USA 2017 storm season

[03Stormchaser]

Good luck for Saturdays mod risk.

Today could be biggest day of the season so far, massive risk of very large hail, 4"+

[NZstorm]

Currently north of Tulsa.

Had two good days in Colorado/western kansas with supercells.

[spwill]

Cells going up now, happy chasing.

[03Stormchaser]

Seems to be a tough chase year 2017

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[NZstorm]

Seems to be a tough chase year 2017

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Yes, a very slow season for supercells/tornadoes. Seems the problem in May was the persistence of a 500mb vortex over Hudson Bay encouraging high pressure and cold surges into the plains states. Surging cold fronts are not what you are looking for when you are wanting tornadoes! That said there has been plenty of storms about and met Willoughby and Brendan under a storm base in Colorado.

[tgsnoopy]

Seems to be a tough chase year 2017

Ended up in Montana in early May this year, was challenging for sure, I think we did about 16,000 km in 18 days! Only saw short lived weak tornadoes, nothing large. We were close to Elk City TX, only we encountered a fireman who forced us to retreat and drive around and never caught back up with the cell. Hope things normalise for the remaining season for those over there now.

[tgsnoopy]

4 years ago today, El Reno. RIP Tim, Carl & Paul.

[NZstorm]

Back in Auckland.

Some pics from the trip

1 MCS over Texas Panhandle 22 May.

2 Lightning Colorado 26 May..

3 RFD gust front on supercell, Colorado 26 May.

[NZstorm]

4 RFD Gustnado Colorado 26 May

5 HP Supercell Colorado 26 May.

6 Supercell approaching Goodland, Kansas 26 May. This storm had a confirmed tornado on ground.

[tgsnoopy]

Good stuff, glad you appear to have had a great trip

[Nev]

Some nice shots there Steven. I like the 2nd twin CG pic and the last classic 'mothership' pic.


Meanwhile a little further NW in southern Alberta, Canada, Vance Neudorf shot this interesting time-lapse near Three Hills, about 130 km NE of Calgary late Friday afternoon local time…


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLfT6XyWWeU

[spwill]

Excellent tornado clip.

Very nice photos by NZstorm, western kansas and eastern Colorado certainly has nice flat country for chasing

[NZstorm]

more photos

1 lightning. Another twin bolt shot. Very frequent lightning with US storms!

2 Truck blown off the interstate from storm. Gusts over 100km/h with storms on the 25th.

3 Chased storms all the way down to Gulf of Mexico this year!

[Richard]

Love that Goodland photo

[03Stormchaser]

Enjoyed the photos Steven!

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[NZstorm]

Someone posted this chart on stormtrack which is quite insightful. Essentially it details the geography for storm chasing. Light green is the most favourable colour indicating flat open country with plenty of roads. Darker Green is a no go zone, very unfavourable territory due to woodlands. Eastern Oklahoma and eastern Texas for example are heavily wooded and are no go zones.

[jamie]

Today is looking like a very decent day. Perhaps the best day of the season. Shame about the road network.

That map is interesting isn't it. Just another way of showing how so many of the important ingredients to storms and chasing come together in one spot of the world.

[spwill]

This list is long on why USA is such a great place for storm chasing.

[NZstorm]

5 geographic features all contribute to making Tornado alley.

Pacific west (high level jet stream)
Rocky Mountains (lee cyclogenisis on plains)
Desert Southwest (capping inversion/steep lapse rates)
Gulf of Mexico (moisture)
The flat plains of the mid USA (good chase country!)

[NZstorm]

Significant tornado at Carpenter, southern Wyoming today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCTrOm9IyW0

[03Stormchaser]

Some chasers bagged a tornado in three different states, possibly a first in one day

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[tgsnoopy]

Massive hail strikes & a few got way too close in Wyoming, the poor 3G coverage there was hard work, it would be worse with a chaser convergence. Sounds like everyone was ok, but the same can't be said of their vehicles.

[03Stormchaser]

Stunning footage shot from WY, NE and CO

[NZstorm]

Monsoon in full swing over the desert southwest.

430,000 strikes last 2hrs over the US.

[NZstorm]

Take a look at this sounding for northern Oklahoma today. 500mb -4C and yet still 2500j/kg CAPE.

Flash flood outlook chart for today. Fairly normal to get widespread flash flood risk over USA at this time of year.