I live in Manhattan, Kansas so this was a nice, close chase. I left Manhattan around 2:15 in the afternoon and arrived in Beatrice, NE around 3:50. Stopped in at the library there to check on some data. The ladies at the desk there were really nice and had no problem whatsoever with me using their computers. By the way, there was a group of chasers there riding in one or two tan SUVs with lightbars, was anyone at the library there around 4:00 or so?
I left Beatrice around 4:30 and headed west towards 41/15. This is where I made the mistake that pretty much killed the day for. I noticed the towers going up north of 80, at the time I thought they were a lot closer than this, obviously they weren't. To make a long story short, by the time I got to one of these cells, it looked to me like it wasn't doing so well. I stayed with it for awhile, than headed south again, calling off the chase. Now that I think about it, that storm may not have weakened like I thought it had. I think more than likely it had just become incredibly rain wrapped, and being inexperienced like I am it appeared to be weakening. I left it around 6:30, I believe it was in the Fremont area when I left it. That only strengthens my belief that it was in fact still going pretty good as there were warnings posted in Dodge County around this time I think.
The drive home was very interesting as I tried to get home on 77. Well, because of my lack of experience and lack of any data on what was in front of me I decided to just play it safe and head west on 80 to clear the storm near Lincoln. Of course, when I did get west of it, I was greeted with the line of storms that was behind it. This line would have been the one stretching into Kansas. So, an arrival time in Manhattan of 11 became a final arrival time of 2am. :roll:
A little off topic maybe, but: Some things I learned from this chase:
1. Don't be intimidated by veteran chasers (silly I know, but you guys are a little intimidating to me
![Smile :) :)](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
)
2. Try and get some nowcasting, it was ridiculous for me to try chasing without it and without trying to stop to get some data or something. I know I don't know any of you, but if the chance arises again for me to chase, would whoever is nowcasting (if any) be willing to help me out?
Oh one other thing, on my way up to those cells I very nearly got in an accident with either dumb drivers or chasers who weren't thinking correctly. Myself and a car behind the group on the left side had to think pretty quickly. They were stopping to look at the storm and nearly caused a 5 car accident at speeds over 60 mph! :evil: