June 12, 2004 Storm
Chase | Southern KS Quasi-Supercell
I chose to play southern KS today as opposed to the northern half which featured just as good odds for supercells, but my decision to go south was based mainly on a weak shortwave trough poised in southwest KS. Also, the fact that the 12Z ETA was progging little if any capping for northern KS beyond 18Z didn't sit well with me...though the RUC wasn't as extreme. Anyways, I bought the shortwave and hung out east of Hutchinson as the cap began to give way around 2030Z and eventually chased a short-lived supercell (oxymoron?) east of Hutchinson. The cell seemed to be ingesting too much rain-cooled air and just when it looked interesting it fizzled. Disappointed that nothing else was holding together, I called it a day too soon (once again!) and missed a tornadic CL supercell southeast of Wichita as I drove north to Salina. Meanwhile at the motel in Salina that evening, I decided to head north for a tail-end Charlie near Concordia that began to rotate but quickly gusted out by sunset.
