A little late on getting this report posted, but at least I got it done...
Scott and I woke up this morning in Dodge City at the Super 8 Motel. My alarm clock didn’t go off so we got a late start to the day. Our initial target area was about 70 miles west of Goodland KS. We left Dodge City around 11:00 AM CST. We made some time from Dodge City on some very rural Kansas highways. We were in contact with several chasers through the day exchanging data, information, and target areas.
We made a quick food and data stop in Goodland KS. Scott and I decided to continue west on I-70. At 2:20 PM MDT a tornado watch was issued for our target area. To our west there were towers going up, so we decided to top off the fuel tank. We stopped in Stratton, CO for more fuel and data. While checking the internet we were able to watch some towers punch through the CAP along some sort of boundary. No need for us to travel much further west at this point.
There was a storm that developed about 10 miles west of Stratton, CO that we watched for about an hour. We hung around the area for a while taking pictures and videos of supercell bases. There really wasn’t anything too exciting happening yet though.
We then heard of a tornado warned cell off to our northeast. It was about 30 miles away, so we decided to intercept it. I am very impressed with the road network in eastern Colorado. The only problem is when the dirt roads get wet. They can become sloppy and slick in no time, so 4x4 was really useful on some roads. Not because I was going to get stuck, but because 4x4 offered much more control than 4x2 did.
As we drove north on a county road that south from Yuma Colorado we could see the wall cloud in front of us. Scott and I were getting pretty close, so I pulled off the paved county road onto a dirt road. I bet this is one of the only dirt roads that have two sets of power lines running down it. I might consider being near 1 set, but 2 isn’t acceptable. We went north about another mile and pulled off onto another dirt road near Beverly Grove.
We could clearly see a rotating wall cloud so Scott and I scrambled to get our camera equipment. Shortly after setting up the cameras we saw the RFD punch through just northwest of the wall cloud. When viewed from the video, you can see that the RFD cut under the wall cloud and shut down the inflow. We are facing east while taking the video.
At this point the storm became outflow dominant and we had to keep running from the RFD. It was blowing dust and grit several hundred feet in the air. I began to get frustrated since I couldn’t get any data or cellular service. We found some chasers (Mark and Fabian) at a grade school checking out the sky. We teamed up with them and headed south so we could get a cell signal. While heading south towers started going up all around us. We had to shoot south to Stratton to avoid a hail shaft. Mark was able to get a cell signal and started using radar to guide us. We then jumped on I-70 east and exited a few miles away in Bethune. From there we went north to investigate a supercell Mark saw on his radar.
We stopped about 10 miles north of Bethune, CO to watch the storm. It was starting to get dark so our visibility wasn’t the best. Mark and I decided to drive east on a county road to avoid the hail shaft. This was the closest I’ve ever been to (what appeared to be) at least golf ball size hail. The outflow winds were kicking dust and dirt all around us. I wanted nothing more than to get out of there! Luckily there was a pretty good road network and we were able to go south to Burlington, CO. On the way there Mark was closely watching the radar since almost everything had gone linear. To avoid the large hail we went about 3 miles south of Burlington to wait it out.
We spent the night in Imperial Nebraska since our target area was further north tomorrow.
You can find my entire chase report on my website. I have 1 video and 23 pictures you can view.
http://www.brademel.com/pages/storm_chase_...year=2005&id=13
