- 2002 CONVECTIVE FIELD STUDY B
Car 1: CAPE Crusaders; Driver: Stacey Peterson, Team Leader: Bart Wolf, Videographer: Jenn Klein, Navigator: Kelley Johnson, & Peter Hasa
Car 2: TVA (TOTAL Vapor in Ashland) Driver: Tyler Brock, Team Leader: Brian Dillon, Trip Logger: Vanessa Myers, & Ashley Brooks
Car 3: Little Green Jet Streak: Driver: Melissa Dwenger, Team Leader: Aneela Qureshi, Brian Balinski (Chooch), & Joe Millard
Car 4: PBA (Positive Bluegrass Advection) Driver: Alan Srock, Team Leader: Jason Tomlinson, Tracy Goyette, & Lauren Davison
Mileage Guesses (miles):
Alan: 5051
Jason: 5200
Tracy: 5500
Lauren: 5300
Chooch: 5802
Aneela: 5629
Joe: 5513
Melissa: 4975
Tyler: 5675
Brian: 5828
Vanessa: 5575
Ashley: 5896
Pete: 5421
Kelley: 5212
Bart: 5151
Stacey: 4769
Jenn: 1
*ALL TIMES IN CT TIME*
June 2, 2002: Pre-Planning Meeting 6pm
"Texas is the Bermuda Triangle of Conversation."- Bart
"Take advantage of all the BS on this trip." - Bart
Plan of action for tomorrow: Meet at 6:30 am and leave at 7:00 am heading towards Nebraska/Kansas.
June 3, 2002: Day One
6:30am: Report At Mueller
7:30: Leave Mueller, exit onto La Porte.
7:35: Take mileage guesses, go north on State Route 49
7:46: Head west on I-80
7:55: Car 4 shares their wonderful Bluegrass music
9:30: New Day 1 update (1300Z): The best possibility of tornadoes is in Northern IL & IN at 5%. There is also a 2% line, which goes all the way to central CO.
9:35: Decide to continue west to NE to set up for the next couple days instead of staying in IL and chasing.
"So when an F7 hits the Rockford area, don't come crying to me." -Bart
9:50: Find out that hardware needed for the big anemometer we wanted to take was in the mailroom upstairs.
10:23: T/Td: 64/61
10:48: Cross the Mississippi River into Iowa, State Count: 3
11:10: Discussion of where to head tonight, looking at McCook, NE
11:40: Stop in Coralville, IA for gas and lunch, Jenni calls Bart from the Weather Center, there is a bullseye in Southwest IA and possibly Southeast NE
12:15: Pull out of Wendy's and continue heading west on I-80
"Don't forget we need to do some TOILET surgery." -Jason
12:35: New Day 1, the 5% Tornado risk line has been taken away, Slight Risk line southeast of McCook, Ogallala, & Sioux City
12:50: 72/70
1:10: - Cold front goes from Sioux City to Grand Island, NE
- Jason & Brian D. are calling ASOS sites
- Day 2 shows good stuff in TX Panhandle & KS
- Discussion of new location to shoot for, probably Belleville or Concordia KS
1:43: 86/76
1:45: Base Support update: The 0Z RUC shows moisture convergence between the northwest and southwest corner of KS
1:55: Rain off & on
"Please keep internal car affairs to yourself." -Alan
"We're in Madison County, where are the bridges?" - Ashley
2:35: Stop at rest area to see radar and get surrounding area temps. PBA picks up 18-Wheel Singles Newspaper
2:45: Leave
3:00: Columbus, NE: 63 degrees & Shenandoah, IA: 90 degrees
3:10: Bart's "name" for their vehicle Nonlinear Biconstituent Diffusion
"Who wants to stop at the undeveloped rest stop...or should we wait for the modern rest stop?" - Jason
3:25: Update from Craig: Day One hasn't updated, cap city in KS, Amarillo's forecast office is talking about severe weather for tomorrow, currently on radar only a few small showers-not really anything going on
3:40: Report from Omaha: best chance of severe weather tonight, south of a Columbus to Omaha line with supercells possible later this evening
3:50: Enter Nebraska, State Count: 4
4:10: Craig update: new Day One looks like just like old, less happening now on radar then an hour ago, a major MCS is expected to develop in Southern NE and roll through North Central KS, Northeastern KS overnight, potentially another one behind it that will roll through Central KS by morning (threat is hail & heavy rain), we should head for Belleville, KS
4:20: Go northwest on State Rte 66 searching for desperately needed gas
4:25: Pull into Ashland TOTAL station, Car 2 making it in on fumes.
4:40: Pull out of TOTAL
"The rear lights work best when the engine's running, and the engine runs best when there's gas in the car." -Bart
" I'm calling Dodge, they owe me two gallons!!!" -Tyler
4:50: Back on I-80, Car 2 comes up with a name based on their recent gas experience: TVA (Total Vapor in Ashland)
4:52: Car 1 comes up with a name: CAPE Crusaders
5:00: Hotels are full in Belleville, going to Salina
5:10: Salina temp: 97/59
5:25: 70/63
5:40: NOAA radio: severe storms in N/Central KS between Grand Island and Salina with 1 or 2 isolated tornadoes possible
5:45: NOAA reports 68 degrees in York, Turn south on I-81
5:50: 70/60
6:00: 70/62
6:05: 71/65
6:10: 70/64
6:15: 72/65
6:20: 73/64
6:25: 75/64, Salina: 93/55 S winds 17 knots gusting to 20 Concordia: 84/72 N winds
6:30: 74/67
6:43: Enter Kansas, State Count: 5
6:45: 74/67
7:00: 75/68, Salina: 92, S winds @ 27 knots Concordia: 79, NW winds @ 23 knots
7:05: 77/64
7:15: Bathroom/snack break, Alan looses the first VORTEX football on top of the gas overhang
7:25: Pull out
7:30: Stop to get gas because Tyler's gauge is screwed up
7:40: Leave
7:45: 76/69
7:50: 75/71
7:53: 78/73
8:03: 84/76
8:05: Tomorrow's weather discussion will be in Bart, Alan, Jason, & Peter's room at 8am, be ready to leave from there.
8:10: 88/71, NOAA says risk of storms, torrential rain northwest of Salina
8:11: Get checked out by local teenagers driving by, Salina down to 90 at 8pm
8:25: Pull into Best Western hoping for rooms
8:30: 86/71, we now have rooms. People go off to get food at local restaurant and Alan goes to local Wal-Mart to buy 2 VORTEXes: one to replace the one he lost and another for himself.
Total Mileage: 776.2 Miles
June 4, 2002: Day 2
7:55am: Weather discussion lead by Bart, Jason, Alan, & Peter: The triple point is probably going to be between Amarillo, TX and the NM border along I-40. SPC has a slight risk in the TX Panhandle and south of there. The plan is to head for the TX Panhandle and go south towards Lubbock, meaning a LONG drive! We will get a hotel in Plainview, TX
8:30: Pull out, looking for HWY 40
8:33: Found out how to get there, going north on 81
8:35: West on St. Rte. 156, Car 4 now has a name: PBA (Positive Bluegrass Advection)
10:13: Southwest on US 56
10:45: Discussion on how to get to the TX Panhandle, decide to head for Liberal, KS, then south on US 83 to Perryton, TX, and then US 70 to Pampa, TX
11:10: Report/Update from Craig: The entire Panhandle of TX and OK are already convecting, the front is somewhere between Guymon and Amarillo, dirty warm sector, tomorrow looks a lot like today, Thursday looks quiet, will be a "drift" day
11:15: 63/61
11:20: Stop for gas
11:30: Leave, take US 283 south
12:00: Update from Craig: new Day One is essentially the same, with one important change-southern half of TX Panhandle is hatched for hail, and enhanced chance of supercells and tornadoes right where our hotel is. Turned on US 54 going south/southwest, have to get south as fast as possible
12:05: Talk to trucker friends
"I'm a stormrunner, I run from them." "Well I guess you're the smart one." - Trucker & Bart
"That Shadow has the git up & go." - Trucker
"That girl in the last car behind the driver seat is purty hot!" -Trucker
12:15: 63/63 "Kinda like Inspector Gadget, anemometer on one hand, barometer on the other, beanie cap...I can do it all." -Alan
12:35: Brian mispronounces Amarillo as "Armarillo", ASOS: Amarillo 57/57 Light Rain, Lubbock 83/56
12:45: Rain, nice shelf cloud north of Liberal
12:55: Bart calls the Weather Center: new Day Two has increased the slight risk adding a 25% risk area from Midland to San Angelo to Austin southward in TX, MCD has just come out for Lubbock TX- rapid severe thunderstorm development, clearing in Southern TX Panhandle, expecting initiation in the next hour or two
1:10: Enter Oklahoma, state count: 6
1:30: 65/65
1:35: "Your girls sure are purty." -Trucker
1:47: Stop in Guymon
"This place is a DUMP!" -Bart
2:05: Pull out
2:10: 68/61, Lubbock is 83/56
2:25: 68/63
2:26: Enter Texas, State Count: 7
2:30: 70/63
2:36: 73/63
2:45: Turn south on US 287
2:50: 72/65
2:55: Convection is starting to occur, cars now monitoring radio stations & NOAA radio in Lubbock
3:00: 72/65, Amarillo: 58/56, Lubbock: 82/57 & clear
3:40: Update from Weather Center: Tornado Watch until 8pm-box is from Clovis, NM to just west of Childress, TX and then south to where NM ends then straight over to Midland/Odessa TX, new Day One outlook bullseyes the hatched hail and tornado risk in and about Lubbock and areas just north and south.
3:47: Boltek: 18 strikes/min, 120 mi due S
3:52: 69/67
4:00: Looks like storms to southeast, Boltek confirms,
4:05: Stop for gas
4:20: Pulled out, Lubbock: 65 and thunderstorms, S on I-27
4:35: Boltek: 100 strikes/min, southwest 100-150 miles out, towers going up to the southwest
4:45: Mammatus clouds, just entered Tornado Watch-the line is 50 miles southwest of Lubbock to 40 miles north/northwest of Plainview and the box is 50 miles east and west of the line.
4:55: Update from Craig: Only storm in watch box is east/southeast of Lubbock, TX (we can see), temperatures south of Lubbock in the 90s, 30 min ago 1in hail in Lubbock
5:00: Severe T-Storm Warning Southern Hale & Lubbock Counties, storm moving northeast @ 20mph, we are going to core punch and get southeast of storm
5:10: Boltek: 30-40 strikes/min, 40-70 miles to southwest
5:25: Turn west on US 70
5:28: 68/63
5:30: Boltek: 30-40 miles to east/southeast
5:36: 72/66
5:40: Head south on St. Rte.168, Severe T-Storm Warning Floyd County
5:43: 76/69
5:50: Reports of golf-size hail & larger, I-27 flooded in spots "Snow on the ground with 77 degrees temperature outside, that's my idea of perfect weather." -Alan
5:57: 67/65
6:05: 72/67
6:10: Heading to hotel in Brownfield for keys, gas, restroom & data unless something happens. It's looking like a long night.
6:15: 72/71
6:19: East on St. Rte. 114
6:20: Back South on St. Rte. 168
6:21: 71/71
6:27: Stop to take pictures of crepuscular rays
6:30: 75/71
6:35: East on St. Rte. 41
6:40: Ropesville Gas Station: "We won't turn the pumps on unless we know you personally." Head south on US 62
6:42: Pull over to look & change Car 3's tire, while watching a growing supercell
" Ya know this thing's gonna drop a tornado while we're sitting here." -Brian
6:47: Supercell now contains a wall cloud with possible lowering in it, can feel the inflow
6:53 CAPE Crusaders & TVA speed up going south on US 62 to Brownfield to take care of spare tire, Car 3 & PBA stay back, but south of supercell
7:00: Pull into Brownfield, finally find air at 4th gas station, TVA fills tire, while CAPE Crusaders get hotel keys.
7:40: Reports of baseball + size hail, find Car 3 & PBA, put on spare, converge cars, watch all the growing supercells
7:50: Back to Brownfield to drop of Car 3 & get south of supercell
7:55: Supercells ALL over the place
8:00: Severe T- Storm Warning for Lynne County
8:05: 78/64
8:10: Bathroom @ hotel/search for Dodge Dealership, combine group into 3 cars to go chase
8:15: Head east on US 380
8:37: Storm in Lubbock went due north, left turner/splitter, hit NWS office
8:45: Stop to get Alan gas
9:00: Stop E of Tahoka, TX to watch lightning
9:05: Going back west on US 380, then north on US 87
9:20: Find spots along the highway to watch lightning
9:40: Decide to head back to hotel
9:55: While heading west on US 380 run into heavy winds, rain, and starts to hail, decide to head back to Tahoka
10:00: Warning for the county we're in (Lynn) goes until 11pm, storm potentially able to produce golf ball size hail.
10:01: Pull into the Phillips gas station in Tahoka to sit underneath the overhang and avoid hail
10:15: Leave gas station, no more hail, but heavy rains
10:30: Rain has stopped, but parts of the road are flooded. We stop several times to have Stacey wade in and find out how deep they are. CAPE Crusader plays "Frogger" with all the little frogs on the road.
11:05: Finally pull into hotel in Brownfield, TX: Caprock Inn... how appropriate!
Daily Mileage: 703.8 miles
Total Mileage: 1,480 miles
June 5, 2002: Day 3
8:30: Weather discussion lead by Aneela, Jenn, Lauren, & Ashley. The Day One has a slight risk in very Southern TX, hail is only 15% and 2% tornadoes. The Day Two and Three show the action being up north towards NE and further. If we were to go after the stuff in Southern TX we would miss what will probably be better storms up north because it would be a good 2 days driving. The debate is whether to go through New Mexico to make our state count bigger and do some sight seeing.
"Is that a legitimate way to use a state?" -Bart
"Let's go see a rodeo!" "Or we could watch corn grow..." - Melissa & Alan Melissa and Jason get new tires for her car.
9:00: Waiting for new ETA, packing, hanging out, etc.
11:05: Pull out of Best Western, planning to stay in Stratton, CO, head north on US 385.
12:00: Stop at Pizza Hut in Littlefield, TX for buffet and gas
1:10: Leave Littlefield, Car 3 finally comes up with name: Little Green Jet Streak
1:30: 73/60
1:50: New Day 2: storms in SD, IA, and MN, discussion of whether to stick with original plan to go to CO, or to go somewhere else where we can chase the Day 2 area
2:30: Waiting for Supercell Index, debate is between Oakley, CO and Stratton, CO
2:45: Decision is made: going to Oakley, CO, stop to call hotels
2:55: Oakley is full, going to Colby, KS.
3:50: 77/54, pass train w/ 121 cars
4:20: Enter Oklahoma for 2nd time
4:34: 73/55
4:40: Gas stop in Boise City, OK
4:55: Leave going northeast on US 56
5:15: Dillon Rule is proposed (the right to revoke CB privileges) and accepted
5:35: Enter Kansas for 2nd time
5:45: Enter Oklahoma for 3rd time going north on OK 95/ KS 27
5:46: Enter Kansas for 3rd time, Vanessa sings NKOTB to regain CB privileges
5:50: "To the right you will see...flat. To the left...flat. Thank-you for flying VUSIT Express."-Bart
6:40: Enter Mountain Time Zone
6:55: Quick restroom break in Richfield
7:00: On the road again
8:00: Turn east on US 40
8:15: Little Green Jet Streak runs into board in the middle of the road, bends rim and ruins tires on the left front and back, spare is put on and strategy is figured out on how to get to Colby.
8:35: Start to limp on, both front & back tire look bad, Cape Crusaders are doing reconnaissance to Winona to look for air or repair
8:55: Get air in tire
8:57: Pull out, still heading east on US 40
9:00: It is decided that Cape Crusaders will go on ahead to hotel and TVA will look for a dealership while the other 2 hang back.
9:07: Turn north on State Hwy 25
9:13: Stacy hits a bird
"I'd count the board, but I think it won." -Jason
9:22: 2000 mile marker
9:30: Cape Crusaders get to hotel, TVA gets to Dodge Dealership in Colby
9:37: PBA, Jet Streak arrive at dealership
9:50: Pull into Best Western
Daily Mileage: 528.6 miles
Total Mileage: 2008.6 miles
June 6, 2002: Day 4
8:30: Meet, try and take care of Melissa's tire
10:00: Weather discussion lead by Chooch, Brian, Tyler, & Joe. Not a lot is going on today, so most of the discussion is about tomorrow and getting in the right position. There is a wave coming out of the southwest, so we want to be centered instead of to the east where SPC is predicting things to happen. Tons of shear tomorrow, but the cap could limit severe weather. Plan is to head for Valentine, NE and set up for tomorrow. Jason and Melissa find tires and get the rims bent back.
"Wagoner's Junkyard, they can do anything!" -Jason
10:45: 76/59
"Your forecast is warm, warmer, and hot!" -local radio
11:00: Leave hotel, get food and gas
11:45: Leave Colby, KS heading east on US 24
11:55: Turn north on US 83
12:30: New Day 2: where we're staying tonight is just west of the center of the slight risk
12:40: Stop in Oberlin, KS to look for Sinclair Dinosaurs and get A&W rootbeer floats
12:50: Leave
12:52: 87/51
1:00: Enter NE second time
2:20: 89/54
2:25: Stop for drinks in North Platte, NE
2:35: Leave
3:05: 90/57
3:10: Results from Craig call: New Day 1 about the same, ETA and AVN shows we have a reasonable chance of severe storms tomorrow through Tuesday, agrees with choice of Valentine for a night stay. Kansas and southward is thermo-nuclear cap city through Sunday.
3:40: Stop for gas in Thedford, NE, watch towering cumulus
"You little girl, you better put rocks in your pocket or you'll blow away." -Random person to Ashley
3:55: Leave
4:39: 90/57
4:50: Pull into Holiday Inn in Valentine
5:25: Second weather discussion of the day, look at different models for the evening and next couple days. Bart points out that the next couple of days may only be an hour drive or so.
"Bart, that's a long drive." -Alan
"I don't know if the drivers can make that." -Stacey
"It doesn't seem like a day unless we drive 7 or 8." -Tyler
"Alright, we'll quit." -Bart
Joe finds the ultimate chase vehicle: a Limo-Hummer...holds 15 people.
The plan is to head east and southeast and get rolled!
5:40: Leave to chase, head southeast on US 20 following towers, can see towers to south producing big severe storm but its too far
5:50: Thunderstorm warning for Brown & Custer counties to the south of us
6:00: Boltek: 30-40 strikes/min. 100-120 miles to the NE
6:25: Boltek: 20 strikes/min on the storm we're chasing
6:35: Severe thunderstorm heading southeast at 20 miles, heading for a bunch of towns around Creighton, NE about 70mi east of us. It must be building in front of the mushy stuff we're seeing.
6:45: 87/60
7:00: Stop for gas
7:07: Leave
7:25: Decide to abandon storm because there's not enough moisture for it to do anything, it evaporated into itself. Search for food
7:40: Decide not to eat until back in Valentine, so head back going west on US 20
8:20: Stop to take pictures of storm to north
8:25: Back on the road
9:25: Back in Valentine, everyone breaks up and goes where they want for food.
Daily Mileage: 515.4 miles
Total Mileage: 2524 miles
June 7, 2002: Day 5
8:30: Weather Discussion lead by Stacey, Tracy, Vanessa, & Kelley. Day 1 has slight risk in NE, CO, and WY, winds and hail at 25%, tornados at 2%. Day 2 has severe weather at 25% up north in SD. Plan is to go west and stay in Torrington, WY
11:25: Leave hotel, heading west on US 20
11:45: Enter Mountain Time Zone. Get a report: new Day 1-Ogallala is as far west as 2% goes for tornadoes, 25% hail for Southern NE Panhandle, wind is 15%, saying 2000-3000 CAPEs, hail, and dry microbursts. The front has stalled.
12:06: 69/45
12:16: 70/47
12:25: Stop for gas in Merriman
12:40: Leave, Turn south on State Hwy 61
12:50: 71/44
1:00: 73/47
1:20: "Was that a mirage, or did we just pass a truck?" -Tyler
"Wait a minute, I passed a truck?!" -Stacey
1:21: 69/47 (under clouds)
1:22: According to ASOS at 1pm Ogallala was 86/60
1:35: 70/47
1:50: Report from weather center: wind has switched to north at Ogallala, McCook is 95, North Platte is 93, tomorrow slight risk has been extended a hair further south and 25% hatched area covering the corners of MT, WY, SD, & ND, may need an upgrade to moderate
2:00: 75/52
2:10: 84/54
2:20: 87/62, think we punched the front
2:45: 93/63
3:07: Stop for food, gas, and weather data
4:00: Leave heading south on State Hwy 61
4:10: 98/55
4:21: Head west on State Hwy 23
4:25: Find a country road just off of Hwy 23 to sit and watch growing storm, 100/56 (first VUSIT chase to ever record a temp of 100)
4:40: Head west again on Hwy 23
4:50: Stop to take better pictures of the storm
5:15: Leave going west again on Hwy 23, Tone: Severe Thunderstorm Watch for Garden County 30 mi west/southwest of Sidney, NE. Can't hear everything, so the watch may just be for NE
5:25: "Make sure you get through here before rush hour...oh wait, we are rush hour!" -Bart referring to Venango, NE
5:40: Start to see what we think are downbursts off to the north
5:45: In Colorado now heading north towards the downbursts, State Count: 8
5:50: Stop to get a good look
5:55: Leave to go get rolled!
6:15: Go into storm to get rolled and continue following the storm around. VERY DUSTY!!!
6:25: Still getting rolled by microbursts! Winds hit 51 knots, making the storm severe!!
6:28: Turn around because we want to get rolled again!
"We're not dirty enough, we need to go catch some more!" -Jason
6:35: Here we go again!
6:40: Still surrounded by microbursts! 90/42
6:50: 80/44
7:00: 87/44, stopped trying to decide whether or not to continue going after the microbursts. Decide to go north on US 385 and look to go west for more core punching
7:07: 87/47
7:10: Going to get rolled again!!!
"Less filling, tastes great!" -Jason on dust
7:11: Wind: 38 knots
7:14: Getting rolled again
"The best thing about this is it's crunchy!" -Alan
7:15: See one of many numerous gustnadoes, head south on US 385
7:25: Head west on County Road 12 (?), trying to get rolled again
7:30: 80/55
7:35: Heading back to US 385, wind hit 50 knots again!
7:40: North on US 385, heading back to hotel
7:53: Stopping at the Colorado Welcome Center rest area, 79/54, wind: 37 knots
8:02: 80/53
8:05: Leave rest area, continuing north on US 358
8:15: Back in NE, and heading west on I-80
8:45: 73/54
"I don't want to even think about how much manure I ate today." -Jason
9:20: Stop for gas in Kimball, NE
9:25: Leave, look for food
9:29: Stop at the local Burger King...it has a disco ball!
10:15: Leave Burger King heading north on State Rte 71, it is decided that "a plethora" is the official number of how many gustnadoes we saw. Between 10:30 and 11:30: Learn that West Virginia has towns with the names Hurricane and Tornado, CB songtitle game results: "$2.79 by the Gallons", "One Touch by the Neons", and several songs by "Scottsbluff".
11:30: Enter Wyoming, State Count: 9
11:31: 3,000 miles
11:35: End the day in Torrington, WY at a Holiday Inn Express
Daily Mileage: 480 miles
Total Mileage: 3004 miles
June 8, 2002: Day 6
8:45: Weather discussion led by Bart, Jason, Alan & Peter. Day One: SPC has put a moderate in Northwestern SD, Southwestern ND, Eastern MT and Eastern WY, main threat seems to be hail at 35% in same area, t ornadoes are 5%, high winds 15%, massive difluence over same area, the big problem is that its cap city. The plan is to chase in Western South Dakota and then head to a hotel to the east.
9:40: Leave heading north on US 85
10:50: 65/62
11:10: 64/60
11:20: PBA proposes the Fly Index to monitor storms, based on the theory that flies bite more before a storm
11:40: 66/62, Craig calls with update: hail is now 35% hatched, SPC expecting massive supercells with huge hail and tornadoes this afternoon, not much has changed except that they've gone more bullish.
11:47: Stop for gas and food
12:15: Leave continuing north on US 85
12:25: 72/61
12:36: Enter South Dakota, State Count: 10
1:00: Call from Craig: New Day 2 looks like old with a slight risk and 25% probability for Eastern SD and ND, but don't know if cold front will break cap tomorrow or not, if it does could go with a moderate. Currently dew points are increasing rapidly and winds are around 30 knots.
"Carnage is good!" -Jason
1:05: 71/61
1:15: MCD issued for Northeastern WY and Southeastern MT
1:25: 72/62, Call from John, expecting weather watch within the next 1 to 2 hours and convection initiation Southeastern MT and Northeastern WY
1:40: Stop for gas in Belle Fourche, SD, discussion on where to go next
1:45: Call from Craig: We should basically stay where we are, maybe go a little east or north. Don't go to MT, deep moisture won't get in there.
1:55: Leave, still going north on US 85, looking for a hill to sit on
2:10: Call from John: Tornado Watch from 1:15-7pm Mountain Time along and 85 miles east and west of a line from Glendive, MT to 40mi southeast of Moorcroft, WY, pull into local airport just outside of Belle Fourche, SD, wind: 32 knots
2:15: 36 knots
2:20: Tornado watch for area we're in
2:23: 74/66
2:45: Get on the internet thanks to the local airport office, look at radar, satellite, and several other things
3:35: Consult Mystique Ching (Magic 8 ball thingy on Jason's phone), says we should go West
3:50: Decide to stay around Belle Fourche because everything says here, we just need the cap to break.
3:55: 78/65, Leave airport to go into town and find food
4:10: Eat at Stadium Bar & Grill
5:00: 79/67, leave
5:11: Back at the airpor
t 5:40: 78/66
7:15: Leave airport going north on 85 hoping something will happen, if not we'll head east to hotel
7:35: 79/66
8:12: 77/66
8:20: Stop to take pictures of the sky and Livestock At Large sign
8:35: Leave
8:40: Restroom/snack break
8:53: Leave
8:55: Turn east on State Rte 20
12:00: Pull into Mobridge, SD Motel 8, have room problems
Daily Mileage: 494 miles
Total Mileage: 3,498 miles
June 9, 2002: Day 7
9:00: Weather discussion lead by Aneela, Melissa, Jenn, Lauren, & Ashley. Potential for supercells and large hail exists especially over the Western Dakotas. Looked at Day 2 and Day 3 for idea of how we're going to end the trip, looks like the possibility for staying out an extra day. The plan is to head for Dickinson, ND
"I swear they have a midget locked in a room with crayons...I told you green, no food for you!'"-Bart
10:25: Leave hotel
10:30: Stop for gas
10:40: Leave west on US Hwy 12
10:45: 80/75
10:55: 85/75
11:25: 79/75
12:00: North on State Rte 73
12:01: Enter North Dakota, State Count: 11, 73 becomes State Route 49
12:10:77/73
12:20: 71/70
12:25: Turn west on State Rte 21
12:40: 61/61
12:43: Turn north on State Rte 8, pass the cold front; Dickinson is also to the west of the cold front. The decision is to continue on and look at data.
1:15: West on I-94, Day One has been moved south, will probably go to the Belle Fourche Airport again after stopping in Dickinson for gas and food.
1:40: In Dickinson, stopping to discuss plan for the day, food, and gas. Bart cancels hotel
2:30: Leave heading west on I-94
2:45: 55/54, south on US 85
3:00: 55/55
3:15: 55/55
3:35: 56/56
3:45: Moderate Risk is downgraded to slight-it's cap city, things won't happen until between 10pm and 1am-if anything does. The plan is now to head to Rapid City, SD to relax for the night.
3:55: Enter South Dakota for second time
4:10: 61/61
4:15: Discuss going more east instead of Rapid City
"If worse comes to worse we could put a tuba in hot water and blow bubbles." -Tyler's idea for a hotel with no spa
4:20: Stop for gas, snacks, and discussion of where to go (same place stopped last night)
4:40: Leave still going south on US 85. The new plan is to go to Chamberlain, SD.
5:07: 73/65
5:10: In-flight movie: Moderate Risk My A$$!
5:15: Turn west on State Rte 168
5:25: South on State Rte 79
5:30: See possible towers to the southwest
5:50: Turn off to find a spot to watch
6:00: Find spot, watch clouds, people down the road come to find out if we're having car problems
6:50: Leaving heading south again on State Rte 79-the clouds have died
7:10: Restroom stop
7:20: Leave going east on I-94
8:30ish: Hit the 4,000 mile mark
9:40: Gas, food, restroom
9:50: Leave, back east on I-94
10:30: "I can say I've been to North Dakota and I can honestly say that I have no desire to go back." -Alan
11:10: Arrive at Holiday Inn Express in Chamberlain. "I'll put the kids at the end of the hall in case they want to get rowdy." - Front Desk Guy
Daily Mileage: 658 miles
Total Mileage: 4,156 miles
June 10, 2002: Day 8
8:15: Weather discussion lead by Brian, Chooch, Tyler, & Joe, plan is to head south towards NE
9:45: Leave heading west on I-90
9:50: Turn south on State Rte 47
10:00: Turn west on State Rte 49
10:30: Turn south on US Hwy 183
10:55: Enter Nebraska for the third time
"Nothing like driving through Nebraska and listening to The Price is Right!" -Alan
11:00: 66/66
11:07: Gas, see tire problems waiting to happen with Tyler's car
12:05: Find a tire place with correct tires, New Day One has been moved south and east
"This involves a car so there'll be a testosterone get-together over there." -Bart
12:10: Head into Ainsworth, NE for food while car is worked on
1:05: Leave the restaurant
1:20: New Day 2, covers IA, KS, OK, and NE
1:25: 79/63
2:25: 77/65
2:50: 82/70
3:00: 83/69
3:30: 86/73, Report from Base: Omaha forecast office is expecting explosive development around Hayes area. The new Day One covers basically the same area except the tornado area has shrunken
3:35: East on I-80
3:55: 88/73
4:10: Stop for gas
4:30: Leave
4:50: 89/80
5:20: Pull into Comfort Inn hotel in York, NE
5:40: Second weather discussion
"I think we need to chase so we can get out of here." "It's the evacu-chase." -Jason and Bart
7:15: Left hotel going south on US 81 to do some more chasing, 93/75
7:30: Pull onto country road facing west to watch some towers going up, Severe Thunderstorm Warning for counties due west
8:00: Moving closer to the storm
8:05: Now closer to wall cloud that has a Doppler Indicated tornado warning on it, however we don't see one
8:12: Moving again, heading north on US 81
8:25: Closer and better position just W of US 81
8:33: Moving again, cyclic cell
9:00: The four cars got separated for a little bit, but now back together, chance of tornados is dying because we're feeling outflow
9:03: Heading south and east on country roads towards US 81 to get out of storm and away from hail.
9:25: Sitting and watching lightning
9:30: Heading north on US 81 back to hotel
9:55: Back at hotel, done for the night!
Daily Mileage: 429.6 miles
Total Mileage: 4585.6 miles
June 11, 2002: Day 9
9:00: Weather discussion lead by Tracy, Stacy, Vanessa, and Kelley; the plan is to head for Russell, KS
10:25: Leave hotel heading south on 81
10:40: 81/78
11:17: Craig calls: weak shear, landspouts most common because of so much instability
11:27: Enter Kansas for the third time
11:40: 84/81, Another phone call from Craig: New Day One has 2% tornadoes east of Central KS back to Western Central KS, SPC is expecting large hail and microbursts, there is a distinct wave around Hayes, KS
12:00: Stop at Wal-Mart in Concordia, KS for supplies
12:30: Leave
1:15: Reach hotel, another Best Western in Salina, KS
2:00: Leave for food
2:30: Second weather discussion
3:25: Tornado Watch until 10pm for area 60 miles north & south of a line that is from 80 miles southwest of Russell to 20 miles northeast of Topeka
3:30: Get ready to leave but Alan's car won't start, so its jumped and still doesn't start. Arrange people into CAPE Crusader and Little Green Jet Streak. Alan, Aneela, Brian, Chooch, and Tyler stay back to take care of car
3:55: Leave heading west on I-70
3:58: 96/78
3:59: Phone call: The storm east of Russell is going up quickly
4:01: Severe Thunderstorm Watch: Lincoln and Ellsworth Counties
4:02: Severe Thunderstorm Watch: Ottawa County
4:10: Head south on Brooksville Road
4:11: West on Armstrong
4:15: Find perfect spot!
4:25: Storm has slowed down to 20mph and is heading north
4:34: Tornado Warning for Lincoln County (cell north of us), baseball size hail, heading east at 10 mph, tornado touchdown on I-70, Exit 222, (some of us think we saw it)
4:45: Going back east on Armstrong
4:50: Head south on Brooksville
4:55: Confirmed: 80mph wind and baseball size hail east of Wilson which is 15 miles west of us, storm is moving east at 15mph
5:10: Pulled off on the side of State Rte 140, looks like a new mesocyclone may be forming, also see gustnadoes
5:35: Tornado Warning on cell we are watching
5:37: Heading south on State Rte 141
5:45: The Tornado Warning was based on spotter reports...we think the spotters reported the gustnadoes.
5:55: 78/71, jog west on State Rte 4 then south on State Rte 141 again
6:15: Tornado Warning was dropped to Severe Thunderstorm Warning, heading west on US 56, found out from Brian back at hotel that Tyler, Aneela, and Chooch went out chasing on their own after Alan got his car taken care of.
6:35: Stop on a side road just west of Lyons, KS to watch and see if any more storms form and take a little break
6:45: Head into Lyons for food and restroom break at McDonalds
7:15: Leave, Severe Thunderstorm Warning renewed for Rice and Ellsworth Counties
7:35: Heading east on US 56 trying to get to the hotel sandwiched between 2 storms
7:45: Going south on Road 24
7:55: Run into sign saying "Minimum maintenance travel at your own risk." Don't want to risk it so turn around and head east on US 56 again.
8:05: Looking for a place to stop to let rain pass
8:07: Heard that storm to our west is dropping lots of hail, so going to try to stay east of storm and not stop, continue east on US 56
8:30: North on I-135
8:50: Stop to take pictures of sunset, mammatus, and lightning
8:55: Head back north on I-135
9:15: Severe Thunderstorm Watch for Saline County and other counties we've been in today until 2am
9:30: Arrive back at the hotel
Daily Mileage: 321.5 miles
Total Mileage: 4907.1 miles
June 12, 2002: Day 10
9:00: Weather discussion lead by Bart, Jason, Alan, and Peter; heading for Southeastern Iowa
10:02: Pull out of hotel/gas station
10:03: East on I-75
10:35: Based on satellite data we decide to head to Northeastern MO, probably Hannibal, MO
10:55: See herd of camels on the side of the road
11:20: Hit 5,000 mile mark
11:35: West on US 24
11:37: Turned to get on east US 24 because of construction then turned on State Rte 4 which became US 59 going north
12:35: Cross into Missouri, State Count: 12
12:50: Severe Thunderstorm Watch: Sioux City, IA east to Fort Dodge, IA, southwest to southeast corner of IA
1:00: Food and gas
1:50: Leave north on US 59
2:00: North on I-229
2:07: North on I-29
2:23: Stopped at rest stop to look at the DTN and get weather info
2:30: Bart tries to make reservations in Newton, IA, cells are towering to the east
3:05: Enter Iowa for the second time
3:22: Phone call with the new Day One: 2% tornadoes in eastern 1/5 of KS and western 1/2 of IA, hail/wind: 25% all the way to the hotel
3:30: 87/74
3:34: Discussion of how many phone calls made on trip 2, answer: 179
3:41: Rest stop in IA looking for a DTN
3:53: Leave heading north still on I-29, Boltek: 50 strikes/min
3:55: Severe Thunderstorm Watch with large hail for the cell we're watching
4:00: Turn south on US 275
4:05: Tornado Watch runs from near Kearney, NE to 30 mi east of Des Moines-60 miles either side of that line-we're almost in the center of it.
4:10: Boltek: 50 strikes/min, 40-50 miles out
4:13: West on US 34
4:15: Boltek: 45 strikes/min, 100 miles out, cell we're watching has been downgraded to below severe, but there are storms behind it
4:20: Cross the Missouri River, Base calls to say that all the storms of consequence are in NE
4:21: Enter NE for the 4th time
4:23: 84/77
4:30: Stop for gas
4:40: Leave, still heading west on US 34/US 75, tone for Severe Thunderstorm Warning-storm is northeast of Waverly heading east on State Rte 1
4:45: Turn west on State Rte 1
4:50: We're starting to see the rain-free base, lot of lighting in that direction
4:55: Pull off on a side road to watch
5:00: Leave spot to get closer to storm, head west on State Rte 1 looking for a place to go south, tone: Doppler indicated Tornado Warning for the storm we're on
5:02: Turn around because we're practically directly underneath t he storm's rotation and go (booking it) east looking for a road to the south
5:15: Turn south on US 34/US 75
5:30: Storm downgraded from Tornado Warning to Severe Thunderstorm Warning
5:45: Stop to look if anything more is happening
5:55: Possibly see something to the east, so leaving spot, head south on US 75
6:00: Head east on State Rte 2
6:04: Enter IA for the 3rd time
6:15: Turning around and going back west on State Rte 2 to I-29
6:20: Stop to take pictures of rainbow
6:25: Head north on I-29
6:40: New cell in NE just went tornadic, decision is to go back south and cross the river into NE, turn around and go south on I-29
6:50: Severe Thunderstorm Warning in Lancaster County
6:55: West on State Rte 2
6:57: Back in NE, 5th time
7:05: The tornadic storm has basically died, start to make plans to head back
7:15: Stopping for gas and food in Syracuse
8:00: Head north on State Rte 50, debate about whether to chase again
8:35: East on I-80, the motion to chase again has been voted down
8:40: Pass cops on the side of the road with people on the ground in handcuffs
8:50: Back in IA
9:00: Boltek: 80 strikes/min in the storm ahead of us
9:50: Run into heavy rain
11:30: Pull into hotel in Newton, IA
Daily Mileage: 684.9 miles
Total Mileage: 5,592 miles
June 13, 2002: Day 11 (Final Day!)
9:45: Leave hotel and gas station, heading east on I-80
11:35: Stop at I-80 truck stop for gas and food
12:20: Leave
12:30: Cross into IL
2:00: Stop for restroom break
4:00: Reach Valparaiso, stop and fill up
4:10: Leave
4:15: Reach Mueller and start unloading
Daily Mileage: 353.3 miles
TOTAL TRIP MILEAGE: 5,945.3 MILES
TOTAL NUMBER OF STATES: 12