Dan Robinson
Quick report - Short version: 2 days, 2 busts. Long version:
Monday 5/17/2004 - Left Charleston, WV at 3PM EDT heading to eastern Kansas. Passed new popcorn convection going up to the south of I-64 in eastern Kentucky with a few nice pileus caps:
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may17a.jpg
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may17b.jpg
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may17c.jpg
Tuesday 5/18/2004 - Spent the night in High Hill, MO and was on the road west again by 9AM CDT. Hit the MCS coming through western MO at around 10:30PM:
Initial shelf cloud south of Marshall, MO:
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may18e.jpg
Interesting feature just east of KC, possibly an elevated shelf cloud:
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may18d.jpg
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may18c.jpg
Mammatus in KC:
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may18b.jpg
Met up with Dave Crowley, Justin Teague, Matt Stroup and Grant Johnson north of Independence, KS around 3PM CDT and headed west to Burden, KS where we waited for the cap to break for the rest of the afternoon. Well, the cap turned out to be our burden in Burden. We should have picked a target town of 'Break' or 'Erode' or 'Initiate' or something - but I couldn't find them on the map. Nothing was happening by 6PM, so we called it a bust. The rest of the group headed back to Tulsa and I started the trek north back to KC to get into position for Wednesday's event. Despite the bust, it was a great drive through rural central Kansas north to I-35. Practically no one on the roads but me, very scenic with the sun going down on the green prairies behind struggling cumulus:
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may18cap.jpg
I encountered some weak convection along the front all along I-35 back toward KC at dusk, some of which were producing scud 'fakenadoes' and spectacular shelf cloud/quasi-inflow structure features around the Emporia area:
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may18a.jpg
http://wvlightning.com/2004/i35shelf.jpg
http://wvlightning.com/2004/i35scud.jpg
At Ottowa, decided to go check out the active storms exploding just across the MO border south of KC. Lightning was constant but very few visible bolts. Seeing no 35mm opportunities, I headed back to KC through the storms. The sporadic bolts that did come out of the cloud were doozies though, but I didn't catch any on the dashcam. Extremely heavy rain, near 0 visibility and I was hydroplaning at 30mph - had to slow to around 25mph. Saw a lot of low-lying flooding and a jacknifed 18 wheeler along US 71.
Dave Crowley headed back north from Tulsa, and we stayed in Lawrence KS in preparation for Wednesday's drive further north.
Wednesday's bust report in 5/19 thread.
Monday 5/17/2004 - Left Charleston, WV at 3PM EDT heading to eastern Kansas. Passed new popcorn convection going up to the south of I-64 in eastern Kentucky with a few nice pileus caps:
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may17a.jpg
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may17b.jpg
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may17c.jpg
Tuesday 5/18/2004 - Spent the night in High Hill, MO and was on the road west again by 9AM CDT. Hit the MCS coming through western MO at around 10:30PM:
Initial shelf cloud south of Marshall, MO:
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may18e.jpg
Interesting feature just east of KC, possibly an elevated shelf cloud:
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may18d.jpg
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may18c.jpg
Mammatus in KC:
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may18b.jpg
Met up with Dave Crowley, Justin Teague, Matt Stroup and Grant Johnson north of Independence, KS around 3PM CDT and headed west to Burden, KS where we waited for the cap to break for the rest of the afternoon. Well, the cap turned out to be our burden in Burden. We should have picked a target town of 'Break' or 'Erode' or 'Initiate' or something - but I couldn't find them on the map. Nothing was happening by 6PM, so we called it a bust. The rest of the group headed back to Tulsa and I started the trek north back to KC to get into position for Wednesday's event. Despite the bust, it was a great drive through rural central Kansas north to I-35. Practically no one on the roads but me, very scenic with the sun going down on the green prairies behind struggling cumulus:
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may18cap.jpg
I encountered some weak convection along the front all along I-35 back toward KC at dusk, some of which were producing scud 'fakenadoes' and spectacular shelf cloud/quasi-inflow structure features around the Emporia area:
http://wvlightning.com/2004/may18a.jpg
http://wvlightning.com/2004/i35shelf.jpg
http://wvlightning.com/2004/i35scud.jpg
At Ottowa, decided to go check out the active storms exploding just across the MO border south of KC. Lightning was constant but very few visible bolts. Seeing no 35mm opportunities, I headed back to KC through the storms. The sporadic bolts that did come out of the cloud were doozies though, but I didn't catch any on the dashcam. Extremely heavy rain, near 0 visibility and I was hydroplaning at 30mph - had to slow to around 25mph. Saw a lot of low-lying flooding and a jacknifed 18 wheeler along US 71.
Dave Crowley headed back north from Tulsa, and we stayed in Lawrence KS in preparation for Wednesday's drive further north.
Wednesday's bust report in 5/19 thread.
