2012-04-15 REPORTS: MN

[Skip Talbot]

Sunday busted spectacularly across the moderate risk region. Brad Goddard, Jennifer Brindley Ubl and I were just too exhausted to commit to the warm front draped across central MN after putting in 3,000 miles on our four day plains trip and having to be back at work on Monday morning. We decided instead to play storms coming off the cold front in south central MN/north central IA. We knew we were giving up any shot at a tornado given that the surface low had elongated and surface winds were badly veered except on the warm front. We had steak dinner in Albert Lea in the afternoon to celebrate our chase from the previous day and then mozied a few miles west on over to a line of cells racing up to us from the southeast. Nothing severe, and they were moving way too fast to pursue, but I shot some timelapse of photogenic, colorful little cells and pretty skies and thought I'd share it here.

Watch video >

The funny thing about Sunday's bust was that it was about as enjoyable as Saturday's big tornado chase. Although there were no tornadoes for us on Sunday, we actually got to stand back, relax, and watch the storms for an extended period of time, instead of racing all over the place in a sleep deprived state like frantic zombies as we were on Saturday. The storms were actually prettier than Saturday's as well, despite being subsevere.

 

[Matt Handley]

Great time lapse! I was on that southern band as well, stayed in the Albert Lea area, very photogenic structure for being sub severe. Those cells were screaming along, it was a good chance to practice positioning on such fast moving cells. Thanks for the video Skip!

 

[ngjere]

I would agree with you Skip. Compared to Saturday, it was a very leisurely chase day...

My Log of the day:

http://www.chasingmayhem.com/2012/04/041512-mdt-risk-south-central-mn.html

Cheers,

Neil

 

[Ben Corby]

I was visiting family in Stillwater, MN, and knew a chase wouldn't be in the cards because, well, no one in my family is insane enough to lend me a car, let alone drive me, for chasing purposes. I also realized that the big storms in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro that the news up there had been talking about were unlikely. Cap had been a concern of mine all day, so when there was still a stratus deck (albeit thinning) at 4:00 PM, I quickly realized that this would be a photo op for typical evening spring/summer storms, and nothing else. That's not to say I didn't get a few decent pictures of the very photogenic shelf cloud that developed.

I love the scary-looking clouds in the first and last photos, and while these storms weren't even rotating, let alone putting down a wall cloud, I kind of wondered if someone was going to see them and, considering how much emphasis was placed on the risk for tornadoes in MSP (and the events of 4-13), call them in as wall clouds or funnels. It was refreshing to be blasted in the face with a cold gust front, but a bit nerve-wracking when I realized there was lightning on both sides of me, a decent-looking rain shaft coming in quickly from a different cell, and I had no idea how to get back to where I was staying. Oops.

 

[Jenn Brindley]

Sunday was one of my favorite days from the entire trip. A bust in terms of tornadoes, but a win in terms of pretty storms, and being able to stand, watch, and relax for a while! (chased with Brad Goddard & Skip Talbot.)

~J