Zack Hargrove
EF2
A couple of other graduate students and myself decided to take off and intercept a very linear looking storm near Finley, ND because it was close by (and my wife is due with our son any day now, so I had about a 50 mile radius to chase, lol). We were not very optimistic and were just hoping to get a shelf cloud. As we approached the storm we saw a very nice shelf and we noticed that some of the radar velocities were approaching 65-75 knots at around 1300 feet. As we got just north of Clifford, ND we experienced what was a probable downburst/microburst. We saw numerous large branches down, a handful of trees, and a destroyed grain silo. After this, the storm surprised us by wrapping up into a monster HP supercell as it barrelled ESE towards the ND/MN state line. We were able to get south and east of it again and watched it come to us north of Perley, MN. After the storm crossed US 75, we drove up to see what kind of hail it dumped as there was a 3.50" marker as it crossed the road on GR. We found some golf ball to ping pong ball size hail in Hendrum, MN but apparently tennis ball size was reported somewhere in the town. All-in-all, honestly, it was one of the more intense non-tornado chases I've ever had. What a pleasant surprise and only about 30-50 miles away from home. Attaching the video. Enjoy!
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