2015--Day 3

Started the day in unearly fashion in Ellis, KS.  While checking some weather data, I noticed this set of instructions, which really brings me back...to 1996 (look closely at the last line).

It's a gorgeous spring day, mild and somewhat dry, the kind of perfect day that I would have killed for in mid-summer St Louis...unless you're trying to chase storms.  We decided to launch a test balloon to see what it takes to make the system work.  After a great deal of wailing and gnashing of teeth, the myriad parts spoke with each other and off the balloon went.  The low-level winds are weak, so the balloon didn't drift a lot from where it was launched.  Interesting, but no good for storms.  There was really good veering (southerly winds to northerly winds), but still, weak winds = poor storm chances.  After the balloon reached 200 hPa, we called it and loaded up.  All told, it took about 2+ hours from start to finish.  Hopefully the next launch will be more streamlined.  Now it's off to Hays for some training.

We sat in on a PECAN briefing, a project where what seems like 493 scientists are converging on the Plains to study nocturnal elevated convection.  The parking lot of Fort Hays State University is littered with instrumented trucks and mobile Doppler radars.  Afterward, we trained on mobile mesonet pod deployment and picked up a scout vehicle.  The hope is to deploy a set of weather instruments along the way as we chase.  

After spending several hours on the training, we're aiming for Kearney, NE for the evening.  After a wonderful meal in Hays, we were on our way out of town when we drove past another fantastic example of that Kansas sense of humor: an 'adult' store named Ticklers.

All in all, a long day but a short drive, about 150 miles.  Let's hope for good storms on the first real chase day.