Recently in Lightning Category

I got on the road Saturday afternoon, left Flagstaff, drove most of the night, and made it to eastern Nebraska by Sunday late afternoon.

I'll try to do a more detailed summary later with more photos. (I'm extremely worn out.)

After checking models and spc discussion each time I stopped to fuel up, I decided I would head to the warm front. Unfortunately, eastern Nebraska turned out to be a wasteland of uncooperative cloud streets. The cap wasn't budging there at all. I figured I was going to have a complete bust on my first day out. But then inhibition started to part in South Dakota, a few storms started to blossom. Most were too far to consider, but a small, fresh one was within reach, so I raced north. As I got closer, I realized the cap had clamped down and nothing was left but an orphan anvil.

I kept going north, just in case, and was suprised by a view of a new tower going up on the other side of the Missouri river, half-lit by the coppery light of the setting sun.

Satellite view showing my target storm as a bright blip in the far south-southeast corner of South Dakota. (Note the only tornado-producing cell in the south-central part of the state--too far out of reach.)

The new tower was farther north than I thought, and was moving north at about 25 knots. I decided not to keep chasing it in the dark, so I broke off, satisfied to see it sputter with lightning as it drifted away. At least I got a distant storm and some lightning for day 1.

I fueled up again and did some supply shopping. Afterward, as I drove to a section of gravel roads south of Mitchell, SD to park for the night, I was overwhelmed by nonstop lightning behind me. I pulled over to figure out where it was coming from. Sprawled out to my west was a huge, sculpted shelf cloud, gaping with rain, wind and lightning--and it was visibly expanding in my direction. I didn't want to get the car golf-balled, so I raced down the dirt roads, going after a good north-south paved road. Along the way, I made some brief stops to photograph this majestic thing.

At one stop alongside a small lake, the sound of katydids, frogs and other nocturnal creatures blended in with the non-stop thunder of the approaching storm. It was wonderful. As I continued south and east, I realized the entire gust front was going to chase me into Missouri if I let it. So I hunkered down in a farm field access and embraced the drenching rain and unceasing lightning. It was an amazing way to end the day.

Radar showing my position with the approaching gust front.

Lessons Learned

• Argh. Just play closer to the triple point--don't get creative with points further out along the warm front.
• The cap likes to be stronger further south.
• A shorter focal length lens would be nice for capturing massive gust fronts and shelf clouds.
• After night fall, shut off the car, get outside and enjoy the sights and sounds of lightning, thunder, and wildlife.

Day 1 - Night Storms in South Dakota

Day 2 - Anticipating Initiation in South Dakota

Day 3 - Positioning Practice in Kansas

Day 4 - Tough Decisions in Kansas

Day 3 in Kansas was a bit of a bust for us. As we drove south through Nebraska, we found ourselves behind the TIV crew as the dryline was beginning to brew in western Kansas/Eastern Colorado.

As we dropped south toward Hoxie, Kansas, cells were beginning to go severe. We noticed a caravan of chasers heading west toward Colby. However, a couple frames of radar convinced me not to head west, but to continue south and then east in hopes of heading off a storm that I thought was turning right. It was a huge mistake. Shortly after that last radar loop, the cell I was watching was consumed by another to its west. From then on all storms that exploded along the dryline raced almost directly north at 40 to 50 mph. By then, I had placed us 75 miles too far to the east. Soooo stupid. Meanwhile spotters were reporting tornadoes along the dryline, screaming northward. I tried to salvage the situation, heading north and west to try and catch something--anything, but it was too late. By the time we reached the conveyor belt near Atwood, the sun was setting, and it was getting to hazardous to intercept.

So we hung out on US-36 listening to radio reports and catching radar whenever we could get a connection. As night fell, a couple tornado warned supercells lit up the sky, moving up from south. As the storms crossed north of our road, we had a clear view of their structure as they were almost continuously illuminated by lightning.

Although we missed out on any tornadoes, I learned some lessons about forecasting storm motion, and being cautious about how much I bet a sizable drive away from the boundary on just a couple frames of radar. And we did get a stunning light show to cap the day.

SPC Report for May 23, 2010

Chase Vacation Reports

• Chase Vacation Summary
• Chase Day 1 - Lingle-Lusk, Wyoming
• Chase Day 2 - Bowdle, South Dakota
• Chase Day 3 - Northwest Kansas
• Chase Day 4 - Goodland, Kansas

We've enjoyed some evening lightning lately--the best kind of fireworks.

This first shot was from Edmond, Oklahoma on August 5, 2009. While sitting outside, we watched as a line of anxious cumulus to the north finally pushed their way through the cap and sprouted a healthy storm. The frequent and constant lightning illuminated the crisp, sculpted edges of the cloud and occasionally revealed bright stitching as warped streamers fell from the sides.

Click image for larger version.

This next shot was taken from home earlier this evening as a storm was pushed north by a line of convection along the Mogollon Rim. Flagstaff doesn't often see evening lightning displays since the storms fire up earlier in the day before racing off to the lower elevations leaving more stable air behind for the rest of the night. That wasn't the case tonight and we saw some brilliant webs of light igniting the sky to the south.

Click image for larger version.