2012-03-29 REPORTS: NE/MO/KS/OK/TX

[Andy Jackson]

I ended up around the warm front/outflow boundary area in SE Nebraska. After spending a few hours waiting for things to heat up and enjoying the KS/NE countryside. I ended up east of Beatrice watching the cumulus fields develop. After blowing off some mushy cumulus that were struggling, I kept trying to figure out the setup. Eventually, I realized that the unorganized clump of cumulus I passed up was starting to get it's act together so with a little catching up I got back in position for what turned out to be a pretty nice evening of supercells/severe weather.

Did a little house shopping while out today:

Here's where all that waiting around is worth it:

Here's where it came close to tornadoing in my opinion:

I tried to beat the original storm to a paved road but got caught in some big hail so I turned around and opted to
get behind and catch up to the storm. The storm was splitting during this time so I realized that heading south was a good option:

Although there were clear areas of rotation and the storm went tor warned the closest thing I saw was a funnel looking thing after dark in the MO hillside. This was by far the best chase so far for me this year and look forward to more.

 

[Jeremy Jones]

2012-03-29-REPORTS: NE/MO/KS/OK/TX

I started the day off late, due to work priorities, but managed to find my way just West of Carmen, Oklahoma. I stayed to the N.E. of the storms in NW OK, so as to try and film the setting sun's colors under the anvil structure.
I stuck around the same area to try and shoot some lightning photography. Not much success with that other than catching a couple of anvil crawlers off the storm that was just across the KS/OK border. I did try and shoot my
self-portrait for this year's season. I try and take one every season, not much for being in front of the camera, more or less for my wife's office!

Anyways, it just so happened to be one of the better shots that I took last night.

 

[Brett Nickeson]

I started off the day in the Cu field just west of Fairview, KS and watched towers go up to my west. I was late getting on the storm of the day in SW NE since I thought more would be going up down the line into KS but that never materialized. By the time I caught up I had to cross the river at pretty much the only crossing south of the storms NW of Auburn instead of trying to get underneath it. Due to the poor road network and no data in NW MO, I had to circle around to get into position just west of Tarkio, MO. I took a couple of quick timelapses as the base of the southern cell went to my south and the northern cell recycled just to my north. After packing up the timelapse rig I headed east of Tarkio where lightning was illuminating a rotating lowering in the base, as it was well after dark. After setting up the camera it was apparent this was a funnel cloud and I took a few pics as it moved south of Westboro.

All in all not a bad chase for March but a poor decision at the onset to not jump on the storm in NE right away cost me a chance at spending a lot more time with it in daylight. Below are a couple pics of the funnel cloud at about 0110Z taken with a long exposure of about 10 seconds with an ultra-wide angle lens. Also, ignore the fact that I can't spell my own name in the website watermark on the first shot, I was really tired last night.

 

[Seth Edge]

Hard to see as the lightning was to the right but 3/4 way down funnel NW Mizzou. Pretty much was a bust chase. Thought the cap was going to break a little sooner than it did. Did see a few wall clouds and funnels and a few lightning still shots just wish they were cgs.

http://twitter.com/#!/EyesOnStorms/status/185588736262815744/photo/1

EyesOnStorms.com

 

[Marcus Diaz]

David Drummond, Brady Kendrick, and I teamed up to chase the supercell near Higgins, TX and Roll, OK. We chased this thing till about 2:30 am, and it was still a big supercell! We got some pretty large hail out of this storm, one stone we found was 5"! Not bad for a very low sheared environment.

Watch video >

 

[Tim Nendick]

Started the day off in Pawnee City, NE. Decided to play there on a bulge in the warm front that was reinforced by the pesky, persistent stratus deck. Initiation just to our north brought with it what turned out to be the storm of the day, which we got on before it impacted Tecumseh, NE. From there, we followed lazy storm motions and a loosely organized lowering. As a merger was underway, we chose to wait and play the nascent southern storm, even with this gorgeous rotating updraft to our north.

Not long after, the southern storm's base really tightened up, and produced a series of beautiful wall clouds, which culminated in a tor warning right at the MO river.

Finally, just after Rockport, MO, the storm produced a new wall cloud and deep funnel that just couldn't quite make it down.

All in all, a fantastic chase on less than a tank of gas.