Tour 7 Stormchase

Hello! Sorry for the delay in posting this. We are just back from Tour 7 with Roger Hill and Silver Lining Tours. What a week! Lots of great storms, huge hail and close lightning! Our tour covered five States and about 3,200 miles in six days. I was in charge of Van 2. We had guests from the UK, Canada, California, Arizona and Washington. We only had two bust-days out of six, which is typical for a six-day tour.

Day one we blasted north from Denver to South Dakota to catch some expected supercell activity. Unfortunately the "cap" was +16 C which is virtually unbreakable. We spent the day milling around the Murdo, SD area and staying out of the 95-degree heat as much as possible. Some electrical problems plagued the lead chase van, so the down time allowed us to make repairs on the road.

Day two found us in Kansas, chasing puffy cumulus clouds. Another bust day due to the intense capping inversion. However, we took advantage of the situation to explore the destruction of Greensburg, KS which was hit by an EF-5 tornado on May 4 of this year. I'd seen pictures of the damage, but the photos do not compare to actually being there. Two photos are included here.

Day three was spent in Nebraska with some wonderful supercells. (Details and photos coming soon.)

We visited western Nebraska on day five where we located several supercells coming out of Wyoming. (Details and photos coming soon.)

Day five was perhaps the most exciting of the entire tour. We awoke in Chamberlain, SD to overcast skies and two tornadic supercells bearing down on the town early in the morning! Our group was set to depart at 9:30 a.m., however we ended up rushing through breakfast to head out and catch the storms. We holed up in the barn of a local farmer to escape the giant hail being dumped by one supercell that passed just off to our north. Chase tactics for storms with large hail are different. We usually let the hail core pass us by, then venture in behind it to collect the hailstones. We tramped through a field and collected 3.5 inch stones...bigger than baseballs! Windows and windshields were broken in the town. Had we driven through the storm, all of our windows in the vans would have been shattered. The storms disrupted the atmosphere for awhile, so the early afternoon was quiet. Then, around 6 p.m. a giant supercell blew the cap and exploded up to 60,000 feet! We chased it south into northern Nebraska. Our road network was poor, but we were able to get right under the mesocyclone! It did not produce a tornado, but it came very close. We took shelter next to an old schoolhouse but the vans took several dings from 3-inch hail.

Day six found us headed home to Colorado. On the way, we intercepted a line of intense thunderstorms moving off the Front Range. We arrived back in Denver in the early afternoon. It was a very successful chase! I will be chasing the Colorado plains for the rest of the summer, so keep checking back for updates! - Steve.