2009.05.25
Storm Chase Day 4: A momentous decision
LIBERAL, Kan. -- As we made a stop in our planned drive to Scottsbluff, Nebraska, this morning, new data came in pointing to the potential for greater instability and greater wind dynamics over western Texas on Monday. So the Virginia Tech storm chase team faced a decision: Keep going to the possible marginally severe storms expected to develop over eastern Wyoming and western Nebraska, or divert immediately south so we could get to Texas by Monday afternoon.
Decisions like this are NOT made by the leaders, Dave Carroll and me, but by the student chasers. We presented the cases for and against each option, and then left the dozen student chasers to discuss, debate and deliberate on their own without our input. In the end, the jury returned a verdict, though not unanimously: Go to Texas.
So we dropped today's chase in the middle and headed south, reaching Liberal, Kansas, late this evening. The day's storm reports did not reveal much we had left behind in the Northern Plains. We'll head several hours south through the Texas Panhandle on Monday in hopes of a coming up with a Memorial Day supercell catch.
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Kevin,
Tough choices seem to be the nature of the beast in Tornado Alley given the distances involved. Those of us used to limited travel here in the East have a hard time fathoming the distances between two points out where you are. Our 13 May chase started with a 7 hour drive from Lubbock TX to a point just west of Stillwater OK, followed by another 5 hours of chasing: starting, stopping, observing, and starting again. Try that here in the East and you could cross quite a few state lines!
Comment by Chris White — May 25, 2009 @ 10:04 am