Day Ten

Today is a travel day.  While there is a slight risk of development here and to the north and east, the forecast conditions are less favorable than they were yesterday.  Don’t think any of us were in the mood to chase clusters again (they can be as bad as convective lines).  Sadly this means we are moving west of the area (no visits to Columbia or St. Louis), as we are heading for northwestern Kansas to be in position for potential High Plains storms on Saturday.  Unfortunately this means a looooong drive on I70 across most of Kansas.

We drove through Holt, Missouri, site of a very heavy rain event back in the 1940s or 1950s—12 inches of rain fell in less than an hour.  The reason I remember this is that it was the subject of the first paper I was ever asked to review (February 1995).

While eating lunch, Whitney told me the quote of the day in his car.  He had Science Friday on the radio when one of the 20-something students asked what he was listening to.  ‘NPR,’ he replied.  The student then asked, ‘What’s NPR?’  (To be fair, when the question was posed to our car, the reaction was somewhat similar.)  Nevertheless, it was still a bit surprising.  Just shows how old we really are.

Drove through Topeka, KS for the first time.  Every mile west on I70 is the farthest west I’ve been in Kansas.  About halfway through the state the terrain switches from a beautiful, rolling landscape to a flat prairie that seems to extend forever.  BTW, nothing but wall-to-wall sunshine here, but there is severe weather in central Missouri (Columbia!).  It’s mainly in clusters, which would be difficult to chase.

As long as the drive was, it wasn’t as bad as you might think, as the conversation was loud, raucous, and fun.  Arrived in Colby, Kansas a bit before 8 pm.  Looks like we’ll be chasing the Front Range for the next day or so.  Unless things change, it looks like Monday and Tuesday will be park days, The end is in sight, for better or for worse, and while we’re probably all ready for it, I think this has been a great experience so far.