After overnighting in Pierre, SD, I opted for the upslope play in SE Wyoming. The SPC had put this area in a 10% hatched tor, but the outcome was pretty disappointing. After long waits in Chugwater and Wheatland watching anemic storms loiter over the mountains to the west, I (and many others) headed off after an initial cell that moved surprisingly fast to the north of Guernsey. Here's what it looked like very early on from Wheatland. The view here is to the northeast:
Another wait in Lingle followed, and I thought that the show might be over. But a small, discrete storm eventually went up midway between Wheatland and Guernsey, and from my vantage point on a hill just north of Lingle it looked somewhat promising. I took this picture just north of town on U.S. 85. The view is to the west:
I then drove quickly back west on U.S. 26 towards the storm's base, which soon sported a nice, blockly wall cloud. The storm's structure looked good for the next half hour or so, particularly as it was passing over Guersney. The following two shots show the cell's base and prominent beaver tail. I took both from U.S. 26 at the eastern edge of Guernsey, and both look southwest.
I chose not to follow the cell as it moved off to the north and became more disorganized. It still had life in it, though. Several miles to my north the storm briefly had a nice faux funnel and several other scuddy appendages. According to some reports, it might have even produced a brief tornado much further to the north near Lusk after dark. This final picture, which looks due north from U.S. 26, shows one of the storm's scuddy features to the north of Guernsey state park.
I then called it a day and headed back east to Scottsbluff, NE for the night.
