Ah, finally I have a chance to sit down and post some photos and video from a 3-day chase trip. I guess I'll sum up the past 3 days in one post since two of the days were disappointing chases. Most of this post will consist of Wednesday's chase however. All 3 days consisted of a MDT risk of severe weather and tornadoes. Wednesday, was clearly the best day in Nebraska. Thursday, consisted of a bust in north-central Iowa. To sum it up, the cap held. I'll use this analogy to describe it: Think of a champagne bottle...a cork allows pressure to build up, but unless a strong force is exerted on the cork it will not allow the rapid rise of champagne out of the bottle. That's a good example of a "capped" atmosphere. Unless a strong enough force/lifting mechanism is exerted air parcels will not be able to achieve buoyancy and accelerate vertically into the atmosphere with enough vertical momentum to break the cap (warm-layer aloft). Visually, you'll see cumulus towers hit this layer in the atmosphere and collapse. The reason the cap held Thursday was due to a very weak trigger i.e. a weak shortwave in Nebraska that moved east into Iowa. The cap eventually broke at dusk in Wisconsin, but after chasing there once in 2007 I've since made a decision to never chase in that state again. A poor road-network, rolling hills/bad terrain doesn't make Wisconsin a good state to chase at all. In my opinion, a state like Missouri with lots of trees and rolling hills is a much better chasing territory than Wisconsin surprisingly enough. Friday, had great "potential" as well, but a very moist profile didn't help our cause as the downdrafts of just about every storm took over. Sometimes having too much moisture is a bad thing! Friday, was a great example of this as convection resembled a hurricane in most of the state. Tropical moisture in place with many areas getting 2" of rain in an hour and 50-70mph microburst/downburst winds. Behind the departing MCS(s) though provided the only real picturesque photos of the day with a nice alto-cumulus field and sunset. Backtracking now, Wednesday was one of those chase days I'll never forget in my short storm chasing career. A prime example to never forget about your target-area if you bite on early storms during a chase. I got out the door at around 8:00am with a target of Kearney, NE. I continued west-bound on I-80 and to my surprise a supercell quickly develops along the warm front in north-central Kansas around noon. I thought well either this is gonna be a real good day or a real bust! I managed to leave earlier than I thought I needed to on this day yet to only begin the day behind the 8-ball...argh! After seeing this storm visually as I entered western Iowa I decided to drop south on I-29 and head into north-central Kansas. My thought process was that I could catch these storms along the warm front and I'd still have a reasonable chance to get back to my target-area later in the evening if it still appeared storms would develop there. As I neared this supercell near Seneca, KS it appeared elevated visually. I heard rumblings of a large tornado on the ground at this time, but never saw a funnel or tornado with this storm as it progressed northeast. It quickly weakened around 3:00pm and I made the decision to let it go into Missouri and head back north and northwest toward central Nebraska. It was a decision that's always tough to let storms go on the hope of a better storm later in the day. It turned out to be a great decision and the most rewarding in a couple years of chasing! As I headed west on I-80 through Lincoln, NE a storm began to show signs of life along an area of convergence just outside Kearney, NE. A wall cloud and a tornado report quickly came in from chasers and I thought for sure I missed my opportunity. As I continued to approach the storm it looked fantastic visually still around 7:30pm. It would turn out I made it in time for the stellar show. I made it just to the west-side of Grand Island, NE near the town of Cairo, NE where I first got a view of the mesocyclone and wall cloud. I sat here for nearly a half hour which was insane thanks to a storm speed of 15-20mph! It nearly produced a tornado at this time. After the area of interest was within a mile of my current location and being umm...in the track I got back south to I-80 and back east to catch another view. This is where I observed the best structure of the year at this point! This cyclic supercell continued to cycle all evening dropping brief tornadoes, funnels, wall clouds, and a large tornado at sunset. I watched a brief rope-tornado touchdown while driving east on I-80 that lasted 2 seconds that I wish I could have got a photo of. Luckily, I had an exit coming up and I pulled off the interstate to witness tornadogenesis again with a large tornado! This was my first "large tornado" in a couple years of chasing and one I'll never forget! The NWS damage survey of the Aurora, NE tornado can be found here. It was ranked EF-2 with winds between 111-135mph.
Supercell still elevated with some rotation still evident north of Seneca, KS
Interesting structure to this supercell as it weakens
A once healthy supercell becoming progressively outflow dominate
Cool stuff...
Hint of a funnel beneath the circulation initially
A still image of the intensifying circulation of this cyclic supercell
"Wrapping up"
Wall cloud a mile away with rapid rotation...what a treat!
Similar event/circumstance to the Assumption, NE tornado
2 days previous (see Walker Ashley's blog)
I blast south to find the circulation dropping this funnel near my previous location
Spectacular portrait-view
A mouth-watering structure shot along I-80
Lots of wicked-motion going on at this point
Farther east again as it's very close to producing...
Amazing stuff!
Cone tornado with a beautiful clear-slot (Click to enlarge)...
A beast becoming shrouded by RFD rain curtains
One of my favorite shots of the year!
The bell and crawler at dusk...Wow!
If that wasn't enough...mesocyclone (left) and crawler (right)
Long exposure with some crawler and anvil-zit action
Similar event/circumstance to the Assumption, NE tornado
2 days previous (see Walker Ashley's blog)
Well it appears the chase season will shut down now for most chasers and myself alike as we enter the traditional summer pattern. I'll still be partaking in local weather events this summer (chasing locally), but the 2009 chase season is pretty much over for the plains. I'm happy I ended the official season with a bang after an uncooperative few months from Mother Nature. I can say that the 2009 chasecation ends on a positive note for this storm chaser.
