5/21/07 REPORTS: TX / KS / CO

[edward oneal]

Short chase SW of Dodge City on short lived severe storm in Gray CO. quarter sized hail for short time.

http://spotted.dodgeglobe.com/pages/gallery.php?gallery=315512

 

[Linda Kitchen]

Chased the storm over Meade Kansas today. Had some small hail and not much else. I hope tomorrow is better. Linda

 

[Mike Umscheid]

Went on a short chase after work late this afternoon/evening. Intercepted the small Meade storm and followed it north as it briefly became severe. The storm was small, but did reveal some organized structure at times with updraft base and downdraft core nicely separated at times. Was monitoring Dick and Darin on the SpotterNetwork as they were chasing this storm as well, and I met up with them for a brief time. It was good to at least get out and chase/photograph a storm... especially since I'll probably be working OT tomorrow with Tuesday's triple point and dryline over the DDC CWA.

 

[Tony Laubach]

If you'd be so kind to add Colorado to this thread, I'll be happy to mention my local chase...

Nothing too exciting today as I gave my van a bit more running than I did yesterday! In fact, the 362 miles I loaded today put me over 70,000 for my chasing career. Its a spotter trip which resulted in some pea to marble sized hail, good lightning, and heavy rains. I followed the squall line from roughly Wiggins to Sterling and scored my best action on US Highway 6 southwest of Sterling. I stopped in Sterling after taking on some small hail in hopes to get some street flooding in town. The line fizzled and left me under a few drops of rain. I returned to Denver via I-76. Below are a couple lightning stills from the video I shot earlier; nothing to make a log page out of, but its at least a bit something... a warm-up for tomorrow...

 

[Dick McGowan]

Wasn't really expecting much today, but Darin, Todd Beal, Jordan Wrecke and I watched a storm for nearly it's entirel life (including its sudden death) near Meade. It was great to relax and enjoy the storm, which hasn't happened this year. Great to finally meet you, Mike.

 

[Angie Norris]

Adding in a word from Texas...got on the Ochiltree/Roberts county storm north of Canadian. Was severe warned for nickle-quarter sized hail...the best I got was maybe peas. If I can find my scanner, I'll try to add pics when I get them developed (yep, still shooting film).
Hopefully I'll get to make it to the action in KS (if work cooperates).

 

[Dan Cook]

Was on the same storm that Angie was on with the COD crew. Got one picture up for now:

 

[Bill Hark]

MODS: please merge all these May 21 threads or at least divide them by southern and northern target areas..

I started the day in Liberal, Kansas. My target was in the Texas Panhandle in the Pampa area. Storms were likely in front of the approaching dryline and tornadoes were possible with increased low level shear. Instability was adequate. My main concern was very weak mid level winds. I received a call from Charles Edwards of Cloud 9 Tours and met them for breakfast. After breakfast, I drove south on 83, then 70, stopping along the way to take pictures. The wildflowers are especially beautiful this year. In Pampa, I checked data and had lunch at Dyer’s Barbecue. There was decent instability at my location and a bullseye of increased shear. An isolated tower developed southwest of Pampa but it died. Meanwhile, a line of storms was forming along the dryline west of Dumas. I decided to target the southernmost part of the line. I went west on 152 to Borger and north to Stinnett. The storms were visible to the west and had completely merged into a line. A storm to my north was slightly more dominant. I drove north and then northeast on 207 as the storms approached from the west. I passed the Doppler on Wheels (DOW) and the Tornado Intercept Vehicle (TIV).The storms were starting to overtake the road, and I saw a couple of gustnadoes in northern Hutchinson County. I continued northeast and then east on 15. I looked for photo opportunities ahead of the storm, then move on as the line overtook me. Although no tornadoes, I saw a couple of gustnadoes, nice storms and beautiful landscapes. Tomorrow, I will head north to Kansas for a better chance of tornadic storms.

VIDEO (2 min 25 sec) on YouTube. The gustnadoes are visible though not as well due to compression for YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh8Qgr65Mcc

IMAGES

Abandoned house south of Perryton, TX
http://www.harkphoto.com/052107house.jpg

Wildflowers in Texas Panhandle
http://www.harkphoto.com/052107wildflowers.jpg


Close-up of Wildflowers
http://www.harkphoto.com/052107flowersclose.jpg

Approaching storm.
http://www.harkphoto.com/052107stormtruck.jpg

Gustnado (video still)
http://www.harkphoto.com/052107gustnado.jpg

Storm with grain elevators
http://www.harkphoto.com/052107stormgrain.jpg

Blowing dust (video still)
http://www.harkphoto.com/052107dust.jpg


Bill Hark

 

[Jay McCoy]

Was also on the storm NW of Pampa with most the others so wont rehash the reports. The one thing I will note is all day we had SE inflow winds of 20-30mph until we setup just SE of this storm where winds died and dropped to less than 5. I am convinced thats the only thing that kept this storm from dropping one. Saw the CoD crew but had no idea Dan and Angie were on there or would have said hi.

 

[Jimmy Deguara]

Hi,
Nothing much to report except more or less re-positioning. I guess a few pretty pictures although none of the few gustnadoes and small hail we observed as we dropped south to Goodland. I would have preferred to chase at least northern South Dakota or North Dakota though the drive would have been exhausting. We side-lined the squall line from northern Nebraska to southern Nrbraska east to Ogallala, Nebraska.
Macca and Chris dropped south first given their quicker fast food stop and chase, our group remained for a nice sit down and dine meal in Ogallala. Fantastic - finally we get to set down and simply relax, reflect - until
"Ok everyone move into the hall way - now".
"What?" Everything happened too fast.
Tornado warning!
Brad and I were out the door in a flash (perhaps leaving foot tread marks in the carpet) followed by Esa and Andrej - I must admit we did hear the lady's voice in the background - "No - move into the hallway".
We tried to video the appoaching squall line for signs of any funnels amidst the blazing sirens but nothing we could see took our fancy. But it made the meal interesting - two of the guys first tornado siren Oh and by the way, the lady who was so safety conscious was outside taking a smoke break during the ordeal! We did go back in and sat at our table once the rain commenced - she got us the second time.


Storm near Ogallala that interracted with the squall line:

We caught up with Chris and Macca in Goodland at our pre-booked rooms. Thanks Chris and Macca once again.
Regards,
Jimmy Deguara

 

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

Chase to storms from Borger to Pampa yesterday. Experienced 60 mph winds north of Borger when crossing the Canadian. Thought I was going get blown off that bridge. 10 miles east of Borger a gustnado popped up next to me in a field and crossed the road 20 yards in front of me. The gustnado was the highlight of the day other than some nice lightning near Pampa later.

 

[Angie Norris]

I think the main thing that did the panhandle storm in yesterday was that cold inflow. I don't think I've ever felt south wind that was that cold. If that wind had been warm, I do believe we might have had ourselves a nader yesterday.

 

[Kurt Hulst]

Pictures taken 1-2 miles southeast of Borger, TX I only had one day to chase the plains this week had to be back on tuesday to work on wednesday. Observed the shelf structure it was nice to see thought not what i was hoping for.

Stopped in Pampa for a quick bite and then watched the shelf come our way.

 

[Bill Doms]

Side trip through western SD before heading to KS. Chase pics here: http://www.mnwxchaser.com/07may21.html

Always amazing how you can take a junk storm near the badlands and it looks better.