On May 18th, I was very encouraged about the prospects of this chase day as it looked like the first legit tornado-day of 2013 for myself. I started the day driving south after rooming in Ogallala, NE the previous night. Throughout the morning I drove southeast into Kansas with a initial target of Hays, KS and arrived shortly after noon. Most of the afternoon was spent baking in the spring sun waiting for supercells to initiate along the dryline to the southwest. My target-area featured 3,000J/kg of CAPE, 0-6km shear above 40kts, a rather moist boundary-layer with dew points around 65°F, and heck even the supercell composite was approaching 20. Conditions were primed for explosive supercells for later in the evening as a nice cap held on through early afternoon. I ended up sitting for a hour or so in Rush Center, KS. Looking back...that was a great spot! Supercells by mid-afternoon exploded to the southwest. At this time I chose to go for the southern cell since it appeared it would have the better chance to produce as its inflow wouldn't get cut off by another storm. I chased this supercell as it continued northeast getting better and better organized. I hopped on KS Rt. 4 and headed west and quickly found chase convergence since at the time is was the best show in town. I stopped outside Brownell, KS to observe the rotation and shoot some video. Inflow was good with brief spin-ups/touchdowns observed. This supercell had its sights on Hay, KS and the only decision I would regret on this day would be to continue chasing this supercell. Later, a more dominant photogenic supercell and tornado would develop near sunset to its south. It would later become the real show of the day near Rozel, KS. That's only about 20 minutes from where I spent most of the afternoon baking in the sun. Gotta love Mother Nature! Sometimes she really likes to toy with you! Once the sun went down I found a hotel along I-70 in Junction City, KS and called it a night. Overall though, I saw a nice supercell with brief touchdowns/spin-ups which I'll take considering my luck as of late. Storm reports can be found via the SPC here. Pretty cool from the reports that you can pick out the two main supercells that were the two main attractions on this chase day. I've added photos from what could of been the best chase day of 2013 for myself below:
and more organized!
on the highway...I'd think twice about driving into that!
I've added a YouTube time-lapse (above)
I've added a YouTube GoPro video (above)
This was a fun chase day with slow storm speeds and the conditions coming together across the Great Plains for supercells and tornadoes in open rural-areas. Stay tuned for more posts.
