Skip Talbot
EF5
Targeted the Mitchell to Huron area for evening supercells. Morning models were a bit further south with the placement of the warm front so stayed on 90 through early afternoon instead of going north. Lingering high level clouds and elevated convection persisted along the warm front through afternoon, while the warm sector to the south remained capped with little forcing. By late afternoon there was no cumulus on or south of the warm front. The only shot at storms looked like upslope activity coming off the Black Hills. The HRRR concurred and maintained what looked like an MCS tracking through northern SD. I decided to go for it since this would be the only game in town, and perhaps Tail End Charlie could tap the parameters near the warm front where the sig tor was forecast to get pretty high. I went west on 90, gassed up at 1880's town and went north up to Eagle Butte.
I thought I was just driving around for the fun of it, but then a new updraft formed south of this severe warned MCS that was in progress. I stopped to shoot it at sunset and then sky and storm exploded with color. Shards of pink cumulus spewed out of a lime green precipitation core. The sky was a deep blue behind me, above a golden field. The colors and rapid motion of the low scud were an amazing show, better even than some tornado shows I've seen. Hopefully the time lapse captures this motion, as these stills weren't wide enough even at 10mm. The storm rapidly developed into a severe warned MCS. I stayed right on the gust front coming into Mobridge behind the TVN crew's Dominator. For a few stretches I was matching the outflow wind speed and direction, which had some really neat and eerie effects. There was no wind noise and it was eerily quiet in the van, yet stuff was blowing down the road: leaves, papers, tumbleweeds, rolling and bouncing along at the same speed of the van. It was like a quiet parade of wind blown debris. I was going about 40-50 mph at the time. I camped in my van north of Pierre. Lightning to my north was so prolific I didn't need any additional light to get setup in the back. Coyotes woke me up in the middle of the night, howling right next to the van. Will hang around in the area until Saturday, probably camping in the Buffalo Gap Grasslands.
I thought I was just driving around for the fun of it, but then a new updraft formed south of this severe warned MCS that was in progress. I stopped to shoot it at sunset and then sky and storm exploded with color. Shards of pink cumulus spewed out of a lime green precipitation core. The sky was a deep blue behind me, above a golden field. The colors and rapid motion of the low scud were an amazing show, better even than some tornado shows I've seen. Hopefully the time lapse captures this motion, as these stills weren't wide enough even at 10mm. The storm rapidly developed into a severe warned MCS. I stayed right on the gust front coming into Mobridge behind the TVN crew's Dominator. For a few stretches I was matching the outflow wind speed and direction, which had some really neat and eerie effects. There was no wind noise and it was eerily quiet in the van, yet stuff was blowing down the road: leaves, papers, tumbleweeds, rolling and bouncing along at the same speed of the van. It was like a quiet parade of wind blown debris. I was going about 40-50 mph at the time. I camped in my van north of Pierre. Lightning to my north was so prolific I didn't need any additional light to get setup in the back. Coyotes woke me up in the middle of the night, howling right next to the van. Will hang around in the area until Saturday, probably camping in the Buffalo Gap Grasslands.
