2014--Day 9

Day 9

After a late night, it turned into a late morning (per usual).  Today signals my departure.  After navigating the crowd of lady Lutherans gathered for a conference, Gustavo and I enjoyed a quick repast at a chain known widely for its freakishly fast service, where I employed my skills as an Italian grandmother, sneaking chips onto Gus' plate (yes, onto his plate).  Then It was back in the car heading down familiar roads to Denver International Airport, the shortest drive of the entire trip.

I was treated to a modest surprise when I reached the security line, which is often miles long.  Ignoring my caftan and improvised explosives, the TSA agent directed me to the pre-check line, where for the first time since 9/11 I didn't have to disrobe, deshoe, or unpack.  It was the single best airport experience I've had in 13 years.  Now to buy a lottery ticket....

While taxiing in Denver, I noticed some rather impressive thunderstorms to the north.  Fortunately they stayed where they were and allowed us to take off on time.   Still, quite a sight.  I wondered if my partner was chasing them.  (He wasn't.)  As it turned out, he was meeting some friends in the area.  One of the people in the crowd was one of my former students, Dan Adriaansen.  Oddly enough, Dan was in the audience when Gustavo gave his presentation during his Brockport interview in 2007.  It's a frighteningly small world.

Perfect timing...

A while later, we landed in America's oven, known to most others as Phoenix, where the temperature was 'only' 106 F--an absolute arctic outbreak.  It was the first time that I'd heard a pilot ask for the window shades to be lowered after landing.  Can't imagine how much difference it really made, with numerous gaping holes in the aircraft, but I guess it does help a bit, even if it is just psychological.

I thought I had a good boarding number (B13), but Southwest has this policy of allowing families with small children between boarding groups A and B.  It was like the last helicopter out of Saigon, and I was still down in the embassy (or at least its daycare center).  Still managed to snag a window seat, but wound up with a young boy of maybe 8 or 9 next to me.  While this is not usually a problem (he was generally quiet), he had no concept of personal space or sitting still.  If he puts his knee (or the sole of his shoe) on me just one more time, I'm calling a penalty.  Of course, this doesn't include all the other restless wee ones...thank the good Lord (and Bose) for noise-canceling headphones.  (Of course, as I write this, one of the less happy infants has reached the perfect combination of pitch and volume that is incising through them perfectly.)

While we were near Manhattan, KS, I opened the window shade on the plane's port side to witness a very flat anvil to our north, with rather frequent lightning strokes underneath.  While I couldn't judge the distance, it seemed pretty far, as the lightning bolts were fairly small.  They had a way of illuminating the structure beautifully, and you could practically iron clothes on the anvil, it was so flat.  What a wonderful illustration of the concept of the equilibrium level.  The clear dark blue skies above the anvil was sublime.  Unfortunately, I was unable to get a picture of this.  You'll have to couple my words with your imagination.  I thought the lightning shows we saw in the car were spectacular; this was something else entirely.

After roughly four hours in the air, we landed in Buffalo.  The Bataan-like march off the plane ensued, and I was reunited with my bride and son at baggage claim.  The day ended around 3:00 am eastern time, when at long last I crawled into my own bed.

To sum up, we traveled 3,752 miles across five states (Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa) in eight days of chasing, not including the modest travel today.  Shorter by previous chase standards, yes, but still a success in our eyes.  I hope you enjoyed reading this.  See you next time!

2014--Day 8

Another travel day, as we make our way back toward Colorado.  The morning started somewhat early (4:40 am for me) when booming thunder woke me out of a dead sleep.  It had been going on for some time, as my roommate woke around 4 and looked outside at the lightning.  He brought up the radar and saw a severe thunderstorm warning for the cells moving over us.  It must have been nearly over for us by the time it woke me up, as I was out again shortly afterward.

Finally stirred around 10ish, and were on the road out of Huron before noon.  We took the scenic route toward I90, going through Wessington Springs, SD.  Some trees down and some debarked (scary), and other evidence of damage.

Strewn debris

More debris

A former car dealership

Ditto

Once we hit I90, we stopped in Oacomo (which has the distinction of having the highest elevation on this highway), we wet our whistle at Al's Oasis, a Wall Drug wannabe (but neverwillbe).  The food was good, though.  You can never go wrong by taking cheese and deep frying it-just ask my cardiologist.

The amazing thing about this part of America is the view.  As we're driving west on I90, we've been watching a cluster of storms about 50 miles north of the highway, some of which are severe and potentially tornadic.

Rapid City, SD radar, 3:50 pm CDT 19 June 2014

3:14 pm CDT 19 July 2014

3:42 pm CDT 19 July 2014

3:49 pm CDT 19 July 2014

These storms are about 50 miles north of I90.  Simply amazing.

We drove through Rapid City (again) and down through Hot Springs to the south and west into eastern Wyoming.  The terrain (or lack thereof) is astounding.  The vistas are beyond belief.  Hundreds of miles in any direction.  If you've never had the opportunity to see for yourself, you need to. 

Somewhere near Custer State Park, South Dakota

While you're here (and if you're driving west on US18/20 in east-central Wyoming, and let's be honest: why wouldn't you be?), be sure to stop by the bustling metropolis of Lost Springs and say hi to the residents--all four of them.

Cool clouds near Wheatland, WY

Chugwater, WY

We're nearing the end of the driving for the day (thank goodness), and we're commenting on how many counts of insecticide we're guilty of via our windscreen.  Interesting observation: it would appear that most bug guts are clear or white, with occasional instances of red or yellow.

After dinner in Cheyenne, I took over the driving so my partner could find a place to stay for the evening.  Our intent was to stay in Fort Collins, but there were no viable rooms.  Same with Loveland, so we went to Westminster, outside of Denver.  After arriving at the hotel, it turned out that we were double-booked.  The very nice hotelier called another nearby facility and got us a room for the same rate.  As it turned out, a VERY nice room with a jacuzzi tub...and one big bed.  Now I am good friends with the good doctor, and we have spend numerous days and nights together, but neither one of us were particularly jazzed about spending the night together.  A quick call to the front desk cleared up the problem.

Sunset over Cheyenne

A beautiful end...

...to a long day

Turned out to be a very long day...with about seven hours of not getting out of the car.  Total for the day: 713 miles, a new record.  Next stop: Denver International Airport.

2014--Day 7

An interesting day...so much so that I'm writing this on the next day (thanks to Gustavo and his reunion with his drivers license).  It started late (per usual) in Aberdeen.  Gus and I were discussing this earlier, as I'd said it's a good thing we're not firemen (we don't get going quickly enough in the morning).  To our credit, it's much simpler with two (as opposed to 12+--students do add to the experience wonderfully, though), and we've been fortunate to be close enough to the action for the next day.  Nevertheless, we still manage about 400 miles a day.

Looking at the data, it became apparent that the instability was there--CAPE values in some locations were around 7000 J/kg, easily the highest values I've ever personally experienced.  The shear, however, was another matter, appearing to be better organized to the south and slightly west of Aberdeen.  The synoptic setup had an inverted trough intersecting a modest frontal system (a triple point of sorts) in Nebraska, progged to move slowly north and east. 





1.21 gigawatts!  I mean 7000 J/hg!



Note the location of the triple point...

As such, we gassed up (both the car and ourselves) and headed for Mitchell (home of the Corn Palace)...and waited.  For three hours.  THREE (blessed) HOURS.  It was long enough for two bathroom breaks (thank you for the clean facilities, County Fair) and a snack (again, thanks County Fair).  In fact, we waited for the SPC to issue a watch that had been advertised in a previously issued mesoscale discussion.  Said (tornado) watch was issued at 6:25 pm local.  We examined some derived soundings for Mitchell and saw a 5 degree C cap over the area.  7000 J/kg does no good if the cap is too strong.  As such, we headed west and north to chase a potential storm on the southern end of a line. 

We headed north on US281.  This turned out to be a popular option, as we passed a number of chasers along the way.  At one point the Tornado Intercept Vehicle (The Dominator) passed us.  Again, we played the waiting game as the storm passed to our north, which eventually had a tornado warning issued for it.  This particular storm passed through the town of Wessington Springs (population ~850), and did significant damage.  Fortunately, only two people were injured, but 10 businesses suffered damage (five extensively), and at least 25 of the 43 houses that sustained damage were rendered uninhabitable. The official damage survey indicated an EF2 rating.

Look at the anvil on this!

Around 8 pm local we were located near US281 and 236th street, south of the towns of Lane and Alpena.  It was here that we first saw TWO tornadoes on the ground just to the east of US281: the main funnel to the west, and a rope tornado to the east.  The latter did not last for very long, but we were able to chase the main tornado for at least 25 minutes.  It appeared to rope out and reintensify at least once or twice while we chased it. 

Jackpot!

Come on down...

Twins!

Look closely...

Lightning bookended by tornadoes!

Wedge and rope

Just (!) a wedge

Flanking line

Stovepipe tornado

Beautiful structure

A big one!

Losing weight

Thinning...

...and thinning some more

Making a comeback

Coming back to a wedge

Looking good!

In ground contact?

Perhaps.

It went from this...

...to this in 75 seconds.

Roping out?

Looks that way.

Twisty

Anorexic

Get bent.

Or not.

The little tornado that (still) could!

One happy geek!

Two happy geeks!

Anvil mammatus

Your mam(m)a

Still going...

Nearly 30 minutes after the first sightning!

A thing of beauty

The last.

After this tornado petered out, we turned our attention to a supercell that had just split into right- and left-movers.  Oddly enough, the left-moving storm turned out to be the dominant storm (just for you, Leah Smeltzer).  We chased this storm north through Huron, and while it had a well-defined wall cloud, it tried but failed to produce more than a couple of funnel clouds.  While we waited by the side of the road with our blinkers on, no fewer than three cars stopped to see if we were OK (we were).  Very friendly people, South Dakotans.  By this time, it was getting too dark to see (the funnel clouds were only visible by lightning), so we turned around and headed south. 

This one's for Leah.

Our original plan was to head back to Mitchell, but apparently the Corn Palace is such an attraction that it drives hotel prices as high as an elephant's eye.  A quick investigation of Huron hotels produced fruit, and after a visit to the palace for a late dinner, we found our hotel quickly.  The gas station across the street had a pleasant surprise for us, and of course we had to be total geek fanboys.

Bet we got better gas mileage...

This is #3.

Lessons learned:

1. Inverted troughs can be your friend.

2. Especially when they form a triple point with other boundaries.

3. All the CAPE in the world doesn't mean a damn thing if the cap is too strong.

4. If we hadn't waited all that time in the County Fair parking lot, we might not have been in the right place at the right time.

5. This Dominator is registered in Saskatchewan.  Perhaps they refuel at Corner Gas and have a bite at The Ruby whenever they pass through Dog River.

All in all, a great day: 362 miles (short by our standards) and two tornadoes.