Storm Chasing USA 2008

Discussion of weather and climate outside of NZ's waters. Australian weather, tropical cyclones and USA storm chasing feature here.
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Willoughby
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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Really just amazing yet another town has been levelled from tornadoes.. and this was an EF5!

Went to Greensburg waiting for initiation and they're still a while from getting sorted. The people were quite humble and said the town was very lucky in that it only took 11 lives. Though the people there and in the area are getting very paranoid about the threats from severe weather. Later that day they were on a tornado warning. Big chaser convergance there too probably got it even scarier for them.

Pics from Greensburg, 26 May...
Noticed big gaping holes from people selling their land and getting out, though there are some blocks of good development, and a monument at the Big Well which is quite impressive actually as you can still look down even though it's blocked off.
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NZstorm
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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Re Greensburg, I went back to the same street I had photographed in last year. Both photos here taken from the same street corner. Notice same tree in the pics.
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Manukau heads obs
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

sure was a severe prunning!
I think someone said it would take 25 years for the trees to get back to their former glory?
ps, I see that there was straight line winds of 95mph recorded with that Iowa tornado!
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Willoughby
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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May 25 - central Kansas

Was a good day this day, we picked the right storm and watched it wall cloud early. Found 3.25 inch (baseball sized) hail on the road and saw 3 tornadoes.
Photos: Wall cloud #1 @ 3.25pm, tried very hard to form a tornado but didn't. Wall cloud #2 @ 4.11pm, which did eventually produce a brief pencil tornado. Amazing structure as it crossed the road in front of us! Wall cloud #3 @ 5.23pm, also tried very hard to rope out but didn't. I missed the other two tornadoes as I had the wide angle lens on. Ian might have some footage I can grab off him. Last photo shows the gust front from the supercell at 5.39pm.

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Well today WAS going to be our rest day or relocation into southern Nebraska.. but a SLIGHT risk has called us into New Mexico.. and now a tornado watch has been issued for a large portion of the state...
DISCUSSION...FAVORABLE VEERING SHEAR PROFILES IN PLACE ACROSS
CENTRAL NM FOR SUPERCELL DEVELOPMENT. WITH E/SELY UPSLOPE FLOW OF
MOISTURE CONTINUING...AIR MASS IS NOW UNSTABLE AND WITH LITTLE
REMAINING CINH. STORMS WILL DEVELOP OFF HIGHER TERRAIN WITH
POTENTIAL FOR SUPERCELLS GIVEN THE SHEAR. ALONG WITH VERY LARGE
HAIL...TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH ANY SUPERCELL.
Hasta luego
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gllitz
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

Unread post by gllitz »

Well good luck in NM...looks like you guys might be the only ones headed that way? (maybe one more by the spotter network...)
And if it doesn't pan out, you can always go UFO chasing near Roswell and Area 51!! :-)
"Saru mo ki kara ochiru"
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Vertigo
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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or arrested :P
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Willoughby
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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New Mexico has a beautiful landscape!!

Excellent chase in New Mexico this afternoon, poor roading network but the storms gave us a few favours on the runaround so it wasn't so much of a big deal.

Getting to the target area wasn't so hard with a dominant storm becoming tornado warned near Clines Corners and very soon became a right-mover. Truly an HP beast.. showed numerous TVS's and strong shear present with the two cells and saw it a few times with nice wall clouds trying to tornado.

Lots of hail - the cliff faces looked as though they just got a dusting of snow!!
Hit back on the I-40 westwards and had a nice view of the wall cloud and HP structure between Santa Rosa and Tucumcari. Stopped just west of the latter and witnessed a fantastic lightning display which lit up a mesocyclone to the north of Tucumcari and then another small wall cloud behind us due west. Well worth the trek from Childress! - Now to get to Nebraska tomorrow, lol.

First photo shows the structure of the eastern cell when we met it, second getting upclose and personal, hail, more hail insinkerating the landscape, and again more hail with the next incoming meso after the 1st one passed.

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Something we noticed that was very strange was that the area gives you an illusion as if the water is running UPhill when you're also driving uphill - looked very buzzy.
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Manukau heads obs
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

there is now a moderate risk and a PSO out for Nebraska.....
you have a big drive ahead of you Foggy!
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Manukau heads obs
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

now its a high risk!!!!
drive foggy drive!
I see Paul Knightly is going to the area just south of the high risk, to try and find a discrete cell
also, though, the cells are going to start in the west and then move east....
Last edited by Manukau heads obs on Fri 30/05/2008 07:43, edited 1 time in total.
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gllitz
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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Manukau heads observer wrote:now its a high risk!!!!
drive foggy drive!
Crikey!! Did you guys drive through the night to get that far north that quickly???? Last I saw you guys were near Santa Rosa, NM and now you're in the middle of Nebraska! WOW!

Looks like the potential for a very nasty outbreak today...was reading on CNN yesterday that 2008 has been one of the worst years on record for tornadoes and fatalaties for the US...and it's still only MAY :shock: :shock: (granted: end of May and things should hopefully start to quiet down here on out)
"Saru mo ki kara ochiru"
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Willoughby
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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Haha yeah, we hardly slept... going to grab a few red bulls in a few minutes! Heart starting to pump now, yet another big big day is ahead. :shock:
URGENT - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
TORNADO WATCH NUMBER 386
NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK
230 PM CDT THU MAY 29 2008

THE NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF

PARTS OF NORTHERN KANSAS
MUCH OF CENTRAL AND PARTS OF EASTERN NEBRASKA

EFFECTIVE THIS THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING FROM 230 PM UNTIL
1000 PM CDT.

...THIS IS A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS SITUATION...

DESTRUCTIVE TORNADOES...LARGE HAIL TO 4 INCHES IN DIAMETER...
THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS TO 80 MPH...AND DANGEROUS LIGHTNING ARE
POSSIBLE IN THESE AREAS.

DISCUSSION...SUPERCELLS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP RAPIDLY ACROSS WATCH
AREA REMAINDER OF AFTERNOON. STRONG SHEAR AND MLCAPES AOA 3000 J/KG
SUPPORT TORNADOES AND VERY LARGE HAIL WITH ANY SUPERCELL. POTENTIAL
FOR LONG LIVED SUPERCELLS ACCOMPANIED BY STRONG TORNADOES.
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Glasses fogged up
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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and Im away this weekend, without computer :(
Hope the drive pays off people (and I'm gonna say it) careful out there ;)
'Luck is what happens when preparation meets with opportunity'
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Weather Watcher
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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MLCAPES AOA 3000 J/KG
I'm trying to guess what "AOA" means - maybe "at or above"? Does anyone know what it is?
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Willoughby
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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Convection is booming with tops already to 18,000m, the chase is on! Vis sat: http://hadar.cira.colostate.edu/ramsdis ... geflt.html

Under that cell it has a tornado vortex signature of 99 knots! (Stockville, NE)

Wall cloud coming into view now

Edit: WW: yes i'd say that is at or above for mean level CAPE. Most unstable CAPE at the moment is around 4000J/kg with the RUC model showing 4500 in an hour. Lots of parameters here http://www.spc.noaa.gov/exper/mesoanaly ... p?sector=5
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Manukau heads obs
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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Brian Thalken live chase cam, from severe studios, near where foggy is....Elwood...but its just gone off line...
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gllitz
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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Read yesterday on the SPC page about the possibility of a Derecho event happening today...we'll see....some great vids on YouTube for Derecho events...also known as "haboob" (probably an Arabic word)...
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Willoughby
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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Wall cloud some 15 mins ago,
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gllitz
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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Satellite pic of current outbreak.... :shock: :shock:

Courtesy SPC...
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NZstorm
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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Foggy, great photo of a wall cloud there.
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Razor
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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This one is making the NZ news, keep up the great work there and stay safe!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/sto ... d=10513512
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Manukau heads obs
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

Paul Knightly's video of the Kearney Tornado:
(rain wrapped, not all that photogenic, but they do pass damage that it caused, right next to the Interstate! (and still people just carry on driving)
http://homepages.nildram.co.uk:80/~paul ... ysmall.wmv

ps , i see on storm track that some chasers have been given a rap over the knuckles for running red lights in kearnet trying to keep up with the rain wrapped tornado...
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Willoughby
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

Unread post by Willoughby »

Made a mistake yesterday in choosing not to abandon the Nebraska play and head for the northern KS discrete cells where the moisture was untapped and visible tornadoes could've been seen. Storm speed increased to 36 knots and it all turned to a cluster of messy cells. Headed east on the I-80 and saw 3 large trucks on the side after being flipped off the interstate from a half-mile wide wedge tornado which passed just south of Aurora.

Here's some damage photos taken this morning from the area... TVS marker at the time showed 143 knots of rotation in the hook!

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One of the reps from the tower company arrived and said he'd just installed Alltel's equipment on the tower and was scheduled for operation today!

Decided not to chase Missouri/Illinois for today's MODERATE because we're pretty much stormed out after chasing for 9 days straight and after the long drive from NM with 3 hours sleep you're feeling pretty stuffed.

Resting in Lincoln, NE and may chase tomorrow in southern Kansas... but will check the SPC's update tomorrow morning.

Looking ahead and next week into June is looking massive with another large trough set to sweep the US...
LATTER HALF OF THE 7-DAY FORECAST LOOKING INTERESTING - AND
POTENTIALLY OMINOUS. CURRENT MEDIUM-RANGE MODELS INDICATE LARGE-
SCALE TROFING INTO THE W OR CENTRAL STATES BY MIDWEEK. GFS AND
ECMWF DEPICT UNSEASONABLY STRONG AMPLIFICATION OF A TROF OVER THE ROCKIES... FOLLOWED BY PROGRESSION INTO THE PLAINS AROUND THU. THIS SOLUTION HAS SUPPORT FROM THE GFS ENSEMBLE MEAN BUT WOULD BE ATYPICAL FOR EARLY JUNE - ALTHOUGH NOT UNHEARD OF. JUNE 8 1974
COMES TO MIND. THERE CURRENTLY ARE ENOUGH DIFFERENCES IN MODEL
DETAILS... AND QUESTIONS REGARDING MODEL RUN-TO-RUN CONSISTENCY AS WELL AS THE DEPARTURE FROM SYNOPTIC CLIMATOLOGY... TO HOLD OFF ON BUYING INTO THE AMPLIFIED SOLUTIONS OFFERED BY THE GFS/ECMWF. ON THIS BASIS WE WILL STAY CLOSE TO THE GFS-MOS ON THIS FORECAST. BUT SHOULD THE HIGH-AMPLITUDE SOLUTIONS PLAY OUT... THIS ALREADY-
ACTIVE SEVERE WEATHER SEASON WILL BE FAR FROM BEING OVER. IN
FACT... THE WORST MAY BE YET TO COME MID-LATE NEXT WEEK.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/productview.php ... n=1&max=61
:shock:
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NZstorm
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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When you see tornado damage like that it makes you realise that sheltering against structures during a severe storm is not necessarily a good idea.

I have been watching the 16day GFS into June and it certainly looks to remain active over the central and northern plains.
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Manukau heads obs
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

Unread post by Manukau heads obs »

I can see you will be on the next flight NZstorm...standy maybe?
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spwill
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Re: Storm Chasing USA 2008

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Airfares will be about $2400 for june, a bit costly to go over twise in one year.
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