Month: May 2013

29 May
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May 29, 2013 – Western Kansas

stratosigma / Blog, Storm Chasing / / 0 Comments

The 29th through 31st was a decent looking setup, enough to draw me out from Michigan into the Plains for a go. A negatively tilted trough positioned over the high plains was expected to eject out across the Plains for the next few days. Stronger bands of H5 winds were expected along the dryline from southwestern Nebraska into western Oklahoma. A strengthening surface low in southwest Kansas would help back winds across the warm sector and in the vicinity of the dryline. A nocturnal low level jet was progged to strengthen and would cause increased tornadic potential for any storms that could push off the dryline.
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20 May
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May 20, 2013 – Missing Moore

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Today was the final chase day of a four day excursion which included some beautiful tornadoes near Rozel followed by a couple frustrating chase days.  The 19th proved to be a rough day as we may have squeaked out two tornadoes, but nothing terribly photogenic. We awoke the day in Okmulgee after the hairy chase the prior day and knew we were probably going to be heading southwest towards OKC, maybe even south of there. We took off from Okmulgee just before noon and made the trek westward on I-40.
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19 May
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May 19, 2013 – Welty, Oklahoma Tornado

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Chased, again, with Jonathan Williamson, Jeremy Degenhart and Alec Scholten. We stayed in Emporia the night before and our target area for the day was somewhere along the KS/OK border east of I-35, including the dreaded Osage County. Nevertheless, we were ready to roll and departed the hotel around 11am and bolted down the turnpike. We were originally watching a remnant outflow boundary that was drifting north as a possible area for initiation and increased tornadic potential. As we continued south it became harder and harder to see that boundary on satellite so we turned to watching for subtle wind shifts in the METAR data.
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18 May
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May 18, 2013 – Rozel, Kansas Tornadoes

stratosigma / Blog, Storm Chasing / / 0 Comments

Today was the start of three heightened days of severe weather in The Plains. It looked like severe storms and tornadoes were likely all three days from Central Kansas into Central Oklahoma. We had spent the night in North Platte, NE and needed to get on the road early to get to our target of Dodge City, Kansas. We left North Platte shortly after 9am and hit the road south. SPC had issued a moderate risk for severe weather with 10% hatched tornado probabilities across our target area.
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17 May
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May 17, 2013 – Winner, South Dakota

stratosigma / Blog, Storm Chasing / / 0 Comments

The 17th was day 1 of a 4 day chase excursion. A broad upper trough was working its way onshore across the western states and this was the first day its influence could be felt in the Plains. I had driven out from Michigan the day before and spent the night in Sioux Falls, SD. The plan was to play south-central South Dakota for the slight opportunity at supercells and maybe a tornado.
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