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The Northern Plains'
chase season usually begins winding itself down in a hurry by late August
and I figured this would probably be one of my last opportunities to get
a good chase in this year. I ended up making a long haul down to
Spearfish, SD the night prior before proceeding to southeast WY this day
for an intriguing upslope setup with healthy moisture and shear...especially
for late August standards.
Convection initiated by midafternoon and I met up with a SVR-warned cell between Cheyenne and Chugwater along I-25. What was interesting about this cell was that it laid a boundary for a trailing storm (shown here) to work with. The lead cell was losing its overall appeal so I found the next exit to observe this cell's trends. Here is a suspicious lowered base on the rear flank (looked very outflow-ish at the time) with decent visible inflow into the storm's base. 1645 MDT |
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I was concerned about
the lead storm's cold pool being too strong for this new cell...especially
given the amount of marginally severe hail that fell. As would be
expected the air was quite cool, but considering the elevation it's all
relative as it may still be buoyant.
1646 MDT |
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There was certainly some focused
ascent present as shown by the escalating tail cloud here. A decent
non-rotating wall cloud later evolved, but
this storm's inflow layer was quickly becoming elevated. Needless
to say, I soon aborted this area in favor of new development farther southeast.
1654 MDT |
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While driving east
on I-80 for new storms, I looked back at my storm and was actually tempted
to make a re-intercept, but it would soon be moving into an area seriously
worked over by multicellular garbage.
1727 MDT |
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Thank goodness I aborted the last
storm as a rogue cell near Carpenter, WY rapidly acquired supercellular
characteristics. I exited south of Pine Bluffs, WY on 164 (dirt road)
and was treated to this awesome display of a wall cloud and extensive beaver's
tail feeding into the updraft.
1805 MDT |
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The supercell was moving
along slowly enough to the ESE that I could pull over and enjoy the cyclic
wall clouds to my west. This wall cloud was shot with a telephoto
zoom. At best there was very slow rotation with this.
My cell antenna amazingly grabbed a signal in this remote area, so I phoned this into NWS-CYS. 1820 MDT |
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The last of at least three wall
clouds took shape here as the storm's base was now diminishing in girth.
This supercell's base later elongated as the RFD overwhelmed whatever rotation
remained.
1832 MDT |
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New convection later
blew up just to the east near the tri-state border (WY-NE-CO) making for
some photogenic sights.
1918 MDT |
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Looking north at this rotating Cb
as it enters far SW Nebraska. The boundary layer's cooling likely
contributed to the rapid death a short while
later. 1932 MDT
I stayed in Sterling, CO this night and made another chase the next day north of Colorado Springs, CO, but bailed when the best looking storms organized too far to my east and southeast. This final day was disappointing considering just how far south from home I ended up combined with the fact I got stuck in wonderful Denver evening rush hour traffic. I spent much of the day Friday driving back home (with the heat on...sigh) while cringing after realizing how long the afternoon shadows had become. Oh well, bring on winter and let's just get it over with! :) |
