On the afternoon of May 17th, I had two upslope chase targets including one near Rapid City, SD and one in Nebraska. By late-afternoon, I had a difficult choice to make to either abandon a nice looking storm that exploded north of Rapid City, SD or head south into Nebraska and chase some on-going severe convection that had blossomed. I chose to abandon my South Dakota target and catch some storms that were already severe in Nebraska since it put me in better position for the next day. Conditions in Nebraska featured 2,000J/kg of CAPE, 0-6km shear at 30kts, and a moist boundary-layer with dew points approaching 55°F. My late decision only allowed me to view the back-side of these severe storms though as I traversed down U.S. 385 through western South Dakota and Nebraska. I stopped a few times along the way to snap a few photos hoping the sun would do its "thing" near sunset and provided some picturesque colors. I finally caught the tail-end charlie cell in the Sandhills of Nebraska near sunset outside Broadwater, NE. This storm was approaching severe criteria and the setting sun provided a nice view of its updraft as it moved northeast. After enjoying the sunset I headed to Ogallala, NE to get a hotel room. Along the way the same storm I was chasing went tornado-warned after dark just to my north and featured a nice lightning show as I drove east. I roomed at a Best Western and called it a day after a long day on the road. I've added a couple photos from the chase day below:
tail-end charlie cell. It would later go tornado-warned about
a hour later to my north...
This ended up being a quick chase day to get rested up for a better looking setup in Kansas in store for the following day. That's all for now stay tuned for future posts!
