June 7, 2005 Storm Chase

June 7, 2005 Storm Chase | Southwest SD Tornadic LP Supercell
All photos © Copyright 2005 Matt Ziebell

Started the day in Mitchell, SD after a long drive up from KS the previous day. This would be my last chase day out in the Plains this season as I needed to be in WI the very next day. The potential for supercells was very good today and if enough moisture recovery occurred in the wake of the overnight MCS, then tornadoes would also be fair game. My target was narrowed down to south of Kadoka by 1400L given consistent moisture convergence and increasing 0-3km EHIs to 5 (per RUC). I hung around in Murdo at a wi-fi spot and eventually noticed some TCu on satellite over the Badlands. I shot west to near Cactus Flat and observed a developing LP supercell to my distant west and a much more impressive one to its south. The southern one produced the nice mammatus seen here.

Here's the southern LP rapidly organizing to my SW. I hung around the entrance to the Badlands Nat'l Park too long and ended up behind some slow-moving tourists admiring the scenery. I was more concerned about the scenery in the sky!

Now south of Interior, SD on HWY 44 and pulled over after noticing a well-developed lowering take shape. Not more than 30 seconds after pulling over and snapping this shot, a slender funnel descended roughly halfway to the surface (terrain was blocking the ground from my vantage point). After seeing other chasers' images, this was indeed a tornado. Well, I guess the one good thing about LP supercells is that they're usually quite photogenic from all quadrants. Aww heck, I needed to get much closer and in the SE quadrant ASAP!

Here's the first tornado developing. The structure at times reminded me of Bluestein's Spearman, TX beauty. Well, a watered-down version at least! :)

A rather stout funnel was leftover after the brief tornado. Here's another view.

Another wide angle shot of this LP after the brief tornado. 1-2" hailstones were already falling at this point. It was time to get moving!

After having left my last spot to get closer, I ended up pulling over yet again (!) a few miles down the road upon noticing a final vortex develop from the constraining circulation. This tornado remained intact for a couple minutes all the while the cold pool was kicking its base out. Here the roping vortex is getting stretched quite a distance by a bully of an FFD.

After the tornado, I continued driving to get in better viewing. Along the way, some 1.5" stones greeted my car, but nothing like points further west. In this picture, I'm finally in the preferred quadrant and stunned at the vault underway with this supercell now to my WSW.

The RFD was steadily making progress around the core of this meso and modest rotating wall cloud.

RFD cut continuing its work as the wall cloud passes to my NW.

After continued driving to keep pace with this supercell, I made a decision to stick to the better roads for the next hour or so. Problem is, the road I was on would take me directly under the meso, but at the same time give me a great chance to shoot east on I-90 for 10 miles or so and reacquire good positioning. I decided to drive cautiously under the base and cross to the other side not knowing just how big the hail would really be! Most stones were under 2" and I faired well. However, I had to stop and document the wall cloud seen here that was sitting over the field just to my east. At the same time, I endured a strong RFD surge from the WNW w/estimated gusts to 55 knots that dissipated to calm winds a few minutes later.

After the RFD surge, I wisely did an all-quadrants scan and to my surprise the old occluded meso was producing a funnel cloud approximately 2 miles to my NW! After noticing this, it persisted for close to 2 minutes. Not sure just how long it had been in progress prior to this, but I confirmed firsthand to never count out a heavily occluded meso! After this, the new meso to my east was acquiring some deep towers along the flanking line/main updraft intersect.

My road option to I-90 panned out well, though had the hailstones grown any larger I'd have faced another expensive lesson in windshield replacement. The image on the left is a dramatic view looking ESE at a rotating wall cloud. I love the RFD intrusion in the upper right contrasted with the solid base to the left. The image on the right is after I drove well ahead of the supercell on I-90 and pulled over to admire its evolution. I couldn't believe some chasers that decided to stop along the Interstate with tripods set up. Emergencies only folks...and no, stormgasms don't qualify! :)

Assorted views of the supercell as it struggled to maintain its character directly downstream of an intense MCS about to have it for dinner. On a sidenote, beautiful eddies developed on the underside of the meso as the outflow was beginning to take over.

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