DAY 13 – Another High Risk Day: Two Targets, Twice the Fun – 20080605

The morning SPC outlook maps looked like this:

• 0930C – I check the models (my target for the day: Beatrice, NE area, about 2/3 of the way from Omaha, southeast toward the Nebraska-Kansas border). I like the Omaha option also because of the potential for Illinois and Iowa storms expected for the two days following, despite the long drive. Then grab a continental breakfast (‘con-brekkie’). My targets for the last two days were Wichita, KS (6/3: a bust, due to anvil blowoff killing the storm, as many folks witnessed) and south central Nebraska — between Beloit, KS and Hastings, NE (6/4: Per http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/080604_rpts.html, a prolific tornado day there).
• 1000C – Daily Briefing: We discuss two targets: south-central Nebraska (near my target) and the area where the dryline is expected (in mid/south Kansas). Storms will be fast-moving in either location, and we will be lucky to catch any storm long enough to get a good view of it. We will probably sit and let successive storms blow by us all day. *groan* Our strategy: start at the western edge of [cloud] clearing then slide east as storms move by us.
• 1030C – Left Super 8 Motel at Hays, KS.
• 1155C – Lunch. Depart Hays, KS east on I-70
• 1228C – Scott checks storm to the southwest, but Sc obscures our view. We continue east on I-70.
• 1231C – Cone zone! (Chasers hate delays and detours on storm days.) .We are at mile 203, but exit at 206 (KS232). We are under the anvil of a storm SW of great Bend.  Our storm look very elongated on GRlevel3 (base reflectivity on radar), due to upper level winds over 50 kts
• 1237C – In Wilson, KS, heading west on old US40 (27th St.) then south.
• 1201-1313C – (I need to revew times on the camcorder for the mssing entries here)
• 1335C – We are passed by a fellow chaser sporting a lightbar with yellow flashers. Zoom!
• 1341-1400C – (I need to revew times on the camcorder for the mssing entries here)
• 1439C – East of Nickerson on US50, after another construction delay. (I see I’m not the only one using a hardhat for hail protection! )
• 1519C – We depart Nickerson after about 15 minutes of shooting video and stils of the approaching storms.
• 1740C – Leaving Newton, KS eastbound for _35 on KS96.
• 2000C – Arrived at our motel and I’m online for the first time in several evenings