7/2/08 REPORTS: KS/MO/CO/NE/IA/IL

[Dick McGowan]

Great solo chase today with some incredible structure just east of Emporia. Currently shooting lightning pictures downtown and below the band "The Bravery" is playing (I think)...

Ditched this storm for new development near Lawrence, which didn't disappoint for structure either...more pictures later.

 

[Dann Cianca]

Went out for kind of an impromptu chase with Tony Laubach today. We drifted north to intercept storms firing along the southern 'slopes' of the Cheyenne Ridge. While they didn't necessarily organize into supercells, the storm we intercepted near Wiggins had some beautiful structure.

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After "minesweeping" the core of the now line of storms, we decided to follow the storm east. As we were punching into the core a second time, a circulation developed in the line. Traffic on I-76 was horrible, however, and the precipitation made progress slow. Our route took us through Brush, but what we found there made us stay and survey.

We found that many of the streets in town were under water. Very strong winds associated with the line of storms (which appeared to bulge as it drove through Brush) knocked down large tree branches and several small trees. The streets were littered with tree debris and this possibly clogged the storm drains, preventing the radar-estimated 1.5"-2" of rain from draining away. Luckily, we didn't see any injuries, just a lot of weathered residents standing in their front yards, pulling tree limbs into piles.

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I have plenty of video from the chase, but have run out of time to process it. Tony should have his up eventually and I'll try and link it if it's before I get mine up. All in all, very pleased with this chase. Full report coming eventually.


EDIT: Not sure why images aren't showing ... but there are FOUR, located HERE.
Dann.

 

[Tony Laubach]

Got out yesterday as Dann twisted my arm to head out. Got on the storm near Greeley and watched it pulse up and down a few times before becoming the Brush monster. Observed penny-sized hail in the wet microburst that had I-76 nearly at a stand-still. We pulled into Brush to be greeted with over a foot of water on the roads and down trees everywhere. The hospital among many homes and downtown businesses took on the extra water as about 2 inches fell in 30 minutes.

We ended up behind the storm at the point and it turns out both our routes, Hwy 34 and CO-71 were closed due to flooding, so pursuit beyond Brush would've been impossible at best.

237 miles for this fun little scamper! Thanks to Dann for twisting my arm (not like he had to try hard) and getting me out!

More on my blog.

 

[Kurt Hulst]

MI Report

Had a back yard Chase an wound up in the Kalamazoo. Captured a day shot of lightning hitting a tree 1/4 mile if not less away

The rest of the shots are here

 

[Dann Cianca]

Finally got around to editing my video from the day ...

Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuCN36fgslw