Wrapping up Storm Chase 2008Posted May28, 2008 at 10:36 PMIt will take months to analyze the video and photos and digest all the experiences from Storm Chase 2008. But for the most part in this blog, I'm ending the discussion of it today. Compared to previous storm chases, this was certainly the most prolific of the four I've been a part of in terms of tornado production, and also in terms of truly powerful supercell thunderstorms. I think many of the storms we caught in 2007 were structurally more photogenic, but these were definitely more beast-like in sheer power. So far, in regard to tornadoes, I've only posted photos of our major tornado intercept late on May 22. If you haven't already, click here to see video and an account of that day. I am also writing about that encounter in Friday's "Weather Journal" column for print. I don't have photos of all of our tornado sightings, which we conservatively count as nine over May 22-23, all in the same general area of west-central Kansas from WaKeeney and Quinter south to Ness City and Dighton. The first tornado we caught didn't even have a full condensation funnel, but just a slight cone above and a swirl of dust in a field below. This is a photo near the time of our second tornado, though maybe not exactly when it was on the ground. You can see the rounded, lowered structure from which it sprang ahead of us. 
Tornado develops west of Quinter, Kansas Two tornadoes developed in the storm we headed south to intercept southwest of WaKeeney. Tornado No. 4 was a white cone against a dark background. It doesn't look to be on the ground in the linked photo, but video shows a debris cloud at the surface, confirming touchdown. 
Dark funnel forms May 22 southwest of WaKeeney, Kansas. I don't have photos of the sixth and seventh tornadoes that formed in the same storm as it moved north of Interstate 70. We were on the move, and they were hard to see on a poor contrast background. We'll be looking at video and some of the other chasers' photos for these. The count could go up or down based on what we see in video. 
Tornado as seen from chase van south of WaKeeney, Kansas. Courtesy of Jordan Rollins. Tornado No. 9 the next day was very large the next day, moving northeast near Ransom, Kan., on its way toward Ellis, but also very far away and very late. We still haven't found a great shot of it, but this video still frame showing part of it on the left gives you an idea of its size. We'll keep looking. (ADDED ON 6/2: Click here for a small video still from the wedge tornado ... and here's a second shot of the same wedge as well, which may even be multivortex with a couple of side funnels.) In all we chased and caught supercell storms on 5 days: May 13 near Jacksboro in northern Texas; May 14 near Big Spring in western Texas (with additional video linked here); May 21 near Flagler in eastern Colorado (the prettiest storm, in my opinion); and of course May 22 and May 23 in and around WaKeeney, Kan. Thanks to the wonderful group of chasers that joined us this year, shown here in a group photo at Palo Duro Canyon near Amarillo, Texas, during one of our many slow days between chases. From left to right, they are (bottom row) Jessica Burchard, Virginia Tech student; Sandy LaCorte, recent North Carolina-Asheville graduate (meteorologist!); Taylor White, Tech student; Marielle Taft, Walt Whitman High School student in Maryland; Morgan Weeks of Floyd, North Carolina-Asheville student; Jennifer Henderson, Tech instructor researching a book on tornadoes; (top row) Dave Carroll, Pulaski County High School meteorology teacher and trip leader; Joel Willis, Pulaski County High School student; Andrew Smith, Tech student; Trevor Owen, Tech student; me; and Jordan "J-Roll" Rollins, Tech student and National Guardsman. For a little bit different perspective on our trip, check out the blogs kept by Taylor White and Sandy LaCorte. America is in good hands with young people like these ... and with the many wonderful people who treated us so friendly in our travels. We were greeted everywhere we went, and many people, ranging from farmers to police to travelers to firemen, came to us seeking information about storms. God bless all of you. Now ... let's turn back to local weather ... and there is actually a potential severe weather threat cropping up for Virginia come Saturday ... more on that as it develops ... Re-trace Kevin's progress on this map. For more on Storm Chase 2008, click here.
Day 16: Back home, safe and soundPosted May26, 2008 at 10:58 PMThe storm chase team arrived back in Blacksburg at about 4 p.m. today. After a round of hugs and goodbyes, we scattered to our respective homes. I'm very happy to be back with my wife and in my home after more than two weeks away, but the first day or two back always feels a little strange with no target zone to drive to and no chase team meetings. I have no doubt I'll miss the members of this very special team that experienced so much together. There is still much video and photos to go through as we analyze the storms we saw during this trip. And I'll be getting back to examining Southwest Virginia weather, too. It was sticky when I got home today, which is unlike the last couple of weeks that had some cool days.
For more on Storm Chase 2008, click here. Day 15: Cutting off the chasePosted May26, 2008 at 12:50 AMRICHMOND, Ind. -- There is always a time on these storm chasing trips for them to end. Sometimes, there is an obvious break in the stormy pattern when it's time to move east. This year, it simply came down to the budget. Higher prices for gas and lodging led us to a decision on Sunday morning to return to Virginia on Memorial Day. So this is the last night that this particular chase team will be together. There is a certain amount of sadness that comes with that, as this group has bonded so well and experienced so much together over the past couple of weeks. But this has been an intense and memorable trip, one that each of us will need some time to digest. The stories will be retold for a lifetime, and the lessons learned by each of us will also last that long. Not far from where we were in the morning, tornadoes have killed at least 8 people in Iowa and Minnesota. The nation's tornado death toll has topped 100 in a year for the first time since 1998, and we're not even to the halfway mark yet. Severe weather looks likely to occur over many of the next several days in the nation's mid-section. But it is time for each of us to return to our lives in the East, all the while keeping a wary eye to the sky, knowing firsthand what havoc mere wind can wreak.
For more on Storm Chase 2008, click here. Day 14: The little storm that wouldn'tPosted May25, 2008 at 02:23 AM
Meanwhile, things went ballistic in Oklahoma. We got in after midnight in central Iowa. There may be one last shot at storms on Sunday in or near eastern Iowa, but it's looking like there's a good chance that the meat of this chase trip is past. With all the long days and late nights, we really haven't had much of a chance to cycle through all the images and video we've taken, not to mention our individual thoughts and feelings about what we've seen and experienced. It will be a while to sort through this very intense chase trip. Follow Kevin's progress on this map. For more on Storm Chase 2008, click here. Day 13: A Kansas beastPosted May24, 2008 at 02:17 AM
The end of the day found us east of the same storm that spawned the wedge tornado, as tornado sirens sounded eerily while driving through Hays, Kan. As strong wind gusts rocketed past us toward the tornado somewhere in the murky storm milesto our west, a couple of fire and rescue workers from Hays pulled up beside us to get information on the storms. Fortunately for them, the storm was slipping just west of Hays. It's another tired post-chase late night and the next day could be another stormy one, though farther east. That's why we're in Manhattan, Kan., tonight, likely to slip into eastern Nebraska on Sunday.
For more on Storm Chase 2008, click here. Day 12: Tornado close encounter!Posted May23, 2008 at 12:32 AMWaKEENEY, Kan. -- Words are not exactly swirling through my mind at nearly midnight after today's storm chase of a lifetime in western Kansas. We saw EIGHT tornadoes in a single afternoon and evening, as we tagged supercell after supercell riding along roughly the same track, just southwest and west of here. But it will always be the day's last intercept that will be best remembered, as we watched a tornado cross the road less than a mile in front of us as the day's late light and the storm's ample precipitation in the form of rain and hail provided an amber background. Unfortunately, we would experience a little too much of that rain and hail ourselves, propelled by winds approaching 80 mph. The narrow road and other chase vehicles did not allow us to turn and leave fast enough as the tornado swirled a band of rain and hail around it's backside. So, we got "hooked." We were swallowed by the blinding rain and pounded by hail, most of it dime-sized, but with a few golfball-sized chunks mixed in. The vans became separated, as Dave Carroll's van was near the rear and able to get back on the highway first (literally by backing up down the gravel road). He eased toward a gravel road that turned east, enabling him to escape the hook faster. I could only pull on to the side of the highway and let the tempest past, as it shook the vans and blasted them with hail. Eventually, via radio and cellphone, Dave and Andrew Smith were able to guide me to the same road they were on, as the rain, wind and hail finally slackened with the storm rocketing northward. I'm sure I'll have much more to write about this day, and more pictures to show, in the future, but for now, I just need a good night's rest. 
A tornado crosses the road in front of storm chasers south of WaKeeney, Kansas
The previous video from Storm Chase 2008 was posted May 22. For more on Storm Chase 2008, click here. Day 11: The lull ends -- the chase begins anewPosted May22, 2008 at 12:56 AMWaKEENEY, Kan. -- We left Sterling, Colo., this morning headed south toward Limon, Colo., on our way to Interstate 70 so we could eventually move east to here in central Kansas. We were not really expecting much out of a slight risk of severe weather through eastern Colorado, but we didn't want to leave too early only to find that storms had blown up hundreds of miles behind us while we set up for Thursday's possible large outbreak. It's a good thing we hung around. By mid-afternoon, storms began popping in eastern Colorado. Stiff surface winds sometimes topping 50 mph ... frequently hurling dust and tumbleweed across the highway as it pushed our vans around a bit in their lanes ... combined with strong winds aloft helped cause those storms to rotate. The result was a smattering of supercells, and we we able to get on one just outside of Flagler, Colo., as it cycled through its strongest phase. It was an extremely photogenic storm; the inset photo, linked here in a larger form, is but one example. More will be on the audio soundslide that will be placed in this entry later Thursday. 
So, after 6 days of no storm chasing at all, we had an enthralling one today. The team has been extremely patient and good-tempered through the long wait, and performed almost flawlessly today in helping us navigate to a close but safe viewing vantage point on this storm. The stakes are higher on Thursday -- the storm potential over parts of Kansas and Nebraska today includes the chance of extremely large hail (baseball-sized and larger) plus the possibility of a few long-tracked tornadoes. Wednesday was a good dress rehearsal to get us back on track after a week's layoff. Thursday is the real deal. Follow Kevin's progress on this map. The previous video from Storm Chase 2008 was posted May 21. For more on Storm Chase 2008, click here. Day 10: Lightning at night, chasers take delightPosted May21, 2008 at 12:38 AMSTERLING, Colo. -- It was a wee little storm, but it gave storm-starved chasers hope. After eating probably our best meal of the trip at River City Grill (I had a delicious 7-pepper flat-iron-grilled steak) in Sterling, Colo., we came out to see a dark updraft base just north of town and a huge anvil cloud sprawling out overhead. Streaks of rain hung from the clouds, trying to reach the surface, but most of the rain was evaporating in dry air. But most impressively, lightning zipped around in the clouds, giving us a natural strobe light display as the amber sunlight slowly dimmed out underneath. Storms were not entirely unexpected -- a few small ones popped here and there -- but this one overachieved for us, and we didn't even really have to chase it. It may be a harbinger of a dramatically changing weather pattern that could turn the benign weather we've traveled through for a week into an atmospheric frenzy. 
While there is some threat of severe weather near here and slightly north on Wednesday, it is possible we will punt it entirely to reach a target in Kansas for Thursday's potent severe weather setup. It would be a lot like we did exactly a year ago, a day that produced some of the most dramatic storm structures we've ever see on these trips. Speaking of lightning, take a look at Jessica Burchard's photo from our first storm chase on Tuesday, May 13 in northern Texas. She got this shot aiming and shooting, with no photography tricks or extended exposures.
The previous video from Storm Chase 2008 was posted May 19. For more on Storm Chase 2008, click here. Day 9: Positioning ourselves for days aheadPosted May19, 2008 at 11:05 PMSTERLING, Colo. -- The great storm chase lull of 2008 reached five days today, tying the record set in 2005. Today was another day mainly just to position ourselves for an upcoming weather pattern change that could turn things from extremely slow to extremely busy. The jet stream will soon start dipping south over the western U.S., then lifting northward somewhere along the eastern Rockies or western Plains. Such a pattern will help return a warm, moist flow of air from the Gulf of Mexico into the Plains, while also supplying atmospheric disturbances, dry air from the desert, and perhaps even a strong surface low pressure system. The factors we look for in finding severe storms ... abundant moisture, fast winds changing with height, and boundaries between different air masses ... will be present later this week. Where exactly they overlap is still a matter of conjecture. We are in northeastern Colorado because, for now, we expect this general region to have the best shot at rotating supercells and possibly tornadoes come Thursday-Saturday. That is subject to change as more information becomes available. We are also here because there is an increasing chance the next two days that a few severe storms could roll off the Rockies or High Plains southeastward. We saw a few showers and a couple of tiny thunderstorms peppered around on the radar screen today. The pattern is changing, and we want to be where there is the best chance for what we call high-end severe weather. We probably won't go far tomorrow, and may even stay here in Sterling, Colo., another night or two. We had a great meal tonight at J&L's Cafe in Sterling. Some of the student chasers, with the assistance of the wait staff, surprised Jessica Burchard tonight with candles in her dessert for her 19th birthday. We visited with a nice couple as we left, talking about local weather patterns and life on the farm. We're enjoying the people and places of our trip immensely, but the focus of the trip is storms. We are getting a bit anxious ... Follow Kevin's progress on this map. The most recent video from Storm Chase 2008 was posted May 19. For more on Storm Chase 2008, click here. Storm chase video of a west Texas supercellPosted May19, 2008 at 05:50 PM
Here's some video that's just come in that the Storm Chase 2008 crew shot last Wednesday, May 14, just north of Big Spring, Texas. For more on that day's chase, see the May 15 entry, which includes Kevin's narration of some still photos from the storm. Here, though, is actual video shot by Dave Carroll, Trevor Owen, and Jennifer Henderson. Follow Kevin's progress on this map. The most recent video from Storm Chase 2008 was earlier today. For more on storm chasing, click here. Day 8: More High Plains driftingPosted May18, 2008 at 11:04 PM
Today, our drift through the High Plains took us north, through Amarillo, Texas, across the Oklahoma Panhandle and into western Kansas. A familiar stop along the way was Palo Duro Canyon just south of Amarillo ... yes, we stopped there during a lull last year, too. Compare the photo from this year with one from the chase trip a year ago ... pretty similar, huh? This time, we spent even more time in the canyon, driving all the way to the floor of the canyon for a picnic. Then we hit the road north across hundreds of miles of very dry, mostly flat, tree-sparse terrain to arrive here in Scott City for an overnight stay at a motel downtown. For the second night in a row, we are seeing real rural America up close, though things don't seem as festive outside here as they did in Dimmitt, Texas, last night. 
Jessica Burchard takes a photo and Joel Willis looks off an overlook into Palo Duro Canyon. We begin to get back in weather analyzing mode on Monday, as we aim for a position that will set us up for anything that might fire with a developing pattern change Tuesday or Wednesday. A good guess for a stop on Monday night would be North Platte, Neb. Follow Kevin's progress on this map. The most recent video from Storm Chase 2008 was May 15. For more on Storm Chase 2008, click here. Day 7: No space aliens, but a few little stormsPosted May17, 2008 at 10:56 PM
Marielle Taft gets a photo of mild storms over the Texas Panhandle as Trevor Owen and Andrew Smith also take a look Tonight, we're in Dimmitt, Texas, a small town southwest of Amarillo. The smell of cattle is thick in the air, Mexican music is playing loudly across the street, and some contractors from Minnesota greeted us happily at the motel as they grilled food on the back of their truck following a day of working on agricultural buildings in the area. This is real life in rural America. The plan for Sunday is most likely to keep moving north. Possibly by late Tuesday, more likely from Wednesday through the weekend, there will be severe weather potential in the High Plains. Follow Kevin's progress on this map. The most recent video from Storm Chase 2008 was May 15.
Day 6: Sobering and spectacular, but stormlessPosted May16, 2008 at 07:33 PMCARLSBAD, N.M. -- We are in a long waiting game now, as we see how and whether the weather pattern will shift to bring severe storms back to the central U.S. next week. Current indications are that it will happen, but probably not until Wednesday at the earliest. A mid-trip lull seems to be common on these trips -- it's happened in all four of the ones I've been on -- but a storm hiatus lasting a full week would be unprecedented. But, this is a trip focused on the weather, so we are at the mercy of the weather pattern. 
Storm chaser Taylor White, a Virginia Tech student, looks at the Saragosa tornado memorial On a happier tone, we also traveled through the beautiful mountains of southwest Texas, eating a picnic lunch at a roadside pullout with a great view of El Capitan, which stands beside Texas' tallest peak, Guadalupe Peak, in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Most people do not associate the state of Texas with mountains, but the southwest part of the Lone Star State contains many mountains that dwarf those in Southwest Virginia ... Guadalupe Peak is about 3,000 feet higher than Virginia's highest peak, Mount Rogers. The views were stunningly gorgeous. Without a storm to observe, this was the next best thing. We are in Carlsbad, N.M. tonight. No, we haven't gone to the caverns ... don't know yet if we will or not. It was too late in the day when we came through to fight through the lines for a multi-hour tour. Our general plan is to slowly drift north the next few days, better positioning ourselves for what may happen in the middle to latter part of next week. Follow Kevin's progress on this map. The most recent video from Storm Chase 2008 was May 15.
Day 5: Looking back, looking aheadPosted May15, 2008 at 11:55 PMPECOS, Texas -- Although we did manage to find a small thunderstorm with a little lightning and rain over extreme southwest Texas, Thursday was mainly just a relaxing drive through the semi-arid terrain of west Texas. We are down this far south because the jet stream pattern is pushing south of Canada to such an extent that it is driving most of the moisture and warmth out of the United States. The extreme southern rim of Texas and eastern New Mexico looks like the only real shot at thunderstorms the next few days, as some warmth and moisture may linger, and a few disturbances along with the terrain may aid in allowing some convection to occur. The chances of severe weather are slim, but never zero when there are thunderstorms. Down time between storm chases can be beneficial, helping us get some rest and take care of tasks like washing clothes and buying food. We also use the time to look back and look ahead. 
Looking ahead ... we'll be looking for any sign of a pattern change that could yield more widespread storminess next week. Several forecast models are beginning to show just that, but the various models have been in poor agreement. We'll just have to wait and see where we end up going next week, but for now, perhaps we should just enjoy some good Tex-Mex food and see if we can coax out a picturesque storm over the desert. Follow Kevin's progress on this map. See video from May 15.
Day 4: A taste of Texas supercellsPosted May15, 2008 at 01:27 AMBROWNWOOD, Texas -- Wednesday was a long day, but a good one for our group of storm chasers. We targeted a region near Abilene and southward as we headed out from Weatherford, Texas, in the morning. We were not at all confident that anything stormy would happen, but some atmospheric parameters began to look more conducive to severe weather as we moved west. On the move, we altered our plan with new data, and kept going west to intercept storms in west Texas halfway between Midland and Abilene near Big Spring, Texas. We were treated to a beautiful supercell storm cycling over the open Wild West terrain. The storm's winds kicked up lots of red West Texas dust, blowing it in horizontal plumes and spinning some of it into whirlwinds known as "gustnadoes." Dave's van went right through one gustnado, and both vans disappeared into a red dust storm a couple of times. Some chasers got a real taste of Texas as the wind blew dust into their mouths. The storm dropped a couple of rotating masses, one of which we observed in front of us minutes before a tornado warning was issued as radar picked up what we were seeing. We ended up chasing that on a gravel road around mesas and buttes, but it did not drop a tornado, and raced on eastward. We spent the rest of the day trying to catch up with the storms racing away from us, but could never get far enough to go around it (or through it!) again for another good look. Instead, we settled in behind the storms southeast of Abilene to end the day. Our student chasers were very amped about Wednesday. The weather pattern from Thursday for several days forward is likely to shut down most thunderstorm activity in the central U.S. We may be swinging WAY south to try to find anything the rest of this week -- but as the last couple of days proved, plans can change on a dime. The audio soundslide will come later today. Even if you've seen it once, be sure and go back and look at the Day 1 audio soundslide again, as photos have been added. Follow Kevin's progress on this map. See previous video from May 14.
Day 3: A beautiful sunset storm in rural TexasPosted May14, 2008 at 01:44 AMWEATHERFORD, Texas -- It was getting past 5 p.m. Tuesday and there was no sign of storms firing anywhere close as we waited beside a church on top of a hill just west of Ardmore, Okla. Storms had started to develop from Oklahoma City northeastward toward Tulsa and beyond, but nothing was going up south of Oklahoma City. A warm layer in the atmosphere called the cap simply wasn't being broken by enough strong updrafts to produce thunderstorms. But a few counties south in Texas, we noticed storms rapidly developing on radar. With nothing else close to us, we made a quick jaunt south across the Red River toward the storm more than 100 miles away. Just before 8 p.m. we succeeded in catching up to the biggest of the stroms, over a very hilly and forested part of north-central Texas in Jack County that wasn't all that much different than Virginia, if you ignored the cactus. The countryside provided a dramatic setting for a powerful thunderstorm that dropped several lowerings and showed signs of rotation. Low-level shear -- winds changing with height near the ground -- was not strong enough to produce tornadoes this day. In fact, despite two large tornado watches being issued, there was only one tornado report in the nation on Tuesday, and it occurred along the Missouri-Kansas border. But we did get an exciting and gorgeous conclusion to a long chase day that looked for a while like it might be a bust. Our student storm chasers were excited with how the day ended. You can see some of those scenes in the audio soundslide that will be inserted into this blog entry. Here is one photo of a wall cloud trying to spin into something more. WEDNESDAY: It looks like there is severe potential in the same general area of north-central Texas, so we will probably not be traveling far. Follow Kevin's progress on this map. See previous video on May 13.
Day 2: The calm before the storm?Posted May12, 2008 at 09:41 PMSHAWNEE, Okla. -- Today was just a slow, relaxing drift west under blue skies as we set up for a possible severe weather outbreak on Tuesday. We slept in a little bit, got going pretty late, stopped a few times, threw the frisbee around some, and ended up in Shawnee, Okla. for the evening. We ate a big barbecue dinner at wonderful local restaurant called Van's Pig Stand, treated so graciously by everyone who worked there. A big part of these trips for me is the food and local hospitality.
Tuesday could produce another in a long line of violent weather situations for the southern Plains, or it could be something less than that. There is always a chance that expected storms won't go up at all, if a layer of warm air aloft called the cap holds firm. Either way, we just want to position ourselves in the best place to have the opportunity to observe a supercell thunderstorm safely. That is much easier speculated about than it can be performed. Follow the storm chase crew on this map. See previous audio report on May 12.
Day 1: Driving away from severe weatherPosted May11, 2008 at 11:57 PMNORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- There were 20 tornado reports from Ohio to Georgia on Sunday, and scores of hail and wind reports, some from our own backyard in Southwest Virginia. But our group of 12 storm chasers drove away from all of that. We encountered a brief round of gusty squalls with a few flashes of lightning in northeast Tennessee. That was it for storms on the first day of Storm Chase 2008. What we ran through over northeast Tennessee was the same cluster of storms developing that would later affect Southwest Virginia. A split in the morning precipitation shield, followed by some breaks in clouds in some areas allowing the sun to shine, cause the atmosphere to destabilize more than earlier expected much farther north than severe storms had been forecast. With upper air wind currents blowing strongly in different directions, this caused many storms to develop rotating updrafts, which led to hail, gusty winds and even some tornadoes. But these storms were racing 50 mph or greater through hilly, tree-covered terrain. And we wanted to be in position for a possible Tuesday intercept of what may be a very potent severe weather situation in the open plains of Texas and Oklahoma. So, though we monitored and watched the severe weather situation unfold, we only briefly connected with today's storms, and kept moving west. Our student leader, Sandy LaCorte of North Carolina-Asheville, even alerted family and friends as she watched on radar as a tornadic storm moved close to them on the outskirts of Charlotte, N.C. Going for the two in the bush rather than one in the hand, maybe. More likely, we are opting for a flock in the wide open Plains rather a couple of fast-moving, hard-to-see tweeters in the Eastern U.S. thicket. MONDAY: Likely a travel day west from our overnight abode here in North Little Rock, Ark., to near the Red River between Oklahoma and Texas, getting us in position for a possible severe weather outbreak on Tuesday. Storm chaser arrest triggers controversyPosted May10, 2008 at 10:33 AMAfter our 2007 storm chase trip, I wrote a Weather Journal column about the growing number of storm chasers in the central U.S. and the occasional tension with local aw enforcement officials. An incident in Crane County, Texas, earlier this week has brought that into the limelight. A man leading a commercial storm chasing tour, while also reporting storm information to the National Weather Service, was arrested by a deputy sheriff and charged with obstruction of a highway. (Click here for article, along with video clips and photos.) The storm chaser and at least one witness says he was safely parked in a roadside park, not obstructing anyone. The sheriff's office later issued a statement saying they were acting to protect the man and his tour group from tornadoes, and also that he wasn't reporting storm information to the local emergency office. The storm chaser community is outraged; a discussion thread goes on for many pages on the storm chaser Web site Stormtrack. It sounds as if there might be a protracted legal battle over this incident. Our dealings with law enforcement over the years have been, without exception, extremely positive. Most of the time, law enforcement officials in small towns throughout the central U.S. just come and chat with us when they see our vans with the magnets and the antennas. Faced with a similar situation, I have no doubt that we would have unquestionably complied with the officer's order to move to a different location, even if it meant sacrificing a better storm viewing spot. We want to be seen in the best light possible, and it certainly wouldn't be worth the trouble with two vanloads of college and high school students. Storm Chase Trip 2008Posted May09, 2008 at 09:21 PMTrack our progress on a highway map
Recent severe weather in our region has only heightened both the interest level and the seriousness we have in the subject as we prepare to head out on the 2008 storm chase trip Sunday morning (May 11). It is quite possible we will be heading into some threat of severe storms almost right out of the gate on Sunday in Southwest Virginia and eastern Tennessee, though our main goal is to get far enough west by Tuesday for a possible Southern Plains severe weather outbreak. Above is a link to the main chase page that includes our position mapped on radar and a link to a blog being kept by the students on the trip: Of course, I will be providing daily updates here on Roanoke.com as we head into a very confusing and uncertain weather pattern. Storm chase team members are listed below by residence and school/professional affiliation:
Lots of storm imagesPosted Jun01, 2007 at 10:39 PM
Updraft base of "mothership" supercell storm in northern Kansas 
Suspicious lowering beneath updraft base of Kansas supercell But I also have lots of interesting shots from local storms, taken by me and others. For instance, a fierce thunderstorm late last September that dumped copious hail just to the north of Roanoke.  High-precipitation, or HP, supercell in Texas Panhandle I just wanted to put a large variety of storm shots online in connection with today's column. There are always amazing things to see in the sky, whether it's pulse storms in our mountains or supercells in the Plains. Wrapping up Storm Chase 2007Posted May25, 2007 at 08:35 AM
Though we are keeping an eye on severe weather possibilities along our route and to the north as we head eastward today across Arkansas and Tennessee, most likely the chase part of this trip is in the books. 
Also, here's a link to the inset photo from North Carolina-Asheville student David Ramsaur, our group's student trainer. The photo shows our chase team and vans under a swirling supercell structure over Kansas on Tuesday. Click here for additional photos from the chase trip. Weather Journal columns related to the chase trip can be clicked on here (June 2) and here (June 13) Once again, here is a list of the members of our 2007 chase team: Dave Carroll, co-leader, Pulaski County High School teacher and Virginia Tech adjunct instructor
Audio: Click the play button to hear Dwayne Yancey talk with Kevin Myatt about the final leg of his Midwest storm-chasing trip. Another big supercell -- maybe another tornadoPosted May24, 2007 at 08:33 AM
Our group of storm chasers caught another spectacular supercell Wednesday before sunset in the northeast corner of the Texas Panhandle. Unlike Tuesday, when we were almost constantly on the move, we were able to pull along a roadside and watch the rotating storm for about an hour without moving. It appears we may have observed and filmed another tornado (click here for still frame) ... also detected on radar and reported by a sheriff's deputy in the same time frame ... but it wasn't as immediately obvious to us as Tuesday's tornado was. In any event, it was a spectacular show of atmospheric violence amid the peaceful pastures of Texas.
Images from a great, grueling chase dayPosted May23, 2007 at 09:16 AM
I'll be working on getting images and video from Tuesday's chase in northwest Kansas for many days -- especially since we're expecting another potentially very active chase day today in southern Kansas. We targeted an area along and north of Interstate 70 between Hays and Colby, near and just west of WaKeeney. By 4 p.m., storms began to fire just west of where we were waiting for them, and we spent about the next five hours chasing storm structures of incredible beauty and power over the open plains of Kansas. We did see a tornado, as you can see in the middle of the attached video and also in the still shot linked below. Below is a sampler of some of what we saw, beginning with a big image of the "mother ship" supercell in the inset photo ... the structure of the storm rounded by powerful winds aloft.
"Mother ship" supercell Tornado in Graham County, Kansas Rotating wall cloud near silos Chaser Amanda Chambers of Buchanan photographing precipitation shaft and "rain foot" Tornado, hail and morePosted May23, 2007 at 01:33 AMI could write a book on today's storm chase, which included 5 hours of hard chasing on Kansas back roads, golfball-sized hail, numerous other-worldly supercell thunderstorms, and, almost as an afterthought, a tornado. But pulling in late to McPherson, Kan., late after an exhausting day, I'm much too tired to write much now. Hope to get some photos and video up soon. A serious gamblePosted May22, 2007 at 12:55 AMWe weren't sure we had a bird in the hand with expected severe weather in the Dakotas on Monday, but even if we did, we still would have probably let it go for a whole flock of birds in the bush here in Kansas. By mid-afternoon Monday, our group of 12 storm chasers made a decision to entirely forego chasing in the Dakotas in order to get an early jump on placing ourselves in Kansas for what may be a big severe weather event, with the potential for powerful supercells and tornadoes, today. So Monday became a travel day, and we arrived at Hays, Kansas, late Monday. We'll likely travel a bit more southward toward Dodge City or so today as we set up in the best place where instability, wind shear and moisture will be maximized. This could be a huge storm day ... or a huge bust day. So it is when you follow the whims of weather. NOTE: We seem to be having some trouble getting our location to show on the tracking map. We're unsure what the problem is. Hopefully, this can be corrected later today as we get near more digital repeaters that would pick up our signal. Today's tornado potential from Storm Prediction Center
Audio: Click the play button to hear Dwayne Yancey talk with Kevin Myatt about chasing storms in Kansas. An All-American storm chase dayPosted May20, 2007 at 11:35 PMSunday was the best day of our storm chase trip so far, as we succeeded in catching a supercell thunderstorm as it blew off the Black Hills over Rapid City, South Dakota. We targeted western South Dakota and southeast Montana as the area most likely to have significant severe weather despite limitations in moisture and deep atmospheric shear, or changing winds with height. But as we approached Rapid City, this storm (click here for larger version of photo) was already firing, and somewhere it was finding enough spin in the atmosphere to become a supercell. What we saw was a textbook look at a "low precipitation supercell," or "LP" as it's known in weather geek talk. It produced little rain but spit out quite a bit of hail in the Rapid City area, and a few larger stones dinged our vans as we headed southward to observe the storm. For a time, the storm produced a rotating lowering known as a wall cloud (click here for video still frame), which in some situations can be a precursor to a tornado. In this case, though, there wasn't enough low-level spin and the cloud base was too high for a tornado ... a very good thing for Rapid City! 
A supercell thunderstorm dominates the sky over Rapid City, South Dakota In between ... we found we were only 15 miles away from a great American landmark, so the chase vans pulled in for an afternoon stop at Mount Rushmore. Here I am below the presidential quartet set in stone. It's hard to beat a day like this, but the severe weather outlook continues to look more active for the next 3 or 4 days. So the best may be yet to come.
Another small chase; big chase days loomPosted May20, 2007 at 12:50 AM
We're in Chamberlain, South Dakota, tonight facing a confusing, but potentially very active, severe weather forecast the next few days. Sunday may yet produce a chase day in the Dakotas, and the Monday-Thursday time frame may produce several opportunities. For the first time during this trip, tornadoes become a serious possibility on Sunday, and that potential only grows as the week goes along. Maybe some action today?Posted May19, 2007 at 08:38 AMNo matter what the tracker map shows (link at upper left), we're in North Platte, Nebraska, this morning after pulling in early, a great meal at a steakhouse and a relatively early bedtime. We're drifting north toward South Dakota today on the lookout for isolated storms firing along a frontal boundary. There looks to be some chance of storms each of the next five days, with the best chances still focusing on Monday-Wednesday when widespread severe weather may occur advancing eastward from the northern Plains to the Ohio Valley. I've heard it's oddly chilly back home in Virginia. We're in a holding patternPosted May18, 2007 at 09:15 AM
Alicia Bayse of Pulaski County High School takes a photo over Palo Duro Canyon on a pretty West Texas day ... but a slow day for storms. Things look to change by Monday, and the next couple of day we will mainly be preparing for that. Unless something pops up in eastern Colorado today, we will not be chasing storms again until Sunday night at the earliest, and more likely, Monday onward, when we will likely have three or more very tiring days.
Audio: Click the play button to hear Dwayne Yancey talk with Kevin Myatt, in Liberal, Kan., about storm-chasing in the Great Plains. Chasing flying breadPosted May17, 2007 at 09:14 AMWednesday was a travel day as expected, headed west. The highlight of the day was a stop at Lambert's Cafe in Sikeston, Mo., where servers hurl rolls across the room to dinner guests ... the famous "throwed rolls." (Catching the roll in the video is David Ramsaur, a senior majoring in meteorology at North Carolina-Asheville and our group's trainer and lead forecaster.) We like to throw in a little tourist type stuff in the long downtimes between storms. We're in Shawnee, Okla., just east of Oklahoma City this morning. We're going to be headed west toward the region where Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado and Kansas meet, watching for storms to fire on moist flow up the higher terrain and then translate southeastward. We're not expecting much severe weather, just some photogenic clouds and maybe lightning in the early evening. The big thing for us now is the Sunday-Wednesday period next week when a potent severe weather setup may be developing in the Plains. Getting positioned for that will be the most important thing for us.
Audio: Click the play button to hear Dwayne Yancey talk with Kevin Myatt about storms, travel and flying rolls. An ill wind blows through IllinoisPosted May16, 2007 at 12:29 AM
Wednesday looks to be a travel day as we head toward the western High Plains to see if we can get any upslope thunderstorm action and to wait on potential weather pattern changes early next week that could turn things very active.
Audio: Click the play button to hear highlights of Kevin Myatt's trip Stormy day in IowaPosted May15, 2007 at 12:59 AM
Today, we head to central Illinois to follow the cold front responsible for Monday's storms farther south. Central Illinois provided a particularly memorable storm chasing experience on last year's trip, as this blog entry from May 17 recalls.
Audio: Click the play button to hear highlights of Kevin Myatt's trip A long drivePosted May14, 2007 at 01:32 AMWe left Blacksburg around 9:30 a.m. and arrived in Moline, Ill., on the eastern shore of the Mississippi River, at midnight Central time (1 p.m. Eastern). We made an 800-mile first-day journey to set us up for a possible storm chase in western or northern Iowa, perhaps eastern Nebraska, today. A cold front will be moving into warm, moist air in the region, but there are mixed signals on the upper air wind dynamics. So we're not sure yet if there will be a lot of severe thunderstorms or just a few isolated ones. But with even lesser prospects for storms later in the week, we're going all out for this event. Will let you know tonight or Tuesday whether our long drive was fruitful or futile. You can follow our position, relative to the map and to the radar, on the storm tracker page linked at the upper right of this blog. Follow the storm chasersPosted May12, 2007 at 11:13 PMNOTE: Technological problems have rendered our tracking page kaput, so I have removed this from the home page for the blog. This isn't really your typical weather bulletin ... I just want to keep the link for the storm chase tracking page in the upper right corner of my blog for the next two weeks so I don't have to repeat it in every blog entry. Click here for the current tracking of the storm chase team The page has been constructed by Ben Mills, a Virginia Tech engineering student and amateur radio enthusiast. There may be a few times when we're out of radio range and the page isn't current ... but every year, the gaps in coverage get smaller and smaller, so it should have us pinpointed most of the trip. Come ride along with us -- virtually! It's almost time to chase storms againPosted May10, 2007 at 03:38 PM
You can follow our progress on the Web site linked here, created by Ben Mills, an engineering student and amateur radio enthusiast at Virginia Tech. I will also be updating this blog from time to time as we go along. Chase team members are listed below: Dave Carroll, co-leader, Pulaski County High School teacher and Virginia Tech adjunct instructor Click here for a closer look at our chase trip poster. I shot this photo of a rotating wall cloud, with the sun shining under it, in a supercell thunderstorm near Maroa, Ill., on last year's trip. My first storm chase of 2007Posted Mar28, 2007 at 07:06 PM
Some of you got a little more rain and hail than you bargained for ... others are wondering what the fuss was all about. But a few crackles of thunder in the distance should have let everyone know that, without a doubt, spring is upon us, and many more months of warmth, humidity and occasional days of thunder are ahead. If you have photos from today's storms -- either as they were happening or the aftermath -- please feel free to send them to me at the email address linked here. September storm chasePosted Sep25, 2006 at 02:32 PM
Ominous shelf cloud races out from a severe thunderstorm in Granville County, N.C. All last week, I kept an eye on the strong cold front advancing across the nation as it triggered severe weather in the central U.S. My particular interest was whether this front would be able to trigger strong storms in our region on Sunday, and whether I would have a rare opportunity for a fall storm chase. The conditions lined up less perfectly than they appeared they would a day or two earlier, but after an early church service Sunday, I decided to head toward south-central Virginia to see if I could catch a severe thunderstorm.  Towering cumulus clouds billow near South Hill, Va. Tornadoes, or not? Additional photosPosted Jul07, 2006 at 09:54 PM
 Storm-chasing articlePosted Jun02, 2006 at 11:34 AMThe Collegiate Times, a student-run newspaper covering Virginia Tech, recently ran an article about the storm-chasing trip I had the privilege of helping lead last month. There will be storms locally today, very similar to the last few days ... pop-up storms that dump a lot of rain in one location, while leaving others not far away bone dry. Lack of shearing winds aloft in the atmosphere will prevent any kind of severe outbreak from happening, though brief severe storms locally are possible. Cooler and drier weather heads in behind a cold front for the weekend. Frustrating dayPosted May26, 2006 at 08:47 AMOur storm chase team placed ourselves almost perfectly for erupting supercells in western Indiana on Thursday, but "almost" isn't good enough in hilly, forested terrain with a poor road network. A supercell storm that may have spawned a tornado went up less than 15 miles south of Terre Haute, Indiana, where we had stopped for re-evaluation, but we couldn't get around to the southeast of it where we needed to be before the storm fused into a line and rocketed away. We're headed back home today. One thing I haven't done that I should is to list the members of our team, who have done a tremendous job in having some amazing storm intercepts in a weather pattern not conducive to a lot of severe weather. Dave Carroll, Pulaski County High School meteorology teacher, trip co-leader A gustnado?Posted May25, 2006 at 01:12 AM
We had another intriguing day today in Wisconsin where we were within a mile or so of a sudden circulation that wrapped up tightly in a thunderstorm, possibly a brief tornado. Hope to have more on that later. Big, mean squall linePosted May24, 2006 at 08:10 AM
We also witnessed a few more "gustnadoes," including one large one that was reported to the National Weather Service by several spotters as a tornado. We did see some rotation in the clouds above the swirl on the ground, but weren't convinced enough to call it a tornado ourselves. Back in the High PlainsPosted May22, 2006 at 08:42 AMWe're in McCook, Nebraska, on this Monday morning after chasing some High Plains convection that kicked out some "gustnadoes" -- swirls of dust on the ground induced by strong downdrafts -- and one severe storm with large hail that we were only able to tag along with at late evening before a gorgeous amber sunset under a "bow echo" storm approaching us from the west. Looks like we're in for 2 extremely busy days in this region. Follow along with us on our storm chase page. Amazing chasePosted May18, 2006 at 08:59 AM
We spend the third day, on Tuesday, touring the April 2 tornado path scenes in Caruthersville, Mo., and Marmaduke, Ark., a sobering reminder to all of us of what heartache tornadoes can cause. We also caught some nice pulse storms with shelf clouds and cumulonimbus clouds scraping the open skies of the Missouri Bootheel. A nice day that ended with catfish in my hometown of Jonesboro, Ark. 
From a weather pattern that has been meager for severe weather, our jaws dropped at the beauty of the spectacle that unfolded. We don't know if a tornado actually touched the ground, and will review our video carefully, but several low rotating masses descended from the layered wall clouds we watched. UPDATE: Watch a video clip of the storm Link to photo I shot of Illinois mesocylone. 
Pictured in the photo are Stephanie Taylor, the Pulaski County High School senior who shot the other two pictures I used, and Lorenza Cooper, a rising senior at Virginia Tech. We're in Joplin, Mo., now, after a busted chase day in southeast Missouri, and slim prospects for thunderstorms the next couple of days. We saw a tornado, apparentlyPosted May16, 2006 at 10:27 AMLook at the picture again in the previous day's entry ... look at the ground underneath below the thin funnel at the upper left. There's a whirl of dust/dirt/clouds/debris at the ground under the funnel. Apparently, what we saw was in fact a tornado, with a circulation extending to the ground. UPDATE 5/21: Here is a link to a larger version of the photo from a video still of the funnel cloud/possible tornado we observed near Durham, N.C. A weird chase dayPosted May15, 2006 at 08:32 AM
Dave Carroll and I made a decision to spend the first day of our chase trip purusing storms in North Carolina rather than traveling through placid weather to the west. This was unprecedented in the history of the student chase trips that Carroll has led off and on during the last 15 years for high school and college students. We barely had everyone picked up at Blacksburg and Pulaski when severe thunderstorm warnings started flying for the New River Valley. But we wanted none of these storms, as they were clustering together. We passed through Roanoke at about 11 a.m. (did you see our maroon, antenna-laden vans?) as we headed south to Danville for re-evaluation. 
It was a strange day ... heading east on the first leg of a trip to the Great Plains, chasing in trees and hills, and across a metro area. But it gave all the students a crash course in chasing, and made for a couple of very tired drivers! Now, we will really head west and see if this pattern can yet change and yield some severe storms on the open Plains. Follow the storm chasersPosted May13, 2006 at 10:29 PMStorm chaser documentaries cut out days of traveling and quiet days, presenting a misleading image of constant storm action. The 2006 storm chase team, a group of nine college and high schools students and 3 team leaders headed out of Blacksburg on Sunday morning (May 14) for the heart of Tornado Alley in what is supposed to be the peak time of the season, is driving smack into a weather pattern that is almost totally not conducive for severe weather. Cool air from Canada has almost completely scoured out the warm, Gulf of Mexico moisture needed for storms. We'll have to find table scraps our first week and look for possible changes in the weather pattern late in our first week or during our second. Follow along with us on our Storm Chase 2006 page and on a Virginia Tech blog. Also, I will make occasional updates on here, about every two or three days or so. Storm photosPosted May04, 2006 at 04:34 PM
So here they are. The first shot is of a wall cloud, or lowered cloud base, on the back side of the storm near Clarkton, Mo. This is in the northern Missouri Bootheel ... that little part of Missouri that sticks down into Arkansas. This wall cloud formed with the second tornado warning that was issued within an hour for the same area. I observed rapid rotation in the clouds with each radar-detected possible tornado, and got this shot as the late evening sun peeked under the clouds to the west and cast a rosy glow on a menacing wall cloud.
My thanks to Dave Carroll back in Blacksburg for providing me radar support as I chased this storm. Dave teaches meteorology at Pulaski County High School and leads the annual storm chasing trip for college and high school students that we covered last year. I'm looking forward to joining him and his students again in a couple of weeks on a 2-week trip to the Great Plains for a storm chase sponsored by Virginia Tech. Chasing stormsPosted May01, 2006 at 11:31 AMI'm in Arkansas to visit my parents a few days ... and leave my doggie with them so I can go on a 2-week storm chase trip sponsored by Virginia Tech later this month ... but I made time on Sunday to chase a severe storm that spawned a tornado in southeast Missouri. I saw some rotating wall clouds and a couple of funnel clouds, one that I got a picture of. Hope to share more with you later this week when I get back. |
About this blog
Kevin Myatt works on the copy desk for The Roanoke Times and is its principal weather geek, writing a weekly weather column and advising the newsroom on weather topics. He helps guide students on a storm chasing trip to the central U.S. each May and was an editor for "Hurricanes and the Middle Atlantic States." .....Advertisement.....
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Here is a video still of a large gustnado we encountered in Colorado on Sunday, just to show you what one looks like. Kinda looks like a tornado, eh? It was rotating, but it's just dust at the surface spun up in an eddy of the outflow from the thunderstorm.
Back in Virginia now on Thursday, I promised a few photos from my chase last Sunday (April 30) of a severe thunderstorm in southeast Missouri that eventually became warned for a possible tornado, based on National Weather Service Doppler radar out of Memphis.
The second shot is a funnel cloud that occurred not long after I shot the wall cloud. With sunlight running out, it's dark and grainy, but you can make out a funnel. It did not touch down, and dissipated rather quickly after this photo was taken.
The final shot is a photo of a rapidly developing lowered cloud base, or wall cloud, I observed earlier in the afternoon as the storm traversed the Arkansas-Missouri border region. I watched rapid updrafts with this cloud mass, and this occurred not long before the storm suddenly increased in intensity and began spitting out hail about the size of quarters. I heard some of that pinging off my truck.
