Chase Log: 2008: Week 2

5/21/08, Cheyenne County, CO (1 Tornado)
5/21/08, Kit Carson County, CO (4 Funnels)
5/22/08, Finney County, KS (1 Tornado)
5/22/08, Lane County, KS (1 Tornado)
5/22/08, Gove County, KS (1 Tornado)
5/22/08, Trego County, KS (2 Tornadoes, 1 Funnel)
5/23/08, Gove County, KS (3 Tornadoes, 1 Funnel)

Details:

5/17/08

Saturday - My forecast is for nothing to happen that will be tornadic until at least Tuesday.   So we leave KC MO and head south.   Our destination is Picher, OK.   We are going to survey damage and show this tour group where WG chased the Picher storm.   After we survey Picher, OK we head back along the path that we were chasing the storm to Chetopa, KS.   South of Chetopa we find the damage path and trace it back into KS.   This storm actually was a tri-state tornado.   We end up in Wichita for the night.

5/18/08

Sunday - We head towards Greensburg, KS to see the town a year after the devastation, and to show the tour group the path that Weather Gods took while chasing the storm the previous year.   We take a tour of the town and the "Big Well".   Then follow the path that we were chasing the previous year.   The day ends in Dodge City KS.

5/19/08

Monday - I decide to do a tour of Dodge City.   This was a happy day for Mr. Dodge, one of our tour participants.   After dinner a storm blows up and is moving straight for Dodge City.   Even tough the storm will not produce a tornado, I decide to take the tour group for an ED(educational drive).   The storm has great structure so it is a good quick trip to show the tour group what to look for.   While we are driving a dust whirl spins up under the updraft.   Excitement grows in the van for a second until I point out the trail of dust from the outflow of the storm.   It is just a gustnado.   We also see some 50 - 55 mph winds, some really nice Mammatus.   It was a nice hour long drive.   The tour day ends in Dodge City.

5/20/08

Tuesday - We drive to Lamar, Co to set up for storms on Wednesday.   The tour also goes to see a blade from a wind mill that are now dotting the landscape and find out some fun facts about the wind turbines.

5/21/08

Wednesday - Finally some storms that can be chased.   Storms start to fire early afternoon, just north of our location.   We finish a late lunch and start to position our van further east.   The storms are not moving northeast so we drive back west and start to head north on 287.   We take a bathroom break and look up some radars in Eads, Then keep chasing storms that turn severe further north.   As we are driving north toward Kit Carson a wall cloud develops and soon a funnel dips down out of the wall cloud.   The funnel took about a minute to work its way 90% of the way down to the ground then lifted quickly.   Our view was partially obscured by rain, but it was still cool to watch.   Shortly after that the storm Gusted itself out.   Now we start looking for our next storm, another stronger storm has developed and we head west and then north on some dirt roads.   We finally get a good view of a nice severe thunderstorm with a well developed wall cloud.   After chasing this storm on some dirt roads then working our way back to 59 and catching back up with the storm about 30 miles south of I70, we get an up close view of a beautiful high based wall cloud that keeps spinning up funnel after funnel.   The funnels were weak but there is something about seeing the funnels and the picturesque storm up close gets everyone excited.   This storm as we are following it up towards I70 starts to gust itself out and so when we get to I70 we head east.   WG heads south out of Burlington to catch up with what looks on radar like and even better storm.   It will be very close to dark when we catch it, so we may not be able to see any thing.   Which lightning was the only thing we saw on that storm.   We head back north to I70 then east to WaKeeney for the night.

5/22/08

Thursday - We head south on 283 and head for Dodge City.   In Dodge City we have lunch.   Then storms start to fire due west of us and Tornado watches are issued.   We head for Garden City.   This storm is moving at 55 to 60 mph to the north.   We let that storm go, realizing that we will not be able to keep up with it.   The next storm in line we end up moving back east to just east of Garden City.   We are looking at it and it produces a brief land spout tornado just east of Garden City.   We head east on 156 then north on 23.   As we are trying to keep up with the second storm, the NWS keeps broadcasting tornado warnings for the first cell we could not keep up with.   Around Dighton the storm we are on gusts out.   Another follow up storm quickly catches up with us and we follow it.   This storm is pulsing and each time that it pulses it produces a weak and brief tornado.   About this time it starts to turn more northeast than north.   We change direction and get off of 23 and onto dirt roads.   The next pulses product nice wall clouds but this storm just is not going to produce the tornado we are looking for.   I decide to leave it for another storm approaching from the south.   We head east just north of smokey hill river and make our way around to the east side of this new storm that is being tornado warned.   As we are moving to intercept the tornadic portion of the storm there is an inflow jet that kicks up dirt and starts to obscure the storm.   As we are getting closer we see a beautiful meso with a low hanging wall cloud with rapid rotation.   We are in a good position to watch the storm and as we are viewing the rotating updraft, it turns into a large dirt sucking tornado.   All at once the underside of the rotating updraft, starts pulling in dirt in a large circular pattern.   This was incredible.   While this is going on another snow cone funnel drops from the clouds just northeast of the large tornado.   Later we find out that another chase tour group was caught in the large tornado and had damage to their vehicle and lost equipment and almost a customer.   (Obviously not everyone who chases knows what they are doing).   We leave the tornado after viewing it for a few minutes to get back out in front of the storm.   As we are moving north on dirt roads the storm accelerates to 55 mph NNE.   We are catching up to it and from a distance with dirt on the windshield we see another tornado, this time a condensation funnel to the ground.   It lifts in to the clouds as we approach I70.   As we pull up to I70 chasers and tourist are lining both sides of the road.   Just north of the road the storm starts to rear flank gust itself out.   So we decide to call it a day.   We head to Hays to get a room and steak for dinner.

5/23/08

Friday - Today looks like a carbon copy of yesterday.   We get up, get ready, have breakfast.   We see the TIV and Dow trucks.   So we go over and say high to them.   Then we part ways.   We head south on 183 then west on 96 towards Ness City.   We top off the tanks and wait for storms to pop.   In a very short time storms start to fire and the chase is on.   The first storm to fire has a tornado warning on it very rapidly.   We get to it and just that quick the weather service radio says that the storm has weakened.   Amazingly we are on the same dirt road we saw the dirt sucking monster the day before.   Then as our disappointment about the first storm starts to kick in, I see a second storm that looks even better (towers blowing up) in its wake.   We head due north and run into I70, right in town is DOW and a bunch of chasers.   We get onto I70 and head west.   As we are heading west I am trying to see how far we should go before we get off.   Now this second storm is tornado warned.   Next thing I know Dow and the other chasers figured out that this is the storm and I see them in my rear view mirror.   We get off at exit 107 and head south.   Dow gets off and heads north.   We get to the south side of town and into an open field with a great view and we set up and start looking for the tornado.   In a few minutes to our Southeast by about 7 miles the wedge tornado appears.   It moving north at first but then turns to the east northeast straight at us.   Video cameras are running and pictures are being taken.   The tornado is on the ground and varying in width and shape.   Having satellite funnels off the side of the wall cloud.   It was unbelievable watching it as it approached and then roped out just west of us.   Then a second tornado rope came out of the same cloud and caused a brief debris cloud and lifted.   Then a third tornado, another large wedge came down.   We saw it briefly through some light rain in the rear flank and just let it go.   We ended up going east on I70 and then south to pick up another storm.   We head south on 283 for Ness City.   We have another very large storm with a tornado warning.   This thing turns into a monster moving very rapidly to the Northeast.   We have a view of it for 10 minutes but with all the rain now on the dirt roads it is to dangerous to chase off of the pavement with this large and violent of a storm.   So we let it go and head east and north, hoping that the storm may stay together and we have another shot at it.   We go back east on 96 and north on 183.   Hays again.   We are just north of the city and the cell keeps being tornado warned.   We see nothing but rain.   The winds start to shift and increase in speed, the tornado is rain wrapped and it is just not worth it.   So we call it a day and head for Hays.

5/24/08

Saturday - If we are going to chase again South Dakota is where I would like to be.   It would be almost impossible to make it up there and back to KC MO for everyone´s flights on Sunday.   Everyone is exhausted from seeing tornadic storms 3 days in a row.   So we sleep in and try to look at some of the damage from storms the previous days.   Then we head to KC MO.

5/25/08

Sunday - We say our good byes and wait for next year to start up the chase again.