Finally, a chase I can report something good from. It's been awhile. This was an all around very fun chase day. Saw the whole evolution of the two structured cells, then the lone one to the south. I kept holding off shooting north at Collyer as I did not want to mess with unpaved roads in my rear wheel drive car out here. But, I was getting more and more willing to as chaser after chaser goes by, and the track was slowly ne. Hoping it'd go more east than the n cell was, I just drove east on a gravel road north of I-70 half a mile. Then what do I wind up doing? Taking a worse set of unpaved roads later anyway, zig zagging ne. It had some pretty sweet structure the whole time, almost jaw dropping(I wanted to take back my post in the now section after I said it....it was close).
I get to the highway south of Hill City and shoot north trying to get a better angle for structure. Well I got it, but now I was too close to the storm for my 17mm to work(I realize I need a 10mm now, to avoid what I do/did next). I shot north into the rain, leaving the second big gathering of chasers behind(I should have stayed back there too). I then shot out east of Hill City, seeing the storm take a more right jog on the last few frames. I was never treated to that better angle I was looking for, but I was just able to make out the tornado from a position to the northeast of it. It looked like the whole storm was much more wrapped now with rain, as well as rain forming south of it from the new convection. I did miss out on a better view of the tornado, but oh well I guess. I didn't think it had much chance to do it yet, as I drove north to Hill City, even though you could see a small area pulled back around the rfd cut.
I was happy with what I'd seen, but not overly happy. The cap off was the storm that moved into Hays after dark. First it was just nice to watch the wild lightning show(mostly zits and short crawlers that didn't show well, but the frequency of the flashes was enjoyable).
I then leave my spot behind the walmart, to get my room at the super 8. Well, the sirens start to wail again as a new warning for Hays comes out. I go in and the counter people are deciding to take shelter as the fire dept was yelling over their loud speaker for people to do so. That's something I can't say I've ever seen before. I felt it was safe here as the shelf to the northwest appeared to stretch south far enough, that I just figured there was no way in hell. But, it hooked up to a base just south of I70 that was lined up more n-s. I figured it would soon allign ne-sw like the rest of the shelf, and I blew the whole thing off to get the room.
Since I couldn't get my room(counter people taking shelter) I opted to sit in the car with the video cam and tape the storm as it hit. Then a new tornado warning comes out for the portion just south of the previous one. I still blow it off, as the fire dept keeps driving around with their sirens on telling people to take cover. A bit later, after some rain, it hits. I had been watching the loops over and over, but still figured there was no way in hell something would happen. Then I feel the back of my car bouncing up and down. Thing was there were two semis right behind me where I backed into, and a pickup on the north side of me and a car to the south. I was like, why am I bouncing, thinking it must be damn windy to be bouncing me where I was parked. Then it surged like hell. Crap was flying east as it roared real good. It continued to ramp up and briefly I wondered if I just screwed the hell up. I was like, yep, I'm being stupid and am about to pay for it. It's weird what can go through your head as you can't see around you(vehicles, lights, darkness), two back to back tornado warnings for this area moving east, and now you're seeing some of the most intense winds gusting to some point you're just unsure of. I was a little happy to see them let off from where they were going. It looks to me like this would have been just south of a small hook north of the main thing(or, the old area that was warned finally getting here). This wind damaged the roof of the comfort inn just north of here. Oh yeah, when I finally got back inside to get my room, she said she thought something laying outside was maybe part of here satellite dish....as net wasnt working. Well I found her satellite dish, across the street at the gas station lol. Tin was ripped from something nearby here too, as it was laying over at another gas station.
After the wind happened, a decent period of maybe quarter sized hail added some fun.
Will post some images and whatnot in a few days.
Congrats to all who bagged today. I should have been stuck there with you closer to the tornado.
Couple reports from spc page on wind here:
0330 80 HAYS ELLIS KS38889932NUMEROUS DEBRIS BLOWN AROUND NEAR I-70 (DDC)
0330 UNK HAYS ELLIS KS38889932REPORTED DAMAGE TO THE COMFORT INN ROOF IN HAYS ON NORTH SIDE OF TOWN NEAR I-70. (DDC)
80 mph would not surprise me. I will be pisssssed if I screwed up the start/stop while recording this from my car. I'm affraid to even look.
Edit: Glad I parked behind those semis by the looks of it. Some folks are outside vacuuming glass out of the inside of their vehicles as the windows were completely blown out by debris.
Also, did see a small area of dirt being kicked up under the LP along the Trego/Gove County line (RFD?). That last hail storm that struck along I-70 at the rest stop just east of Wakeeney was INCREDIBLE! 60 to 70 mph winds and copious amounts of hail of at least 1 inch in diameter fell along with incredible lightning! This storm resembled a small HURRICANE and I thought for sure I was going to lose all my windows! Just east of the rest stop on I-70 a semi had part of its haul blown over and blocked part of the highway and then a couple more miles down the road a lone sign (pretty sturdy looking) was bent down touching the ground (microburst?)! No other damage was located around that sign (looked pretty darn localized).
. The excitements of the day continued when we stopped at the IHOP in Hays and got hit by the line once again. I can definitely verify the 80mph wind report...we saw the debris fly off the roof of the comfort in and also a piece of the IHOP roof which slammed into the window. The entire building was shaking for about 10 minutes. Overall the day was a very exciting experience.. second only to March 28th in my book.
