May 7, 2010
When I woke up in Oakley this morning, I was shivering. The temperatures dropped big time and it was apparently snowing in Montana. Yikes! Time to head south where it's warmer I think!
We headed to New Mexico today and spent the night in Ft. Sumner, New Mexico at a Super 8. It was still relatively cool out surprisingly, but it was better than further north. Not much happened today. The weather was going to be quiet for a couple days. Dang, think I should start up my stamp collection again?
That night I started looking at the models for a significant setup for Monday in the central plains. This event looked pretty big and it was time to start picking it apart.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Exploring Kansas and Hail Storm
May 6, 2010
Today was possibly going to be a chase day finally. I was starting to go nuts from the ridged out weather. I am very glad I decided to take three weeks this year, since there was nothing during the first week.
A triple point low was developing over Colorado and western Kansas. There was also a dryline bulge, however there were a couple things that were a down side to today's setup... a lack of moisture and the chance that any storm that goes up will be after sunset. It was fairly hot out again today, but it was a dry heat. The skies remained bright blue with not a cloud in sight.
SPC had issued a slight risk with a 2% chance of tornadoes over northwest Kansas. We decided to hang around western Kansas, waiting for the warm front to move north. By mid afternoon, the SPC upgraded the risk of tornadoes to 5%. A boundary was setting up north of us.
To kill some time, the gang decided to visit Monument Rocks, which is located south of Oakley. The rock formations were something to see... from years and years of winds tunneling through this area, carving and shaping these rocks.
After that, we decided to book our rooms in Oakley for the night and go eat dinner at a Pizza Hut. By now, a stratus cloud deck was forming and the temperature was dropping. We went back to our motel rooms to wait for anything to fire.
It was now dark out. I checked my GR Level 3 radar and saw that there were a couple storms to our north, and another one forming just west of Oakley. A few scans later showed the storm rapidly intensifying right over town. I heard distant thunder and went out on the balcony to watch the storm come in. The winds picked up and marble sized hailstones were beginning to fall. I knocked on Scott's door and asked him if he wanted to watch the storm. Ben was out now, putting it all on video. The hail sounded very loud and it was increasing in size. I picked up a one inch stone and was happy to be holding some hail for the first time this year. My SDS was so bad that I rubbed the stone on the side of my face, to cuddle it... Yes folks, breaking news! I am very weird!
Ron told me he was gonna take off to core punch it soon. A few minutes went by, and I couldn't find David nor Ron! The hail must have been so loud I could not hear them call me telling they were leaving. Ben and I went to the first level to take some more video. A car alarm that sounded like Scott's was going off because of the hail. It was starting to cover the ground. Scott checked his van to make sure it was okay. Apparently one of the hailstones cracked the passenger side mirror down the middle.
As fast as it came, it went. The storm poofed on radar just east of Oakley. I never got to chase anything but at least it was entertaining to see a brief hailstorm right at the motel.
Today was possibly going to be a chase day finally. I was starting to go nuts from the ridged out weather. I am very glad I decided to take three weeks this year, since there was nothing during the first week.
A triple point low was developing over Colorado and western Kansas. There was also a dryline bulge, however there were a couple things that were a down side to today's setup... a lack of moisture and the chance that any storm that goes up will be after sunset. It was fairly hot out again today, but it was a dry heat. The skies remained bright blue with not a cloud in sight.
SPC had issued a slight risk with a 2% chance of tornadoes over northwest Kansas. We decided to hang around western Kansas, waiting for the warm front to move north. By mid afternoon, the SPC upgraded the risk of tornadoes to 5%. A boundary was setting up north of us.
To kill some time, the gang decided to visit Monument Rocks, which is located south of Oakley. The rock formations were something to see... from years and years of winds tunneling through this area, carving and shaping these rocks.
After that, we decided to book our rooms in Oakley for the night and go eat dinner at a Pizza Hut. By now, a stratus cloud deck was forming and the temperature was dropping. We went back to our motel rooms to wait for anything to fire.
It was now dark out. I checked my GR Level 3 radar and saw that there were a couple storms to our north, and another one forming just west of Oakley. A few scans later showed the storm rapidly intensifying right over town. I heard distant thunder and went out on the balcony to watch the storm come in. The winds picked up and marble sized hailstones were beginning to fall. I knocked on Scott's door and asked him if he wanted to watch the storm. Ben was out now, putting it all on video. The hail sounded very loud and it was increasing in size. I picked up a one inch stone and was happy to be holding some hail for the first time this year. My SDS was so bad that I rubbed the stone on the side of my face, to cuddle it... Yes folks, breaking news! I am very weird!
Ron told me he was gonna take off to core punch it soon. A few minutes went by, and I couldn't find David nor Ron! The hail must have been so loud I could not hear them call me telling they were leaving. Ben and I went to the first level to take some more video. A car alarm that sounded like Scott's was going off because of the hail. It was starting to cover the ground. Scott checked his van to make sure it was okay. Apparently one of the hailstones cracked the passenger side mirror down the middle.
As fast as it came, it went. The storm poofed on radar just east of Oakley. I never got to chase anything but at least it was entertaining to see a brief hailstorm right at the motel.
Thursday, May 06, 2010
Travel day back to the land of Oz
May 5, 2010
Today was a travel day up to Kansas. The day remained fairly uneventful as we pulled up into a Super 8 in Liberal early in the evening for a good night's sleep and hours spent analyzing the models for tomorrow.
Today was a travel day up to Kansas. The day remained fairly uneventful as we pulled up into a Super 8 in Liberal early in the evening for a good night's sleep and hours spent analyzing the models for tomorrow.
Wednesday, May 05, 2010
A Magical Place
May 4, 2010
I couldn't sleep anymore. I tossed and turned, and looked at the time. 7am. We wouldn't be departing for a few more hours yet. Well, I guess it was time for a shower and a hot breakfast which I had missed yesterday! I had a relaxing morning, taking short walks around the parking lot and taking pictures of birds.
Today was going to be a down day, so we decided to kill some time and work our way to Amarillo. The winds were really hauling from the south today... it was very toasty, almost reaching 90 F but at least it was a dry heat. I thought today would be a great day to make a trip down to the Palo Duro Canyon, since we had blue sky.
We made a stop in Weatherford, OK for a quick snack and Ben also needed a new piece for his camcorder microphone because it broke off. I decided to get a sundae and of course it started melting all over me. I was wearing my camera around my neck and the ice cream just had to drip on it. Okay I get it already! I will never eat ice cream with my camera again! Last year I managed to get melted chocolate on my lens. Maybe I should just not eat anything that will melt in hot weather period. We hung around here for a while and took off to the west again.
We made a stop at an Allsups outside of Amarillo to fill up on gas, so of course I had to do the chaser tradition of grabbing a burrito. Oh dear! Let the "rear flankage" begin! The southerly winds were still blowing pretty hard, which got me pretty excited. Those winds are going to bring back the much needed moisture from the Gulf of Mexico for potential chase days later this week and next week. The atmosphere was recharging!
The Palo Duro Canyon State Park is located south of Amarillo and is only $5 to get in. Holy cow. Just taking the first glimpse of this magnificent terrain was worth the fee. We got out of the van to take it all in... cliffs of red, with touches of green under a bright blue sky was simply eye candy. Then the peaceful silence was broken with first "pfffffffttttt!". Oh no... my Allsups burrito was making a come back!
After taking a bunch of pics we took a road to lead further down into the canyon. There were a lot of great places to stop along the way. We climbed up some of the rocks, took pictures and continued on, only to stop again and take more pictures. Really, it is so beautiful words cannot describe it. You have to be there yourself to experience this wonder of nature.
The roadway eventually lead to an area where a small river was overflowing and running across the roadway. Hmmmm. Ben and I saw a photo opportunity and got out of Scott's van. First, Ron went. Splaaaaaaash! Then it was Scott's turn. Splaaaaash! Weeeee let's do this again! Splaaaaash some more! The two vehicles went up the road a bit to turn around. While Ben and I were waiting for them to come back, I let another one rip... louder this time while Ben was filming! Ben and I looked at each other and started howling, bent over holding our guts. I coulda sworn our laughing was echoing off the canyon walls and someone could hear us. The vehicles came back and we continued further down the road, only to say "Holy crap!" and stop some more.
The colours, formations and wildlife were quite amazing. By now the temperature was close to 100F and I was sweating! I already had polished off a couple bottles of water. The road looped back around to the end, so it was time to go get something to chew on. After all that sight seeing, we were pretty hungry!
We had a steak dinner at The Big Texan in Amarillo and spent the night at La Kiva Hotel. It was certainly a nice way to spend a down day. We had met kind people and saw great scenery. The caprock is truly a magical place.
I couldn't sleep anymore. I tossed and turned, and looked at the time. 7am. We wouldn't be departing for a few more hours yet. Well, I guess it was time for a shower and a hot breakfast which I had missed yesterday! I had a relaxing morning, taking short walks around the parking lot and taking pictures of birds.
Today was going to be a down day, so we decided to kill some time and work our way to Amarillo. The winds were really hauling from the south today... it was very toasty, almost reaching 90 F but at least it was a dry heat. I thought today would be a great day to make a trip down to the Palo Duro Canyon, since we had blue sky.
We made a stop in Weatherford, OK for a quick snack and Ben also needed a new piece for his camcorder microphone because it broke off. I decided to get a sundae and of course it started melting all over me. I was wearing my camera around my neck and the ice cream just had to drip on it. Okay I get it already! I will never eat ice cream with my camera again! Last year I managed to get melted chocolate on my lens. Maybe I should just not eat anything that will melt in hot weather period. We hung around here for a while and took off to the west again.
We made a stop at an Allsups outside of Amarillo to fill up on gas, so of course I had to do the chaser tradition of grabbing a burrito. Oh dear! Let the "rear flankage" begin! The southerly winds were still blowing pretty hard, which got me pretty excited. Those winds are going to bring back the much needed moisture from the Gulf of Mexico for potential chase days later this week and next week. The atmosphere was recharging!
The Palo Duro Canyon State Park is located south of Amarillo and is only $5 to get in. Holy cow. Just taking the first glimpse of this magnificent terrain was worth the fee. We got out of the van to take it all in... cliffs of red, with touches of green under a bright blue sky was simply eye candy. Then the peaceful silence was broken with first "pfffffffttttt!". Oh no... my Allsups burrito was making a come back!
After taking a bunch of pics we took a road to lead further down into the canyon. There were a lot of great places to stop along the way. We climbed up some of the rocks, took pictures and continued on, only to stop again and take more pictures. Really, it is so beautiful words cannot describe it. You have to be there yourself to experience this wonder of nature.
The roadway eventually lead to an area where a small river was overflowing and running across the roadway. Hmmmm. Ben and I saw a photo opportunity and got out of Scott's van. First, Ron went. Splaaaaaaash! Then it was Scott's turn. Splaaaaash! Weeeee let's do this again! Splaaaaash some more! The two vehicles went up the road a bit to turn around. While Ben and I were waiting for them to come back, I let another one rip... louder this time while Ben was filming! Ben and I looked at each other and started howling, bent over holding our guts. I coulda sworn our laughing was echoing off the canyon walls and someone could hear us. The vehicles came back and we continued further down the road, only to say "Holy crap!" and stop some more.
The colours, formations and wildlife were quite amazing. By now the temperature was close to 100F and I was sweating! I already had polished off a couple bottles of water. The road looped back around to the end, so it was time to go get something to chew on. After all that sight seeing, we were pretty hungry!
We had a steak dinner at The Big Texan in Amarillo and spent the night at La Kiva Hotel. It was certainly a nice way to spend a down day. We had met kind people and saw great scenery. The caprock is truly a magical place.
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Now's the time to relax
May 3, 2010
After checking the forecast models and getting a good night's sleep, the crew picked up David from France in Oklahoma City around noon today. The models were showing a rather quiet period for a few days this week due to a lack of moisture, and by mid-week, the GFS has been hinting at a possible chase for the central plains. I have been eyeing that system for over a week now, and the GFS has been somewhat consistent with it... there is definitely something there. Plus there would be a couple of quiet days before next week, when there is a sign of a very active chase period to be had!
Today we decided to play with a very marginal setup west of Dallas, TX. By marginal, I mean not even reaching severe limits. What the heck, we are down here and on vacation! Afterall, you can't win if you don't play the game. After picking up David, we headed south on I35. A cold front was sweeping by, which could trigger some thunderstorms around the Dallas area. I was hoping we could at least get some lightning shots at best or maybe even run into some hail.
When we were west of Flower Mound, we pulled over. I loaded the radar and a surface observation map on the laptop. The cold front was near us now, and a small line of non severe thunderstorms sprang up just west of where we were. I looked out the front windshield and saw a CG, followed by a rumble of thunder. I got out of the car and was very grateful to smell that "thunderstorm" smell once again while standing in the blowing wind. You have no idea how good that feels after not having seen any storms for quite a while! Okay I admit, I must seem very weird to you non storm chaser folk! I decided to grab my Kestrel and take some wind readings. The max gusts reached 20 knots.
Unfortunately this was all to be had today. The cold front was hauling due east, and the storms would not build any further. It was time to head back to Oklahoma City for the night at the Days Inn, once again.
We finally have Spotter Network working again. Darn technology, geesh.
After checking the forecast models and getting a good night's sleep, the crew picked up David from France in Oklahoma City around noon today. The models were showing a rather quiet period for a few days this week due to a lack of moisture, and by mid-week, the GFS has been hinting at a possible chase for the central plains. I have been eyeing that system for over a week now, and the GFS has been somewhat consistent with it... there is definitely something there. Plus there would be a couple of quiet days before next week, when there is a sign of a very active chase period to be had!
Today we decided to play with a very marginal setup west of Dallas, TX. By marginal, I mean not even reaching severe limits. What the heck, we are down here and on vacation! Afterall, you can't win if you don't play the game. After picking up David, we headed south on I35. A cold front was sweeping by, which could trigger some thunderstorms around the Dallas area. I was hoping we could at least get some lightning shots at best or maybe even run into some hail.
When we were west of Flower Mound, we pulled over. I loaded the radar and a surface observation map on the laptop. The cold front was near us now, and a small line of non severe thunderstorms sprang up just west of where we were. I looked out the front windshield and saw a CG, followed by a rumble of thunder. I got out of the car and was very grateful to smell that "thunderstorm" smell once again while standing in the blowing wind. You have no idea how good that feels after not having seen any storms for quite a while! Okay I admit, I must seem very weird to you non storm chaser folk! I decided to grab my Kestrel and take some wind readings. The max gusts reached 20 knots.
Unfortunately this was all to be had today. The cold front was hauling due east, and the storms would not build any further. It was time to head back to Oklahoma City for the night at the Days Inn, once again.
We finally have Spotter Network working again. Darn technology, geesh.
Friday, March 12, 2010
2010 Update
Okay, it's been almost a year since I last updated this poorly neglected blog of mine. I just thought I'd mention that I finally updated my main website www.laurawx.com. I added a bunch of photos from 2008 and 2009, as well as some storm art I've made. So feel free to check it out if you're interested. And if not, well you suck LOL!
I will be heading south to tornado alley once again this season with Ron Gravelle, starting May 1st. We will be staying down for a whole three weeks of hardcore storm chasing. We will chase like we have never chased before. I will take pictures and/or video like I have never before. Well, assuming that mother nature cooperates haha. It can't be any worse than last year, could it? Close up pictures and videos are neat to watch, but please remember to keep safety as your number one priority. Having said that, I wish all of you a very fun filled and safe 2010 storm chase season.
And if you haven't already, be sure to check out the Debris Show hosted by Shane Adams, Bridget Geaughan, David Reimer and Erik Burns, which is on every Saturday at 9pm Central (assuming they are not chasing of course). Topics range from recent storm chasing community news, issues, opinions, etc. Shane tells it like it is!
I will be heading south to tornado alley once again this season with Ron Gravelle, starting May 1st. We will be staying down for a whole three weeks of hardcore storm chasing. We will chase like we have never chased before. I will take pictures and/or video like I have never before. Well, assuming that mother nature cooperates haha. It can't be any worse than last year, could it? Close up pictures and videos are neat to watch, but please remember to keep safety as your number one priority. Having said that, I wish all of you a very fun filled and safe 2010 storm chase season.
And if you haven't already, be sure to check out the Debris Show hosted by Shane Adams, Bridget Geaughan, David Reimer and Erik Burns, which is on every Saturday at 9pm Central (assuming they are not chasing of course). Topics range from recent storm chasing community news, issues, opinions, etc. Shane tells it like it is!
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