Our first true chase day . . .
We headed west on I-70 from Salina on the morning of day 9 (May 22). After the previous two days of waiting, waiting, waiting, we were hoping that we at least did not have to do any more sitting around. Eastern Colorado looked like the place to be, as the SPC had issued a slight risk area in the vicinity. The setup didn't look extremely great for supercell formation, but it looked like we might get to see some storms.
We crossed the Colorado state line, and I was hoping that we might make it far west enough to get a glimpse of the Front Range of the Rockies. We didn't, but we were able to get a nice view of a line of storms that was too far to our west to be able to chase. So we began to head north in order to position ourselves in front of the area where storms seemed to be forming to the west. We stopped in Wray, Colorado, for a little break at a gas station, and while we were there we thought me might make a stop in the Wray City Park.
Wray City Park wasn't nearly as cool as Winfield City Park, but thankfully we didn't have to stay there nearly as long. We got out of the vans and within ten minutes we began to notice a tower going up near us. Finally, it looked like we were going to see a real thunderstorm!!! After watching the storm develop from the park for several minutes, we jumped in the vans and started to chase.
The storm wasn't anything special, but we were able to position ourselves so that it was definitely nice to look at. The view of the spreading anvil from underneath the storm was awesome and we got to experience some nice wind gusts from the inflow. The storm began to weaken, and another one was forming further north, so we headed towards it. Once we had positioned ourselves to the east of the second storm we pulled over on the side of the road to watch it. There was no threat of a tornado, and we were originally going to try to "core punch" the storm (drive towards the center of the storm so we could experience some hail), but the road network in the area would not allow us to do that.
The view of the storm was nice, as the sun was beginning to set, and we even were able to find a few mammatus clouds in the storm. That was about it though, and as the storm began to weaken we headed towards North Platte, Nebraska, to stay for the night.
Drew and two friends looking at the storm in Wray...
In the background, the second storm of the day...
Next time . . . day 10 (the day we had all been waiting for)
We headed west on I-70 from Salina on the morning of day 9 (May 22). After the previous two days of waiting, waiting, waiting, we were hoping that we at least did not have to do any more sitting around. Eastern Colorado looked like the place to be, as the SPC had issued a slight risk area in the vicinity. The setup didn't look extremely great for supercell formation, but it looked like we might get to see some storms.
We crossed the Colorado state line, and I was hoping that we might make it far west enough to get a glimpse of the Front Range of the Rockies. We didn't, but we were able to get a nice view of a line of storms that was too far to our west to be able to chase. So we began to head north in order to position ourselves in front of the area where storms seemed to be forming to the west. We stopped in Wray, Colorado, for a little break at a gas station, and while we were there we thought me might make a stop in the Wray City Park.
Wray City Park wasn't nearly as cool as Winfield City Park, but thankfully we didn't have to stay there nearly as long. We got out of the vans and within ten minutes we began to notice a tower going up near us. Finally, it looked like we were going to see a real thunderstorm!!! After watching the storm develop from the park for several minutes, we jumped in the vans and started to chase.
The storm wasn't anything special, but we were able to position ourselves so that it was definitely nice to look at. The view of the spreading anvil from underneath the storm was awesome and we got to experience some nice wind gusts from the inflow. The storm began to weaken, and another one was forming further north, so we headed towards it. Once we had positioned ourselves to the east of the second storm we pulled over on the side of the road to watch it. There was no threat of a tornado, and we were originally going to try to "core punch" the storm (drive towards the center of the storm so we could experience some hail), but the road network in the area would not allow us to do that.
The view of the storm was nice, as the sun was beginning to set, and we even were able to find a few mammatus clouds in the storm. That was about it though, and as the storm began to weaken we headed towards North Platte, Nebraska, to stay for the night.
Drew and two friends looking at the storm in Wray...
In the background, the second storm of the day...
Next time . . . day 10 (the day we had all been waiting for)