Topic: May 10 - 15, 2007 - Tornado Alley

[Macca]

Hi all,

It has been an interesting few days for us.  We drove east yesterday afternoon after doing some washing and some banking to meet up with Jimmy, Brad and the two foreigners (Andre – Solvenian and Esa – Finnish) who were staying in Lindsay about 80mi away.  The only problem was, some solid pulse storms developed over the border in Oklahoma just as we got to Lindsay so Chris and I gave chase.  There was some low level easterly flow of about 15knts and this allowed for some minor organization of these storms.  With the upper level low quite close by, the mid/upper levels were quite cold.  We got quite a few rumbles of thunder near Burneyville before we headed a little bit west and then south back across the Red River into Oklahoma where we got another nice little pulse storm which put out a nice little lowering.  We stopped a little further down the road and were watching the storm from about 3mi (5km) away and there were distant rumbles of thunder.  In the distance to the east there were some nice towering cumulus going up so I turned around to look and then FLASH…BOOOOOM.  A CG hit the next ridge over from us.  A clear-air CG had busted out of the storm we were watching, gone over our heads and hit behind us (well…in front of me as I had my back to the storm).  Needless to say, we were back in the car in a flash…(pun intended). 

Eventually the action diminished at around peak heating time (typical of such events) and we headed back to Lindsay to meet up with the others.  We spent the afternoon talking storms and watching DVD’s and then went out for dinner.  We stayed in a nearby motel and then met up again this morning and decided to move to northern Oklahoma with the intention of going to the Twister (movie) museum.  Jimmy suggested we go to the Storm Prediction Centre (SPC) in Norman, Oklahoma on our way through.  This turned out to be an AWESOME afternoon.  HUGE thanks have to go out to Kevin Manross who gave us a tour of the (new) National Weather Centre which is the home of the SPC, NOAA and NWS.  We were able to take photos all around the building and even outside when we went out to see the Doppler On Wheels (one of which was partially operating…well…the radar was moving…lol).

After we left there, we were treated to some more pulse storms with a few rumbles of thunder as we continued our journey northwards.  We are in Blackwell in north central Oklahoma tonight and we are going to head out to the Twister museum tomorrow.  There should be some more pulse storms around tomorrow and again on Sunday.  Monday is looking like the only potential chase day in the outlook period in eastern Nebraska/western Iowa with some moderate instability and some ok shear.  It’s a frontal set up and the front is set to race southwards during Monday night, Tuesday and into Wednesday before it clears right through Texas.  After that, it looks like we’ll have another quiet period for 5 days before the upper level ridge breaks down and the next upper level trough moves into the region. 

Links to pics from the last two days…

Yesterday…Red River storms:

http://macca.bsch.au.com/gallery/20070510


…and today…National Weather Centre and pulsies:

http://macca.bsch.au.com/gallery/20070511


Macca & Chris

[Jimmy Deguara]

Yep,

That's right Macca, put me behind a huge wall like that!

The visit to the new combined building was very exciting - with the University of Oklahoma, National Severe Storms Laboratory, Storm Prediction Center, National Weather Service, a lot of talent exists in the place.

We also were taken to see TOTO, the actual "Dorothy" use in Twister, the vehicles with dopplers, the latest technological advances and so forth on a day with storms approaching. It was a great way to enjoy down time.

Today we will most likely head across to the Twister Musuem.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[Jimmy Deguara]

Hi Aussies and New Zealanders,

Nothing like a long drive US style. Hope you all had a great day as it looked great on satellite imagery.

We are in position for tomorrow's action whatever that might be. There is a bet on at the moment that if we get a tornado, I pay for dinner (I obviusly believe otherwise haha). Trust them to target a high class resturant.

During the down time we should meet up all New Zealanders and also Michael Thompson.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[nzstorm]

Greetings from Montana.  Given the quieter weather coming this week we decided to chase in eastern Montana.  Worth the trip as we enjoyed a good lightning show and observed some hail and gusty outflow.  We are heading east Monday, Iowa I think.

Yes Jimmy, great idea to meet up later this week.  Will keep intouch.

[Jimmy Deguara]

Sure thing Steven,

I doubt we will make the trek into Iowa today - I just don't think it is worth the high fuel prices vs value for storms.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[Jimmy Deguara]

Hi all,

We were with Macca early on and then headed for gustnado action etc. We also tried to core punch a storm with hail larger than golf balls but only got hit by 3cm hail. The storm was in final weakening phase.

Stayed the night in Lincoln Nebraska. It would be great to meet up. We are at the Travelodge. Awaiting a response from Macca who is heading up this way from the sound of it.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[Jimmy Deguara]

Just a few pictures to add chasing on the 14th May 2007 in southern Nebraska near and east of Grand Island and night time near Beatrice, Nebraska:



Full set of pics available here:
http://australiasevereweather.com/photography/photos/2007/jd20070514.html

Macca, Chris and our group are in Sidney, Nebraska after a reasonable drive today from southern eastern Nebraska (nothing like the drives others have made in recent days). Hope to see some storms nearby tomorrow.

Regards,

Jimmy Deguara

[nzstorm]

Hi
Currently in Kansas City under clear blue skies. 

Monday we ended up in southern Nebraska (Grand Island) and then into northern Kansas in the evening (not Iowa) for a nice lightning show.
Given the dearth of weather in the alley at the moment we considered for a while chasing the cold front into eastern Mo but then thought better of it.
We are scheduled to visit the NSSL at Norman tomorrow.

Great photos there Jimmy. I havn't used the camera much on this trip yet. Saw some good structure on the Montana storm though.