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I started today in Minot,
ND after a hard bust in far southeast SK the day prior. Elevated
convection began early in the day across northern ND and this was advertised
well by most of the guidance the night prior. By afternoon I was
in Edgely, ND watching an elevated cell ~70mi to my NW along I-94.
This cell was rather mushy and not becoming surface based, but by 3pm CDT
TCu began popping farther south of this storm deep in the warm sector.
It wasn't long before one of these solidified into the Cb shown here, so I shot west on HWY 13 for an intercept. 1529 CDT |
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Now within better viewing
range, there were two updraft cores of interest: this one and a suspicious
base downstream of this. The latter produced a brief wall cloud and
clear slot before going linear and dumping itself out; although the tail-end
cell (shown here) had other plans.
1616 CDT |
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Nice separation here between the
FFD and updraft as this storm displays visual supercell traits.
1631 CDT |
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A rogue mid-level funnel!
1632 CDT |
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Things were going downhill rather
fast once this precip core intensified and expanded. I began relaxing
my adrenaline only to be surprised by a tornado warning a short while later
for this very storm! I was on gravel roads near Doyles Lake with
no cell reception, so I couldn't reach NWS-BIS to inform them of how sad
this storm really was. This pathetic looking updraft base only got
worse during the next few minutes, but somehow pulled a 180 immediately
thereafter!
1648 CDT |
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An amazing 180 indeed!
This was the same exact storm from above and it was still TOR-warned (now
citing the potential for a large tornado). I was amazed at the updraft
regeneration and maybe thought the FFD photographed earlier was just blocking my view of the
true updraft core, but this wasn't the case. By
1717 CDT, this rotating storm was kaput for good.
1701 CDT |
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After the above storm died for good,
I targeted new convection developing along the dryline to my southwest.
The view here is looking SW at a TOR-warned supercell well west of Strasburg,
ND. The only west road nearby was still a ways ahead, but I stopped
after seeing what looked like the tornado being reported (see next image).
Radar imagery around this time depicted this supercell as a classic flying
eagle.
1840 CDT |
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At the time this is
what I thought was the tornado being reported. This was shot with
a long telephoto zoom lens, so it was just too difficult to decipher any rotation.
After looking at other photos I believe this feature to be a scud bomb;
though that's not to say there wasn't a tornado somewhere else.
1841 CDT |
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I didn't anticipate this new supercell to turn hard right (southeast in this case), so while on gravel roads west of Strasburg I was overrun by its FFD with the road surface quickly turning into soup. I was too far ahead to turn around and risk losing valuable time, so I forged ahead to the nearest paved road while fighting outflow easily of 60+ mph at times with small hail. After what seemed an eternity, I arrived at HWY 1804 and escaped the nasty front flank core. All that outflow sure made me believe this supercell was gusting out, but despite a linearizing base there was still a hint of a meso feature embedded in its northeast flank (shown here). 1924 CDT |
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A nicely sculpted RFD
shelf cloud to my southwest before I shot east to head south on 1804.
1925 CDT |
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Sirens were blaring along with emergency officials
scrambling as I arrived in the small town of Pollock, SD, so I pulled
over to let them through and then went east and south on a dirt road to
catch another glimpse of this rotating storm. Outflow was cruising
out well in advance of the shelf cloud and I was no longer impressed with
the structure, so I aborted this for another TOR-warned cell--this time
near Mobridge.
In hindsight, the town sirens may have been sounded for a CG-induced wildfire south of town. 1932 CDT |
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Here's the CG-induced
wildfire south of Pollock, SD with a vivid, tail-end charlie Cb in the
distance near Eagle Butte, SD. The collapsing storm just to my north
was sending a strong surge of outbound winds directly towards this fire.
1934 CDT |
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Needless to say, the outflow was only more fuel
for the fire.
1940 CDT |
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A dense smoke plume was now in place
with the fire well off to the right of the picture. The outflow gusts
were easily pushing 50 mph at times. A few emergency officials were
already in place by this time and I managed to get back south on 1804.
1942 CDT |
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Looking west at a reorganizing supercell
near Mobridge. Earlier this supercell produced a slender tornado
west of Mobridge. The outflow from the previous storm was advancing
south and beginning to stall just ahead of this supercell's path.
2002 CDT |
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Still on 1804 and watching
as this nicely backlit and slowly rotating wall cloud took shape in little
time.
2010 CDT |
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Looking northwest at a very unusual
stacked wave along the aforementioned outflow boundary (this is located
just east of the supercell).
2010 CDT |
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Looking due north at
ominous convection lining up along the outflow boundary.
2013 CDT |
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I broke off 1804 for some back roads
and observed this persistent, rotating wall cloud and cowcatcher structure
a few miles to my WNW.
2024 CDT |
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A zoomed shot of the
wall cloud.
2025 CDT |
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Wall cloud still intact and moving
closer. Inflow winds were pretty steady out of the ESE this whole
time at around 10 mph or so.
2032 CDT |
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I retreated farther
east to keep ahead of the wall cloud and while driving I noticed this dust
plume kicking up underneath the wall cloud. I stopped to get a better
view and did observe some weak rotation within the debris, so I'll call
it a very brief, weak tornado. This dust originated along what was
likely a RFD gust.
2042 CDT |
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I was just north of Akaska, SD at
this time when I stopped after seeing a horizontal vortex in my rearview
mirror! Thankfully it hung around for a while and I managed to capture
it on a few photos. The link shows a zoomed view. Oddly,
this vortex was not visibly attached to any organized rotation aloft and
there certainly was nothing apparent connecting it with the rotating wall
cloud well to its west (left).
2047 CDT |
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At the intersection
of 144 and 83 I watched the rotating wall cloud tighten and begin rotating
markedly faster. A subtle funnel made a few shy appeareances, but
this circulation soon wrapped in rain. The sun was setting by this
point, so to catch one last glimpse of this circulation I shot south on
83 then east on gravel road 242 to Lowry.
Needless to say, I was unable to see much more as the meso remained hidden in rain near Lowry. It was dusk already, so I bid the supercell farewell. Naturally, this same circulation produced a tornado near Hoven...just five miles from my final location! 2054 CDT |
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A final shot of the Eagle Butte
supercell from earlier in the chase. This supercell may have been
LP considering the higher dewpoint depressions farther south, but it still
made for a vivid sight in the southern sky.
2033 CDT |
