2015-04-12 REPORTS: TX/OK/KS

[Marcus Diaz]

I was being lazy at home most of the day, when browsing the high res models showed some potential for the day. Not much in the way or tornadoes but maybe some good structure and some new dings on the car. So I left AMA around 5:30 as storms started forming off the dryline. Drove down I-40 with 2 severe warned cells north and south of Shamrock. Chose the south storm and got on it as it was near Quail, TX. It looked unimpressive at first but as dusk approached the storm ramped up into a tight little supercell east of Wellington, TX. With the help of the lightning, I got some great pics of the storm. Here's a couple:

More pics can be seen on my site HERE.

 

[jaredleighton]

Decided to head out for a very low end day in central Kansas on Sunday. With storms anticipated well ahead of the advancing cold front in a good environment for organized activity I took off for Salina, aiming to play the potential for organized storms along or north of Interstate 70. When I got to SLN, there wasn't much going on in my target, except for a few storms along the front in S Nebraska. So, I bailed for the junky storms down by GBD.

To my dismay my original target lit up with what was probably a very pretty supercell, unfortunately I wasn't there to confirm its beauty. Dejected, I decided to follow the junky storms near GBD eastward into Lyons and eventually McPherson. Fortunately, with some help from the low level jet the storms just south of I-70 became organized and displayed some marginal supercell characteristics. The low level rotation on that storm as it approached Lyons was pretty vigorous, some of the most rapid rotation I've seen on a non-tornadic storm.

At any rate, I escorted the storm to Hillsboro to take some lightning photos against the silo in town before cutting the storm loose in Emporia and heading home. All in all, it was a fun day, considering such low potential. For a full write up...

April 12, 2015 Great Bend, Kansas

Stopped near Ellinwood, KS to photograph is monument. Several CGs occurred less than 3 minutes before I stopped to take this shot. Unfortunately no more CGs occurred while I was shooting.

The storm became organized around Lyons, with some pretty intense rotation. Notice the tiny sun setting behind the rain.

Stopped in downtown Hillsboro, Kansas to shoot the grain silo with lightning in the background.