Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Getting ready for Chase Season

I set up this blog spot simply to be able to post chase accounts and media files but I noticed recently that I only have one entry from 2007. Granted I didn't get to chase very much in 2008 but I should have posted.
During the off season I spent a lot of time updating equipment to get ready for the upcoming season. For 2009 I have purchased an Alltel data card for my laptop. No more scurrying around the little towns for Wi-Fi access to grab radar updates. I know I'm a little behind the other chasers but this is a huge step forward for me. Recently I downloaded GRLevel3 and I still have Stormlab for the radar data and the spotternetwork place files. I updated the laptop with software for my GPS for real time navigation and trip logging.
I recently picked up a new digital video camera to replace the old 8mm camera I had been using. I also recently upgraded my phone to a Blackberry giving me access to additional weather data.
I will try to update the blogs with every chase log along with photos or videos.

Monday, April 9, 2007

March 28th, 2007 Western Kansas

I and my two chase partners started the afternoon by leaving Wichita around 5 PM heading west towards Pratt. We were expecting our best shot to be in the area between Dodge City and Hays. We were sort of flying blind that day as the only equipment we had was a laptop and a very small state map as we had spent the week at a conference and hadn't had time to really prepare.

Once in Pratt we began to get FM radio reports of a powerful cell moving into Meade county and we continued west on US54 hoping to intercept it. As we neared the cell it became clear our target would be near the Dodge City area. the radio was reporting another cell in the Beaver County, OK area to the south of this cell. After stopping in Greensburg and finding no wireless point we checked the winds flowing into the north storm and decided to stay on that cell. About that time it was severe warned with reports of baseball size hail north of Fowler. We veered north on 283 from Minheola and we were able to catch up with the now tornado warned storm about 8 miles south of Dodge. Radio was reporting a possible tornado east of Ensign moving north at around 25-30 mph. We estimated we were about 5 miles east of the area of rotation and from our vantage point we could see the precip with an area of lowering, but no funnel.

We went west out of Dodge City on US50 and tried to fall in behind the cell as it crossed the highway. Near the Howell, KS area we were began to notice a very distinct lowering on the southwest side of the precip. It was just after dark now and we were depending on the frequent lightning in order to see. We turned north on state highway 23 in Cimarron and found ourselves in a perfect position of view the lowering from the clear slot. Radio again reported a radar indicated tornado and we learned later there had been reports a funnel north of Howell but we did not see anything other than the lowering. There was a clear area of very heavy precip to the north of the lowering with frequent dark blue flashes of lightning back lighting the cell.

We turned east on highway 156 and closed on the cell as it passed just east of Kalvesta. We were within a mile from the lowering and we could clearly see a large wall cloud had formed near the front part of the rain-free base as it crossed the highway. Within a minute we began to see multiple vorticies lowing from the base just to the east of the wall cloud. The vorticies touched down on a hilltop just north of the highway and quickly converged into a large tornado. It took on a wedge shape very quickly after forming. the area was still back lit by the lighting and we were about a mile south of the tornado when we turned off on the county road to follow it. we had chased a meso in this very same area 2 years earlier but we had stayed on the main roads in the past. We had no idea that Ford and Hodgeman county roads were in such poor shape. The roads had no gravel and apparently hadn't been graded since the last round of four wheelers had torn through the area. The heavy precip had filled the very shallow ditches and water was running across in several places. Standing water filled the ruts left by the local spotters in the four wheel drive about 1/2 mile ahead of us. We were in a Monte Carlo and were ill equipped for the trip ahead.

We tried to stay within a mile of the tornado as it continued north, but it was not easy with the muddy roads. We made attempts to film the twister from a distance and managed to capture a few grainy shots of the tornado and the base. We found a hilltop about 10 miles north of the highway. We had driven to within 3/4 mile of the tornado and we captured a few more shots of the storm. The tornado was now about 1/4 mile wide and going strong. We had been on the tornado for about 18-20 miles. We continued to follow the cell north until we reached a T intersection were we turned east hoping to find a road that went north. The tornado had apparently slowed and it stayed within sight for the next several minutes. We drove est for about a mile through the damage path before the road became impassable with the power lines down.

We doubled back in an attempt to find a way out of this remote area of Hodgeman county as the tornado dissipated. The lights of Ness City were visible to our north east and we could still see the base and the wallcloud clearly about 3 miles to our north. I watched as a second rope funnel began to form just to the east of the wall cloud but it too dissipated within a minute or two. We were slowed by flooded roads and mud so deep the car was beginning to overheat. The storm moved farther north and eventually weakened.

The second part of our adventure began as we wandered around the area trying to find a decent road. Every solid road we found would only lead into the damage path. We wandered around for nearly an hour until we eventually found highway 96 about 5 miles west of Ness City. A quick check of the other cells told us that they too were weakening, ending our night of chasing.

We made it back to the motel in Wichita around 3:30 am, just in time to catch the replay of the local news that showed the hook echo of the cell we had chased.