5/29/07 REPORTS: CO / KS / NE

[Andrew Stoller]

Holly HP hailed out motherload! Got on the tornado warned cell that moved across the Palmer Divide in eastern CO; was right on it in the city of Elbert when it started going mega HP so I hauled east towards Limon and then south on a dirt road towards Matheson, CO. This thing had an awesome roll cloud and gust front with it; I thought I was gonna get trapped. I hauled further south of Matheson to escape the reported 2 + inch hail and then slowly made my way towards Limon where quarter size hail COVERED the ground, several inches deep in many spots. All in all, pretty fun. I was in perfect position to see any tornadic development on the storm the entire time; did brielfy see a lowering east of Elbert with what looked like a possible funnel cloud, but nothing worth writing home about.

 

[Tony Laubach]

COMPLETE MAY 29, 2007 STORM CHASE LOG CAN BE FOUND HERE!!!

Started the day in McCook with the Carlsons, the DreamVision crew, and Silver Lining Tours and worked our way back homeward into eastern Colorado where we landed within 45 minutes of my apartment on a storm near Simla. Chased east on Hwy 24 and into Limon and paced the storm along I-70 into Seibert before calling it a day. The front obviously had blasted through as temps had dropped into the 40s. We returned to Limon due to one of the rides in the caravan being busted, so here we are. I'm enjoying the Rockies game (GRAND SLAM TORRIEABLA) at the Comfort Inn and will make an early night as we'll be on the road very early for Texas tomorrow.

COMPLETE MAY 29, 2007 STORM CHASE LOG CAN BE FOUND HERE!!!

COMPLETE MAY 29, 2007 STORM CHASE LOG CAN BE FOUND HERE!!!http://www.tornadoeskick.com/logs070529.html

 

[Mick McGuire]

Time to get this first post out of the way...

I drove north from Goodland to Yuma county near Wray and saw a short-lived, vortex that resembled a brief tornado but the storm was already outflow-dominant and most likely a brief gustnado. A beautiful wall of dirt came racing across Cheyenne county Kansas shortly thereafter. A couple of images are attached.

 

[Michael Carlson]

Chased with my Dad, Tony Laubach, DreamVisions crew, Silver Lining Tours, Jon Van De Grift, Eric Hurst and Dani Hurst, mainly chased with Tony DR and SLT. We got on the LP cell that passed over Limon Colo. The cell went OF fast and produced nice golf ball size hail.

 

[Laura Duchesne]

We started the day in Murdo, SD and headed towards the Denver/Limon storms. We saw a pretty decent multi-teired shelf cloud, with great examples of shelf cloud eddies.

One of the guys that came along on the tour received a voice mail saying that some roads in Denver got shut down due to about 3 inches of hail.

I have never felt outflow so cold in my life! On the way back into Kansas, I saw what seemed to be a small gustnado. Afterwards, we enjoyed a nice lightning show. Our crew is staying in Colby tonight.

 

[Richard Halter]

Ever get this feeling that the forecasts are out to make the oil companies more money

regardless of our personal successes?

Started the day out in SW Nebraska and targeted Garden City, Kansas. Got there only to discover that SW Nebraska was going nuts, and we could have had a 50 mile chase instead of a 400 mile one!

We got back as far north as Goodland only to be slammed by the huge Derecho that enveloped everything and everyone in dust - aren't those farmers supposed to plant things?

I estimated 60+ at the Super 8 by I-70, and I saw reports of 70+. The hotels along the freeway filled up in about -5 seconds, so we got a wind-aided push to Colby, Ka (well it was mainly 60-70mph crosswind, but there was that slight westerly component).

We called ahead to a hotel their to make sure that they still had rooms, and had a place to crash without fear of having to take the manger suite.

Got a lot of lightning and heavy rain in Colby - our second day of severe cells, but you would have had to been exactly in the right spot at the right time to catch the brief tornados today, my hats off to those who managed the fete.

Ok, I know what the maps and data and SPC say, but do we really head way south, go east to Lawrence for free housing and food for a day, or just stay in Colby because inevitably there will be an EF-5 wedge in the fields out east of the town three hours after we leave. Been that kind of a week so far.

One other thing. There are three of us, and we have found it very cost effective to ask for a family suite - which usually has two beds and a fold out couch and more room. With the AAA and federal employee discounts that we get, we paid only 61 bucks for the night tonight, and no roll in tiny beds!

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Robin Tanamachi, Dan Dawson, Chad Baldi, and I are currently driving through Pampa after collecting about an hour's worth of data in Gruver, TX, with the mobile phased array on a short line segment that traversed the OK/TX panhandles border. We sat for a couple of hrs in Guymon before heading southwest towards DHT and Stratford to see what would come of the supercell that was traversing far northeastern NM. That cell fell apart as it neared the OK panhandle border, so we sat in Stratford to see what would happen as the dissipating cell hit the deeper moisture that was streaming northwestward through the central and northern TX panhandle. As the OFB from that cell neared Stratford, convection rapidly developed. We found a good place to stop and scan at the Gruver airport in the south side of town. Fortunately, the precip stayed just north of our location for the most part.

 

[Chris Hovanic]

Stayed in Grand Island, NE last night with an original target in SW KS, this shifted to Scott City, KS during the drive...arrived in Scott City during mid-afternoon and after about an hour realized nothing would initiate across W-C KS due to shortwave ridging inducing subsidence in the area. Drove west on US-96 toward Sheridan Lake, CO with initial ideas to intercept the Limon, CO cell as it plowed eastward...noticed new towers going up to our west, one of which quickly went supercellular SW of Kit Carson, CO along US-96 near Haswell, CO...multitudes of new cells fired as the giant OFB plowed SSE-ward, several of these storms became supercellular with all sorts of wild/crazy cell mergers occuring...we observed several nice wall clouds with the western-most cell near Haswell, CO with a nice RFD cut...this storm had TONS of rapid low-level rotation, but LCLs were likely a bit too high for tornado development.

Another supercell was located NE of the storm previously mentioned and we experienced very strong RFD winds/dust from it while observing the supercell to the SW (the one near Haswell, CO)...anenmometer read 36mph for a peak gust with that RFD. Storm to the SW eventually began to go more linear/outflow dominant and produced a nice shelf cloud as it completely undercut the storm to the east.

Then headed SW toward the remnants/future evolution of the Pueblo storm...storm was really beginning to lose structure when we reached it, but we observed what may have been a weak wall cloud. All in all a successful/interesting day...think we may have been the only chase team on the Haswell, CO storm(s)...saw another caravan driving the opposite direction about 30 miles from Haswell.

On the road near Lamar, CO headed to Perryton, TX for the night...targetting near Abilene tomorrow. Will add pictures when we reach Perryton.


-Chris

 

[Matt Grantham]

We started the day in Valentine, NE and drove down to Scott City, KS. After looking at some data, we moved towards Kit Carson, CO and eventually intercepted the gust front southeast of Limon. We were behind the gust front for quite a while and experienced gusts around 50mph and tons of blowing dust and flying tumbleweeds.

We got east to get ahead of the developing MCS and arrived at the Comfort Inn in Garden City about 15 minutes ahead of the storm. Dust started moving into town with 25mph winds, but then things really ramped up quickly. There was a terrible roar outside so I scampered downstairs and out a side door of the building with my handheld anemometer. I stood behind the corner of the building and was partially exposed to the wind. I figured the winds would get up to around 55 or so and I managed to measure a 53mph gust before the power went out. The power came back on and so did the winds. Debris started flying in the air across the parking lot in front of me and the wind was swirling violently behind me. Pieces of tin began to fly off the building and the trash can about 20 feet behind me started to get airborn. Piece of the can narrowly missed me and I ran to the door and 2 guys opened it for me. The door almost broke off and it took all of us to get it shut while a piece of the trash can flew inside.

I looked down at my kestrel and I had measured a 73mph gust, but I was also baldy shaken by what happened. Then I watched from the door as some flags attached to a fence were plucked away. Considering the spot I measured the wind from was not the best for measuring, and I may not have measured the strongest winds since the flags lwere ripped off the fence after I got inside, I think the winds were around 85mph.

After a disappointing start to the day, I got more than I bargained for this evening. I certainly would not have been outside if I had ever thought the winds would reach those levels. It was a very bad decision.

 

[Stan Rose]

I figured with 51 dewpoint and SE winds; SPC mesoanalysis showing theta-e ridge right up the arkansas river, that Pueblo was under the gun yesterday. The Pueblo storm intensified rapidly, and was showing excellent rotation at 10-12K ft. No strong rotation for the lowest scans, but its overall presentation, and one look out the window (rotating wall cloud over Pueblo) convinced me that a tor warning was the way to go. At least i got huge lead time on the golfball hail! Still a few unconfirmed reports of a tornado east of here, but with the outflow from the north hitting it pretty quick, it quickly lost its tor potential. Great storm, and i didn't have to drive 300 miles to see it!

 

[Stuart Robinson]

Target was Tribune, KS. Sat in Goodland, KS for a while then headed west to the supercell approaching Limon, CO. Was greeted with an outflow boundary there that dropped the air temperature to 46 degrees. Decided to abort and head back to Goodland for a steak dinner at CrazyR's. TM

 

[Eric Treece]

Started day out near Byers, CO in between the first storm that fired up near DIA and the storm that fired up near Castle Rock/ Elbert. After it looked like the storm near DIA went outflow dom I headed south toward Hwy 86 near Limon. The storm near Elbert went TOR warned and I headed west on 86. After this storm kind of died it looked as though another one rapidly was forming off of it's flank and I tried to shoot south toward Ramah on one of the good old CO back roads, but got rolled pretty bad. I have never seen so much hail from one storm. It literally hailed golf ball/ ping pong ball hail for 30 minutes straight. I have nearly all of it on tape. The hail was nearly a foot deep in some spots. Needless to say I am getting my windshield replaced today......side mirror is on order. LOL The rest I am going to chalk up as battle scars. Hooked up with Eric Hurst and his wife near Flagler and headed down to Kit Carson. Called it a day shortly there after. Was one of my more exciting/ nail biting chases!!

 

[Bill Hark]

I really had hoped for some tornadic storms in western Kansas eastern Colorado. I started the day in North Sioux City, South Dakota after busting the previous day in northeastern North Dakota within 50 miles of the Canadian border! With an approaching cold front and upper level trough along with decent moisture and backed surface winds, severe storms were likely and the possibility of tornadoes before storms transitioned to a linear mode and also be over taken by the front. I headed south on I-29, then west on I-80 through Nebraska. With the exception of the Omaha area, progress was fast due to little traffic and 75 mph speed limits. I turned south on 283 and reached Oakley, Kansas by mid afternoon. There is a nice gas station with fast wi-fi at the 83 and I-70 intersection. A tornado watch was already issued to my northwest and I expected one to be soon issued for western Kansas/eastern Colorado. I had originally targeted just west of Garden City but now doubted initiation. The better combination of parameters was further to the west. There were already storms firing toward Denver in a line and I expected further development ahead of that line. I was worried the front would overtake the storms. I also chatted with Jim Leonard who was to the south and Jason Persoff who was to my west and got some observation. I didn’t like the appearance of the cumulus field in m area. I finally decided to head west on I-70, then a bit south. The line of storms (now a MCS) near Denver continued to move slowly east and some of the storms were a bit more isolated. These had the best potential for tornadic development. I hurried west toward Limon, Colorado. The most isolated storm was near Limon, and Jason was already observing some mid level rotation. As I reached Limon, I could see a massive storm approaching the town. Unfortunately, I was being hit with cold outflow winds. Despite continued tornado warnings, this clearly would not produce. I stopped at an exit by Limon and filmed the storm. I had an easy escape route east from the slow moving storm. I experienced winds gusting to almost 70 mph, huge clouds of blowing dust and small hail. Tumbleweeds flew through the air. I left before the hail became too big. I dropped south ahead of the storm (now merged into a large MCS) hoping to find more isolated development. I was still in cold northerly winds. The chase was over. I arrived in Lamar, Colorado just as the town was hit with a he dust storm. It was fun watching cows and people run as the billowing swirling dust hit the town. By the way, there is a good Thai restaurant that stays open much later than the other restaurants that close annoyingly early at 9:00 MDT.

Images of approaching storm:

I think that is Tony. Silver Lining etc. in the vans in the background.

Another image:

http://www.harkphoto.com/052907storm2.jpg

Bill Hark

 

[Charles Kuster]

We started out in Burlington, CO and started moving west towards the Limon storm, but ran into the gust front before we could get there. We decided to move south and east towards Garden City in order to stay ahead of it. Unfortunately it hit us while we were driving towards Garden City on route 50. The winds were very strong and blowing dust frequently reduced the visibilities to near zero. We finally reached Garden City just before the heavy rain hit. It was a tough drive. I would estimate that the max wind gust that we experienced was between 65-75mph.

This morning we saw a lot of tree damage and the motel that we stayed at (Best Value Inn or something like that, close to the Comfort Inn) lost many shingles.

 

[Carey Walton]

While watching the tor warned storm move over Limon, CO, I found some cool weather gear north of Limon on Hwy 71 at the top of the hill.

The large wind turbine drives an auger/trip hammer that bangs an old propane cylinder once per revolution and can be heard for quite a distance.

This storm west of Boyero looked good for a while, but was quickly doomed by cold north winds.