5/11/05 REPORTS: Plains

[Verne Carlson]

>> Click here for full report <<

Katie Burtis and I broke from the group out of Colby, KS and shot north on 83 to try and catch up with the storm north of McCook, NE. Got there a day late and a dollar short though as the tornado had already moved through the area causing the damage below that Amos describes above.
On the way back to Denver we watched in awe as the dryline finally fired down by Gardern City, KS. Kudos to those who were on those cells! A somewhat frustrating chase but there's no such thing as a bad chase! We had alot of fun!

Grain bin tossed across the road.
[Broken External Image]:http://www.stormchaserco.com/20050511_bin1.JPG

One of the numerous irigation pipes tossed all over the hillside.
[Broken External Image]:http://www.stormchaserco.com/20050511_pipe.JPG

Trees snapped but house spared - luckily!
[Broken External Image]:http://www.stormchaserco.com/20050511_10.JPG

Some of the golfball size hail that also hit the area
[Broken External Image]:http://www.stormchaserco.com/20050511_hail.JPG

>> Click here for full report <<

 

[nickgrillo]

Here's my short log:

Went after the NW CO/SW NE/NW KS supercell that was supposedly dropping tornadoes... And by the time we got on it ( :roll: ) it was beggining to turn to crap. Although it had rapid rotation when I first intercepted it...

We wait around with it for about a half hour and then we shoot down to Garden City to prepare for the next day (today)...

It was now afterdark, and I was noticing the SW KS supercells (that we were driving into) and that Garden City sup really pumped up by the time we got on it. Guess where I saw my tornado yesterday? 4M NW of Garden City... LOL, I'll get vid caps on my site later!

Now on to OK...

 

[Eric B'Hymer]

Targeted Hays Ks to start. Stopped and got data at the library. CU field was increasing and i decided to head north. As i was driving there was a warning by Norton KS but there was no way to catch it. Drove to Phillipsburg and met up with Kelsey and Eric from KWCH. They showed me the stormhawk. Neat piece of equipment. ANywyas the cap finally decided to go at 645 or so. Up in nebraska near holdredge. I went there unprepared with no nebraska map so i had no idea where i was going. Ended up headed east to hastings. The downtown there got mega damage from hail and wind. The emergency folks had 6 blocks downtown blocked off, with numerous roads under water also. I heard a report that they got 4.91 inches of rain in 20 minutes on the west side of town. Anyways it was about an 800 mile bust for me as i got home around 230am.

Thanks to Mike Parker for nowcasting.

 

[Blake Naftel]

Began the day in TOP after driving overnight from Kalamazoo; en route to Quincy to pick up my chase partner Gary Wellman. Arrived to a Comfort Inn at Topeka around 5am. Crashed for a few hours, before making the westward jaunt across I-70 to Hays. Arrived at Hays around 19Z to widespread CU and S/SE winds around 15mph; grabbed lunch, data, and watched the percolating CU prior to issuance of the PDS TOR watch at 20Z.

Due to rapid northward cellular development/movement; headed N on 183 towards Stockton; hearing TOR warnings for the storms interacting with the WF boundary in NE (around/S of I-80). Upon leaving Hays, we hit another Cingular data void. I realized the storms were crossing the boundary; but w/o data -- could not see commiting to the storms already on/crossing the boundary. Continued onto Phillipsburg, then Woodruff in search of a radar image/surface plot.

Finally hit a loose network while "wardriving" in Alma, NE; and wasn't pleased. Continued N into the cold air and towards the TOR/TSTRM warned convection; with thoughts of intercepting the cells entering SW NE. Logistics and a t-storm warning for Gosper Co. led us to forgo that move. Stopped at Holdrege where Gary feasted on Taco John's and I a loose data network. 62/58 and stratified; yuck! Officially discouraged, stopped to soak my sorrows with a Runza burger (ala Brian Morganti). Much to our surprise; a TOR warning went up for Gosper Co. while in the Runza drive-thru (tornado indicated S. of Elwood; N/NE movement at 10mph). This was our last chance; regardless of the sickly surface conditions.

Headed N on 183 out of Holdrege. At I80/HW183 (Elm Creek-SW Buffalo Co.); encountered a low, beastly looking meso/wall cloud; injesting dust just to our W. Supposedly a tornado was reported as the storm left Gospher Co. (SE of Lexington). Shot video and plucked off a few stills of this before continuing N on 183. (due to the projected N movement). Inflow was insane (50-55mph); with the left wiper did a 360 degree turn before slamming down onto the windsheld (made for some interesting video). Overshot our bounds; stopping at Miller. Intense CG's picked up; frightening Gary; quarter to ping-pong ball size hail ensued -- but the meso/wall cloud never fully regained consciousness. Lost of scud, rain, and mud.

Ended the chase 15 N of Kerney; where once again inflow picked up and the meso attempted again. Was actually able to lean back into the 50-60mph inflow at times and remain supported. Meso transition back into shelfy/scuddy outflow garbage. Encountered extended periods of blinding rain, small hail, annoying trucker spray, and amusing severe wx. coverage on AM radio while eastbound on I-80 (near York). Arrived to Omaha around 11pm.

Not a bust by any means, and enjoyed finally getting out to the Plains. Was happy to see "something". Heading SB on I-29 en-route to US-36 atttm. Not chasing today; Gary and I both work Friday.

..Blake..

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

Bustola in Kansas for me. I even skipped over the Kearney, NE cell on my way south. I have a new chasing philosophy which I will forthwith adhere to: "Who cares what the SPC thinks?"

Which is not to say that I think the SPC doesn't do a great job. It's just that I would have rather busted south of Kearney, which was my original forecast target, than have busted on the western Kansas dryline, which I picked out of trust for the SPC's fervor for a severe outbreak with "strong tornadoes" near the SFC low, even after seeing the SigTor and EHI bullseye just south of the KS/NE border. Live n' learn!

I did see a chase tour company (hello, whoever you were!) south of Holderege. I did a quick U-turn when I saw them and followed them a bit to get pictures when they stopped atop a hill on a dirt road -- I've never had a chance to photograph storm-tourists before.

I also saw a big SUV from Texas (complete with cow-pusher) who's occupants were obviously chasers, given the dash-mount camera. I only mention them because I only saw them briefly in Kearney and south of Holdrege -- and then ran into them again 5 hours later on a lonely Kansas highway, near Norton, KS. Gotta love life's coincidences.

 

[Aaron Kennedy]

Like many others, I busted in NC KS. Felt pretty good around 4pm... towers were going up all along the boundary near the KS/NE state line. Then by about 7... poof... all gone! We decided against heading towards the Washington cell... by the time we realized we were hosed, it would of been near dark by the time we got to it.

Pictures:
http://www.convectionconnection.com/CHASE-051105/


Aaron

 

[Nic Wilson]

FULL REPORT AND PICS: http://weather.ou.edu/~nwilson/chase5.html

I went out with Aaron and others from OU so my report is similar to his. You know its never good when the highlight of your day is passing the Mulvane exit sign on I-35 haha. Little did we know this would be the first of three straight marathon chase days during finals week nonetheless! Suffice to say, I slept a lot on Saturday!

 

[Tony Laubach]

I have posted a full log on this day! You can check it out on my site!

http://www.tornadoeskick.com/log050511.html

 

[Justin Teague]

I just wanted to let everyone know that Dave Crowley has put together a brief chase report with several video captures. Here is the link...

http://www.stormguy.com/site/index.php?opt...id=99&Itemid=62

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Originally posted by Rocky Rascovich
Greetings!

Finally...my first bonified chase of the 2005 season of which Rick Schulze from the thawing tundra of Upper Michigan accompanied me. Overall, I
counted this as a fruitful chase even though I did'nt see any major tornadoes...In a way thankful for that only because those who did in Texas on Thursday the 12th came at the expense of busted windows and shredded nerves...not my idea of a leisure hobby. Rick and I left Wednesday morning after reviewing the models...I had some concerns about this \"moisture hole\" that was talked about, I knew temps at the 700mb. were going to be close to capping out everything but it was a gamble on my Smith Center, KS. target..Thanks to Rick who is far more
technologically minded than I, he had my new HP laptop up and going as well as my GPS and our data card from Cingular...we were able to access
data in many areas on the way to our target which after reevaluating the latest progs, determined to be between Dodge City and Oakley as the triple point was markedly further south according to the RUC and NAM...Just a note, while I've been told that there are many holes in the Cingular coverage in Kansas..for the most part, we had no trouble as we proceeded north thru Garden City to Scott City and finally up to the interstate. By approximately 5pm, TOR watches were issued, PDS ones to boot ..I thought...been here done this before with PDS boxes as I chased my fair share of them with little or no results in the past.

Reviewing satellite data and RUC data at exit 93 off of I-70, my concerns were quickly escalating over the growing cap..winds were backing though
and surface dews according to my Kestrel were around 57F... Finally, Hank Baker called and was eye balling towering CU but that they were
struggling. Indeed they were as Rick and I met up with Dave Ewoldt and Hank Baker in Leoti in central Wichita Co. of western KS. around 1800cdt ( estimated time) ...one particular cell came roaring up from the SSW at 45kts...looked initially ominous with thick hard convection in the mid levels but the bottom half of the updrafts were being chewed up by the drier air at the 700-800mb. levels...We almost blew this whole day off in disgust ontil one more cell made haste from Grant and Stanton Co's at approx. 1930-2000cdt..this one was considerably more surface based...we blasted south toward it and reached Lakin west of Garden City around 2020cdt..wind was not a big concern but the size of the hail became a little unsettling...I took cover at a gas station in Lakin as 1\" diameter stones fell, some stones approached golfball size. Dave Ewoldt took off in fearless abandon and bagged the tornado in Ulysses much to my dismay...while Hank and I decided that new battle scars on our vehicles weren't quite worth the risk...Dave said the hail got at least golfball size just south of Lakin and knocked a bird senseless out of a tree.

Anyway, that was the highlight of that day...aside from the fact that Rick and I were eating at one of the local diner's in GLD when the sirens blew...turned out that a strong meso went right over GLD at approx. 2200cdt...the same meso that produced the Ulysses tornado...glad for several reasons that did'nt come to fruition, naturally for GLD in itself but because I was busy stuffing my face at the time...would have had a hard time living that one down...an interesting observation at that moment when the meso was crossing the GLD area...We were at the east end of town...and not a breathe of wind...you could light a match successfully without the flame wavering a bit...and a very \"heavy\" feel to the air. Hank Baker was at the Best Western where he was at the time and said there was atomized rain falling although the wind was not exceptionally strong (not sure of the speeds as he did'nt elaborate) ....Overall, a good day...once I got over my lamenting in not hanging close to Dave Ewoldt.

Edit: He meant Garden City (GCK), not Goodland (GLD).