Storm Chase Log 11th May 2005

[Paul Sherman]

Sorry about the lack of pictures at the mo, we are having big prob's with the speed of the internet so pics and report will follow. Severe overnight storms and 12 inches of rain have stopped us from posting But todays report (which is worth it believe me) will appear soon.

Paul Sherman

[Guest Sir Seany]

Sorry about the lack of pictures at the mo, we are having big prob's with the speed of the internet so pics and report will follow. Severe overnight storms and 12 inches of rain have stopped us from posting But todays report (which is worth it believe me) will appear soon.

Paul Sherman

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes there were some nifty storms in the north mid-west yesterday!

Here is yesterdays staellite image showing the cloud and storms over the area...

I am saving each satellite image for each day you are there by the way

Sean B)

[kold weather]

Hi Paul,yeah indeed there was some impressive storms about yesterday.All thanks to that area off shallow low pressure moving eastwards(great image from Sean there which shows it nicely)giving some massive levels off helicity and so I wouldn't be suprised if some strong supercells to form,and also a few Tornadoes as well,with prehaps just abit more cape wouldn't have gone amiss mind,but it was a good plume from the gulf with Dew ponts reaching about 18-20C and temps heading upwards off 28C it certainly not suprising to see that you got 12 inches off rain!

(edit:heres a image at present off a line off fairly heavy showers over both Iowa and also over Oklahoma,with cell tops reaching 47,000 feet,heres two images from that region,these cells certainly are very potent and will give torrential downpours:

Edited May 12, 2005 by kold weather

[Kent Snow]

Blimey 12" of Rain. Can hardly imagine such intense and persisent rainfall.

Certainly seem as if you caught some quality action.

All the best chaps, keep safe and enjoying your chase.

Mark

[Paul Sherman]

Well guys here goes. Left Wahoo (Ne) at 930am, cells are firing already so we should be on the target already. Target area is just South to the Kansas/Nebraska border where a high risk of tornadoes has been forecast. Stopped at Lebanon just inside the Kansas border and convection is kicking off at 2pm. Temp is now 85f and dew point 65. A warning has gone out for Supercell thunderstorms on the radio 50-100 miles south of interstate 80, our position at present is 66 miles South Tornado warnings gone out at 330pm for Jewell County (Ks) and Webster County (Ne), we are watching a huge cell grow and decide this is the one, we are now in Webster County. We are currently just to the South East of this cell and watch a wall cloud develop with beavers tail, a tornado could drop at any moment, the rotation above our heads is immense. Move to 3 miles south of Blue Hill. Unfortunately no tornado dropped from this cell we tracked it north and east. To the North of us this cell is dropping Baseball size hail in Hastings which has just received 5 inches of rain. We now decide to head west to Alta on the I80 to intercept new cells moving up. We have to take cover under a shelter with other cars from Golf ball sized hail and straight line winds of 60-90 mph. At one point we thought the shelter would give way. Ian said it may have been Rfd (Rear Flank Downdraft). We pictured storm damage after the cell had passed (Matt will pot pics) Tree on Car and snapped branches. Ended up in Grand Island (Ne) with Multiple cells continuing to form. This is where more fun came a new storm with 2" hail came right for us so we decided to sit in the car and had to move the car under a shelter when the hail became too big (The sound on my Video Recorder in deafening) In the end Grand island has received 12" of rain and lots of places are flooded, worst floods ever, residents are being evacuated from reports. Target area tomorrow is way south to Kansas/Ok border but our journey was inhibited by floods and road closures where bridges had gone.

Matt will post pics of Wall cloud and Storm Damage.

Paul Sherman

[Paul Sherman]

POSTED BY CHASERUK

As promised a few pictures from the chase on 11th - not a bad day and from my own point of view - I saw the largest hail and strongest RFD winds - it was what a Hurricane is like! Anyway, the pics are as follows:

Pic 1 - initiation! Located at the Geographical centre of the USA!

Pic 2 - a few small towers go up and by small I mean HUGE by our standards.

Pic 3 - the wall cloud with Baron's indicated and NWS Tornado Warned Meso on it.

Pic 4 - a pic of Baron's to confirm our location via GPS (small white brick) to the SE of the MESO (red circle).

Pic 5 - updraft rotating region of the Supercell.

Edited May 13, 2005 by Paul Sherman

[Paul Sherman]

Pic 6 - amazing outer edge of the supercell's main updraft region.

Pic 7 - some storm damage from the cell with RFD that slammed us with approx 90-100mph winds a few minutes earlier.

Edited May 13, 2005 by Paul Sherman

[SteveB]

Pic 6 look amazing, Right on the edge of a fantastic storm.

[The PIT]

Of all the trees in all the car parks of the world I had to park next to that one.

Good pics guys

[Paul R]

WOW! Absolutely lovely.