Day 9: June 4, 2014

 Total Miles: 0

Total Driving Hours: 0 hours and 0 minutes

Due to the significant damage to the vans, today was our second down day. We met at 10:00 am CDT to discuss yesterday’s events. The team was told that the vans would be fixed Thursday morning and that we should be on the road by 12:00 pm CDT. We spent the day relaxing, playing ultimate frisbee in the pool, and going out to dinner at Chances R, a local restaurant in York, NE. We stayed in the same hotel as the previous night.      

Day 8: June 3, 2014

Total Miles: 310

Total Driving Time: 8 hours and 0 minutes

Today was an intense day for the storm chasing team! We met at 9:00 am CDT for our daily weather discussion. The forecast was looking positive for supercells to form with a high chance of tornadoes. After driving not too far from our hotel, we stopped at an open area at the intersection of I-80 and Route 183 for a weather balloon launch at approximately 12:20 pm CDT. The sounding recorded data up to 650 mb, but then lost signal. We packed up the vans fast to head north on Route 183 to Ansley, NE. While waiting at a gas station in Ansley, DOW 7 and DOW 8 arrived and we got a tour of the vehicles.

At 3:45 pm CDT, we left to head to a supercell north of us (the storm was moving southeasterly). We stopped at 4:15 pm CDT to briefly observe a storm that soon fell apart. After we headed towards a tornadic supercell near Ord, NE. There was a confirmed tornado on the ground but we could not see it because it was rain wrapped. As we continued to follow this storm, tornado sirens could be heard. We had to stop suddenly and turn around because clouds were rotating in front of us and picking up dust at the surface. We were worried that a gustnado was trying to form. We kept getting caught up in the rear flank downdraft (a very strong outflow from a supercell), causing driving to become difficult. Due to these strong winds, dust was getting picked up and reduced visibility. We tried to catch up with this storm for a few more hours, but failed to do so. We stopped for a quick break in Lincoln, NE to get gas and then headed west to go after another supercell.

We travelled west on I-80 to head towards Kearney, NE where our hotel was for the night. The supercell that we were approaching while driving was moving quite fast. We thought that we were going to make it to our south route before the storm came, but that did not happen. We had to stop at a rest area (~8:30 pm CDT) near York, NE because the storm caught up to us. At first, we only encountered heavy precipitation and strong winds. Soon after, baseball sized hail started to hit our vehicles. Van 1’s front window got cracked and some dents on the roof. Van 2’s rear view mirror came off, the front window cracked and a side window shattered. No one was injured from this storm.

 

 *Photo from Dillon Ulrich*

 

We had to make an emergency stop in York, NE for the night because the glass kept shattering in Van 2. We arrived at our hotel and waited for the next storm (which had a tornado warning) to arrive. We all stayed on the first floor in the hotel to watch the storm pass over us. There was rotation and a debris ball could be noticed on radar. This storm produced pea to half-dollar sized hail and had winds up to 62 mph. Once the storm had passed, we went outside to assess the vans to see if any more damage was done. The only damage was that the shattered side window in Van 2 was worse. After this eventful day, the team went to get some much needed rest.

Day 7: June 2, 2014

Total Miles: 330  

Total Driving Time: 6 hours and 0 minutes

Today was our first down day. We met at 10:00 am CDT for a weather discussion to see whether there was any potential for storms to form. We decided to visit the Big Well Museum in Greensburg, KS. We kept an eye on the radar to see if any storms were developing while heading towards Nebraska. No significant storms formed so we went to our hotel in Kearney, NE. We arrived around 7:00 pm CDT and stopped to see Dominator 3.

Day 6: June 1, 2014

Total miles: 703

Total Driving Time: 12 hours and 30 minutes

It was an early start for the team chasing today! We left at 5:00 am MDT in order to be in our target location in Nebraska. On the way, we ran into dense fog around 12:20 pm CDT. We watched a storm in Lexington, NE around 1:00 pm CDT that produced marble sized hail for a short period of time. 

The first cell we went after was located near Arapahoe, KS around 2:30 pm CDT. This storm had a large shelf cloud and produced a wall cloud. The storm was a supercell but became outflow dominant. While reassessing where to travel next, we got caught in a storm approximately 25 miles WNW of Logan, KS (~3:20 – 3:30) with heavy rain and hail. At first the hail was pea sized, but got progressively larger to marble sized hail. After the cell passed, we went to measure the hail (around 1 inch in diameter). We drove through another storm that produced heavy precipitation and some hail along Rt. 283. 

 

While we were traveling to Dodge City, KS for the night, we stopped 15 – 20 miles NE of the city to watch a thunderstorm. Around 6:45 pm CDT, a wall cloud could be recognized with minimal rotation. We core punched this storm on our way to Dodge City, KS after signs of rotation disappeared on radar (radar estimated 90 mph winds). The strong winds from this storm caused some broken branches and power outages in parts of the city (including our hotel). Once we got back from dinner, power was restored in the hotel we were staying in for the night.    

   

Day 5: May 31, 2014

Total Miles: 483

 

Total Driving Time: 7 hours and 30 minutes

Our third chasing day was quite exciting! We left our hotel at 9:00 am MDT in Sturgis, SD to head towards our target city of Broadus, MT. We launched a weather balloon in Broadus, MT at approximately 11:45 am MDT. We lost signal around 740 mb once again, indicating potential equipment failure. After lunch, we went north of Broadus to chase a cell (~2:00 pm MDT). The storm looked promising early on, but failed to produce anything significant. 

Radar indicated a stronger storm to the north of where we were so we decided to head towards Miles City, MT (~4:20 pm MDT). We arrived around 5:15 pm MDT, just about 5 miles north of Miles City, MT. This supercell with rotation produced multiple wall clouds and one funnel cloud. There was a green tint to this storm, indicative of refraction due to hail associated with this storm. This storm had a maximum reflectivity of 70 dBZ. Overtime this storm took a shelf-like appearance (~5:45 pm MDT), showing signs of outflow dominance. We moved southeast in order to get away from the storm since it was coming in our direction. Once we were far enough from the storm, we headed east into North Dakota and then south to our hotel in Sturgis, SD for the night. We arrived at the hotel at approximately 11:00 pm MDT.