05/21/05: TALK: KS/NE/IA

[Ryan McGinnis]

Well, a bustin' day it was, but it was good to meet some of you guys out there in Nebraska City (heya, Dick!). This is the biggest bust I've ever experienced -- not so much in personal effort (most of my day was just sitting around, not driving), but in seeing such an armada of people travel so very far for what turned out to be a calm, sunny day. I'll post pics later of the current tornado-suicide candidate reading a book out of the backseat of the Armadillo in Nebraska city. :lol: That pretty much sums up the day.

 

[Rocky Rascovich]

Big time bustola

Well folks...all I can say is that when I cancelled the picnic yesterday...a small little voice said I would be sorry....Just as well I guess, the majority of folks probably would have chased anyway...I sympathize with you as I've had my fair share of these days myself. That cell near Hutch is still going strong, mid level rotation is weak but I bet its putting on a great lightning show...

More later!
Rocky&family :roll:

 

[Marcus Opitz]

Yup, I have to chalk this one up too....Funny thing is I drove 88 miles to Mound City only to return to KC seeing small clusters firing up to the se of the metro..... Its been a while since I saw more action on the way back from a chase then when I reached the target area..... :? Nonetheless, it is a good lightning show. It seems as thought we are paying the piper for such a productive last two years..

Glad I could be of some help to Dick, Mike, Eric, and others who were in Nebraska City. I would have liked to continue my journey to meet up with you all if I had more than 3 hours of sleep last night..

 

[Karen Politte]

In the words of a fellow chaser known for coining phrases of particular poignancy....

Capola bustola!

Glad I stayed at home - I never even considered chasing this deal.

KR

 

[Tony Laubach]

Glad I stayed at home - I never even considered chasing this deal.

I'll refrain from replying to that the way I want to!

Yeah, it was a bust; one that started for Jon and I at 4:30am when we woke up. We met in Brighton at 6am and piled up over 700 miles today to join the ranks of busters in Nebraska. Scott Eubanks gets the crown for distance traveled, starting at 3am from Dallas and ending up with us here in York. We were fortunate to find hotel rooms at the Yorkshire Motel with the DOWs, so we're gonna sleep long and hard today before Jon and I return to Denver in preparation for Monday. Fun bust at the same time it was depressing; but such is chasing! The Missouri River area still haunts me! :lol:

 

[Alex Lamers]

F2 tornado in Minnesota. Everyone was in the wrong spot!

CONSIDERABLE DAMAGE TO A WELL CONSTRUCTED POLE BARN.
LARGE TREES WERE ALSO SNAPPED IN HALF. TORNADO WAS F2 IN
INTENSITY WITH WINDS ESTIMATED BETWEEN 140 AND 150 MPH.

The tornado was located in Polk County Minnesota about 6 miles north of Crookston.

...Alex Lamers...

 

[Jeff Gammons]

Chris Collura asked me to post this as he was having issues tonight and he is sitting next to me. Rough DAY!

--

May 21 - Today was another beautiful setup gone to crap in a nasty and painful "bust". We forecasted and left O'Neill, Nebraska at about 11 AM targeting Norfolk, Nebraska. Some small cumulus started appearing as we met up with Eric Nguyen, Scott Currens, Scott Eubanks, Tony Laubach, and others. We remained in Norfolk until about 4 PM then headed southward into the area north of Interstate 80 east of Wahoo, Nebraska. We waited there under great upper level dynamics, a surface low, warm and cold front boundaries, but a strong "cap" of warm air aloft that just held strong. We accepted the fact that we "busted", despite tornado watch 311 issued for the area, ate in Lincoln, Nebraska and resorted back west on I-80 spending the night in York, Nebraska. Tomorrow we will head west to play upslope in a day or so in Colorado.

Chris Collura / Jeff Gammons

 

[Edward Ballou]

Sad, sad day...wonder what things would have been like had the cap broken. At least there was pleasant company - got to hang out with Craig Maire in Moville, IA. Here's to better luck next time.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Capola bustola!

Glad I stayed at home - I never even considered chasing this deal.

KR

Yeah pretty easy to chime in on it now. I guess at least there was nothing "unforecastable" about the day. Obviously....

 

[mikegeukes]

At least the storms in Kansas, earlier produced some baseball size hail.

0950 PM TSTM WND GST 9 N HUTCHINSON 38.19N 97.92W
05/21/2005 65 MPH MCPHERSON KS TRAINED SPOTTER

926 PM HAIL 1 SE LYONS 38.34N 98.19W
05/21/2005 2.75 INCH RICE KS LAW ENFORCEMENT

0923 PM HAIL LYONS 38.35N 98.20W
05/21/2005 2.75 INCH RICE KS EMERGENCY MNGR

Mike

 

[Damon Scott Hynes]

Anyone know what Kiesling is driving now? I saw a GM SUV, MN plates and a Skywarn sticker, but it didn't look like the same one he had last year.


East of Seward at 6:30--look at this shear! [Broken External Image]:http://www.opensecrets.us/DSC01424.JPG


High point of my day was driving through North Bend, NE. Nineteen days ago the Yellow Peril (Union Pacific) had a rear-end collision, 4000 gallons of #2 and six cars of coal up in flames. Today--nineteen days later, I drive by and there's a fire in the median! I called 911 on my cell, and the VFD came by and whacked it. Didn't help the dewpoint, though...

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Decided at the last second to go ahead and go out today when the box went up - same story as the rest. Originally went west to intercept the boundary closer to Marysville, KS ... but the one storm within viewing range was booking south and looking really crapped-out ... so headed north to Humbolt/Auburn, then back to I-29 south to see the CU at sunset east of STJ/EAX. Even though this was most likely a cap issue, one thing definitely noticeable today was the low humidity ... the day really didn't feel like a chase day once I got out there ... didn't take any readings on the road, but the air felt dry and way too pleasant to be seriously stacking up against a boundary.

Sorry to get off topic, but kept passing these cool one-room school houses today ... next time I'm around Humbolt I'm going to get a little more serious about taking pics of these ... this one was just south of Auburn, but saw three others today, several that were much cooler. My dad actually went to one of these when he was a kid.

 

[Ben Prusia]

Capola bustola!

Glad I stayed at home - I never even considered chasing this deal.

KR

Yeah pretty easy to chime in on it now. I guess at least there was nothing "unforecastable" about the day. Obviously....

Agreed. If somebody doesn't have anything nice to say, then don't say it! I still remember the deal about the "unforecastable mesolow" back in April. I guess Karen has to feel good about herself and must let the whole board know about it when something good happens to her, and vice-versa.

But anywho, my day was interesting (was pondering a side trip to Omaha's famous Doorly Zoo - always wanted to go there), mainly confused by the RUC's mesoscale analysis forecasts and the supercell composite parameter of 40 and STP of 5. Still nice to head out on a short trip up the MO River to NE. City;, met up with Mike J., Dick M, and Eric from the Kansas City area at Auburn, NE and went over some data, they went west on 136 and I decided to head home and enjoyed a small scale light show while driving down I-29 of some T-Storms to the SE in MO, so the day is not a total loss! I do think now what MAY have happened if the CAP was weaker and broke, now we all would have had a fun time! Sometimes it's our best friend and sometimes the worst enemy, but can't get it to be your friend all the time! Oh well, climatology shifts tornado focus to mainly KS/NE for late May and into June, so still got a good month or so of peak storm chasing season for that area of the Plains.

 

[Jeff Lawson]

Some small cumulus started appearing as we met up with Eric Nguyen, Scott Currens, Scott Eubanks, Tony Laubach, and others. We remained in Norfolk until about 4 PM then headed southward into the area north of Interstate 80 east of Wahoo, Nebraska.

Wish I had known. I would have come out to visit, cap bust or not.

I guess I should feel grateful for not having driven a mile today - the advantage of having a setup go to crap in your own backyard, I guess - but I still blew most of the day sitting around, watching data, ready to leave at a moment's notice. Once I realized we were in for a bust, I wasn't sure what to do with the rest of the evening.

 

[Bill Hark]

Today was so bad it isn't even worth starting a real reports thread. I in Beatrice, NE. Initially targeted Sioux, City. Nice SE winds, upper level support and shear but I was worried about the cap. Near Sioux City, I ran into Jim Leonard and Cyclone Tours. Chatted and looked at data with them along with some advice from Tim Vasquez. (BTW, the Days Inn at exit 143 has good WiFi). Two possible areas, one near Norfolk and south of Mitchell SD. There was also the possiblity of the York area but I blew it off. I decided to go to Laurel SD and wait. And wait. A cirrus shield was to the south. No evidence of development. Threat Net was awesome as I could see development before radar echoes would be present. Finally, there were some high-based towers to the west. I watched them but no further development. I was about to call it a day when Tim Called and stated there was some development ot the north. This was confirmed by cloud "tops" appearing on Threatnet. I headed north and soon found myself in a chaser caravan of about 8 vehicles. Crossed in to SD at Vermillion. Storms were developing just north of the area but they were highbased and multicellular. I hped the tail end storm would dominate but they all died. I finished they day at the Outback in Sioux City which was full of chasers. I met some nice folks from Ball State. This whole season has been a bust for those who come out the second two weeks. Arrghgh!!

Bill Hark