Scott Blair and I observed two tornadoes, the first near Hitschmann and the other near Chapman. We intercepted the initial supercell south of Susank, KS observing very rapid rotation in the cloud base from approximately 2 miles east of Hitschmann, KS. A tornado quickly developed as a well-defined dust whirl beneath the persistent funnel. The tornado transitioned into a multi-vortex structure as it moved east of our location. The tornado wrapped in rain, but eventually reemerged as a condensed cone near the Barton/Ellsworth county line. We followed the storm to I-70 as it decayed. We then dropped back south on, at the time, tail end charlie. Phenomenal structure was observed with this supercell near Holyrood just before sunset. Several dust whirls were observed with this storm, howerver, visual tornadoes could not be confirmed. We intercepted one final supercell and tornado along I-70 after dark near Chapman, KS. with several power flashes. This tornado was eventually rated a strong EF-3 tornado as it moved through Chapman.
Didn’t plan to chase this day, however a storm developed by mid afternoon near Council Grove, KS moving northeast toward Topeka. Met up with Scott Blair as the storm crossed I-70 but by this time it was much weaker. Observed dime sized hail as it moved north of the interstate along with some picturesque shots as the sun lowered behind the storm. Decided to set up for some sunset opps just east of Lawrence, KS and was treated to some nicely saturated cloud elements as the storms continued to decay. About this time a supercell developed off to the west near Hill City with the anvil quickly spreading eastward. The underside of the anvil glowed bright yellow/orange at sunset illuminating the sky for quite a while.
Katie Burtis and I departed GLD originally targeting Russell where we met up with Scott Blair and Amos Magliocco. However we soon realized the cap presented a potential bust so we quickly readjusted to SW Nebraska for the ongoing convection. We observed three supercell across this area, intercepting the first storm near Elwood, NE. However, it quickly became outflow dominant and we abandoned this storm. We opted to head westward to intercept the persistent activity heading out of NE CO into SW NE. Struggling with poor dirt road conditions, we waited for the storm near Hayes Center, NE to approach our location along Hwy 83 south of Maywood, NE. We observed great mid level structure with this storm as well as verifying 2.50″ hail in the vault region. In addition, as the storm moved east of our location, we had the opportunity to witness the alignment of the 3 left split updrafts. We observed a final supercell in the vicinity of the previous storm along Hwy 83 just after twilight. We verified 3″ diameter hail with this storm as it crossed an abandoned Hwy 83 as well as impressive structure.
Leisurely chase today for Katie Burtis and I beginning the day in GLD with the plan to play the Palmer Divide. Departed around noon and stopped in Burlington to grab a drink and peruse data for a while. As this occurred, observed towering cu just off to the west so decided to keep an eye on it hoping it would have enough to overcome the stout cap. Soon enough, a full fledged supercell developed so we dropped south and east to keep ahead of it. The storm displayed impressive structure for a time with well striated updraft and several laminar tails streaming in. Hearing reports of softball to grapefruit sized hail and observing little signs of tornado potential, decided to drop south for some structure shots. However, as quickly as it developed, it seemed to fizzle as it approached GLD.
Katie Burtis and I observed great structure with the picturesque Julesburg supercell. We initially I targeted near Sidney, NE to start the day watching a couple of towers struggle early on in the vicinity. Met up with Bob Fritchie and Steve Vanderburg here and decided to intercept the cell which had been pulsing near Bridgeport. We soon found a nice view of the updraft region with a decent wall cloud developing NW of Dalton. However, a fairly cold RFD surge quickly wrapped around and squashed any tornadic chances. After observing a few additional RFD surges, we decided to head south for some structure opportunities and was pleasantly surprised at what this storm had become. Very photogenic striations developed as we neared Julesburg with laminar tail eventually feeding in as sunset approached. The lower light angle produced vivid color saturation on the west side of the tilted updraft region. Also of interest was the development of eddies rotating around the outskirts of the meso. Possibly some Kelvin-Helmholtz activity?
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