Another local chase presented itself on June 18th as a low pressure was expected to meander across Central Nebraska with an attendant stationary front draped east/west north of Omaha with low 70° dewpoints pooling south of the front. Meanwhile a shortwave impulse was progged to track into northeastern Nebraska triggering scattered thunderstorms.
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June 17th and 18th presented a couple of relatively local chase opportunities in Nebraska for me. A surface low in northeastern Colorado and a stalled front extending east from there into Nebraska along the Platte River Valley presented a decent opportunity for severe weather.
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The final day of my 2018 chase vacation and it appeared that there might be a decent shot at some gorgeous storms in the Black Hills area of western South Dakota. I spent the previous night in Spearfish and sat around there for most of the morning waiting to see if I’d need to move south or not.
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After a stunning chase near Laramie, I drove up to Buffalo, Wyoming expecting to play in Montana on the 7th. After reviewing data in the morning I had two targets in mind: the northern play up by Billings where higher dewpoints were expected along the US 212/I-94 corridor but a quick transition to linear mode was expected; or stay in northeastern Wyoming where a chance at more discrete storms in lower boundary moisture was a possibility.
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After the last chase on the 3rd in New Mexico proved somewhat successful, I spent the 4th repositioning north from New Mexico to South Dakota. The plan was to chase North Dakota on the 5th, but despite a 2% tornado risk near Bismarck, that day ended up being a bust. I drove from Bismarck to Rapid City that evening and planned to chase the I-25 corridor in Wyoming on the 6th. I just didn’t know whether it would be northern or southern Wyoming.
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