| 0 | 1.50" | 60 | 727 |
|---|---|---|---|
| TORNADOES | HAIL | WIND | MILES |
A surface front was forecast to setup across Western Nebraska with some troughing in Colorado into New Mexico. Storms were forecast to initiate in the higher terrain and along the boundaries into Nebraska and migrate eastward into the plains throughout the day and evening.
SPC had a broad Slight Risk outlines from the Nebraska Panhandle to Big Bend with a 2% tornado risk on the northern half of the risk area. While synoptically things looked marginal for severe weather, it did look like a potential good structure day, so I decided to play and my initial target was Sidney, where I could adjust if needed.
I left Grand Island around 16z and began the trek westward. A few hours later the SPC issued a mesoscale discussion for the area with the expectation of supercells with large hail and severe winds. I was in Sidney as storms started to fire in the hills and I had to make a decision to play the stuff rolling off the Laramie Range, or move south and try the stuff rolling off the Palmer Divide.
I opted to stay north and drove west to meet the cell coming out of the southeast corner of Wyoming and eventually met up with it at 21z.
This storm continued to drift east southeast and started to weaken, but new development to it’s south became my new target so I reposition to Iliff to catch the second storm coming up.
I continued tracking the storm east as several other cells started popping up around it and all of them started to weaken into a random blob of storms.
As I approached Ogallala on the way home at sunset the sky put on a nice show with a very vibrant double rainbow
Chase Recap
| START | END | DURATION |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Island, NE @ 01/1555Z | Grand Island, NE @ 02/0449Z | 12 hours, 54 minutes |
| INTERCEPTS | CHASER ENCOUNTERS |
|---|---|
| None | None |