby, KS
MILES TTL.	ELAP. TIME	REMARKS
8:01 est.	435 miles	TT4 Uplander – finally, Scott gets a turn at driving

Storm Prediction Center May 31, 2008 1300 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook

The morning SPC outlook maps looked like this:

CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK:

TORNADO OUTLOOK:

ESTIMATED TRAVEL

START TIME	START ODOM.	START LOC.
10:00 est	no est.	Pittsburg, KS
FINISH TIME	FINISH ODOM.	FINISH LOC.
00:01	no est.	Oklahoma City, OK
ELAP. TIME	MILES TTL.	REMARKS
14:00 est	no est.	Over 300 miles for this period

(Yawn)

The morning SPC outlook maps looked like this:

CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK:

TORNADO OUTLOOK:

• Started along side I-70 in central Kansas
• Wandered down to Chanute, KS and Fort Scott, KS. Tried a shortcut down Scott Road only to discover it was washed out. I got practice rocking the van out of one rut and into the next until we could back down the road. (It’s now obvious to place less trust in Scot’s namesake than Scott himself. We watch the sky and the radar for a while.
• Meandered to Nevada (“neh-VAY-da”), Missouri, then back into Kansas.
• Got some beautiful late day shots of our storm (and that’s basically all we got besides rain). I’ll add the pictures when I get time on the road (since I’m not driving again until DAY 16 or so).
• Checked into the Super 8 Motel in Pittsburg, KS. Got a bit of a lightning show as a severe storm passed to our south.

ESTIMATED TRAVEL

START TIME	START ODOM.	START LOC.
09:58	6657	Super 8 Motel, Abilene, KS
FINISH TIME	FINISH ODOM.	FINISH LOC.
22:43	(TBA)	Super 8 Motel, Pittsburg, KS
ELAP. TIME	MILES TTL.	REMARKS
12:45	(TBA)	(TBA)

Here are my iPod/iTalk-based mileage notes for the trip, so far:

DATE/TIME	TRIP ODOMETER	VEHICLE ODOMETER	NOTES
05/24 21:30	trip 000.0	odom 4995	TRIP START – manual note
05/25 14:24	trip 414.5	odom 5410	–
05/25 17:44	trip 235.9	odom 5646	$43.24 11.38gal
05/26 10:16	trip 183.5	odom 5830	–
05/26 14:24	trip 316.3	odom 5962	$65.99 16.926 $3.89/gal
05/27 10:48	trip 225.2	odom 6188	10:47am Pratt
05/27 16:30	trip 403.4	odom 6366	OK 11 & I-35 , Oklahoma
05/28 12:02	trip 117.5	odom 6483	– McPherson Nicklefest (at Perkin’s) – off to Nebraska
05/29 10:16	trip 291.1	odom 6657	+ smalltalk (high risk blob)
05/29 11:43	trip 332.9	odom 6699	– Grand Island, NE

So far, then, we gone 1704 miles, seen 2 promising storms, but have lttle to show for our efforts.

And that’s why it’s called storm chasing: you do not always catch them.