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Greg, Tricia, Scott
and myself departed Hays this morning for DDC where we grabbed lunch
and refined our chase target. Upon arrival in DDC, an outflow boundary
from overnight storms was found intersecting a stationary front and dryline
very close to the city. We were eventually drawn south of the triple point to
near Ashland where cell development was underway along the dryline, but storms
were becoming too widespread so we dropped south to near Beaver, OK
where a lone cell would be arriving from TX. Yes we were leaving the best tornadic
environment, but when multicellular storms are running a muck in what was
the best target area it's time to consider something else!
From a distance, the Panhandle storm exhibited a high contrast RFB and some inflow bands. This storm soon split with the right mover not offering much hope, so we punched the outer edge of the left mover's FFD. After encountering some low-end severe hail, we pulled over after noticing some larger stones bouncing in the ditch. I waited for the hail to let up before running out and grabbing this ~1.5" stone. (video grab) |
| These smaller cells
quickly popped to our west along the dryline (likely as our storm's outflow
impinged on the boundary). We hung around for a bit to admire the
strong backlighting and high contrast...a welcome change from the marginal
contrast that we had to deal with for the past three days!
(video grab) |
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The original right
mover (from the split above) later pulsed back to life, so we turned around
in hot pursuit and were treated to a cauliflower updraft south of Gate,
OK. DDC's radar revealed a great core in the upper levels of this
cell with strong storm top divergence and low level rotation to boot.
As we closed within range, this cell's updraft diminished in girth and dropped its core (about the time of this photo). We still managed to catch some 1" hail at the intersection of 283 and 64, but it was painfully obvious the environment was not fully supportive of supercells. In hindsight, several multicells farther east likely contaminated the boundary layer for these cells moving off the dryline. |
| It was painfully
obvious this chase was over. So, we drove north to Dodge City for a much needed dinner and motel. While
eating, a modest storm blew up just southwest of town along the stationary boundary and tracked
directly over us with heavy rain and some pea hail. After the core passed, I ran outside and observed
a gorgeous sunlit updraft core and mammatus. Much to the chagrin of Greg, I convinced the others this cell
was worth going back into chase mode.
Unfortunately we had to waste precious time driving back to the motel to pick up our gear, but while packing up we were surprised to see a vivid inflow notch and hook echo unfold on radar. Baseball size hail later fell in Fort Dodge, but I wasn't able to get any photos or video of this supercell until after we passed through Fort Dodge. Here's the supercell much later as viewed from about five miles southeast of Fort Dodge. |
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Nice CA discharge here. The mosquitos were making photography incredibly difficult, but we managed to come away with some decent photos and video. Regardless, it was such a relief to finally see a quality storm this day! |
| During this time,
a classic Cb with a prominent overshooting top was blowing up 40 miles
or so to our north.
Since the next two days weren't conducive for organized severe, Scott, Greg and Tricia decided to head back to CO the next morning. Considering we picked this week for chasing months in advance, I'd say we did extremely well (or were just plain lucky) with these recent couple days of chasing. Now if only they had started their vacations on May 22nd instead of the 23rd! |
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