We started out the morning ridiculously early, having had a whole 3 hours' sleep. Fargo was the starting point. We drove and drove and drove, and by the time the tornado watch went out for our target area, we were about 2 hours' drive away from it.
We got into Kansas, got as far south as Salina and turned west on I-70 toward Ellsworth. There was the intersection of the dryline and the warm front--the much-ballyhooed triple point. Vigourous convection was just starting to go there, and we were just in time.
If only we could see it.
Coming from the north and east as we were, we were on the cold side of the warm front. That meant haze and a steadily-lowering cloud deck. Visibility wasn't great, but seeing storms in the distance just wasn't happening.
We got to just northwest of Ellsworth when the storm we were targeting got tornado warned. Haha, business at last.
The storm, at least what we could see of it, was showing some not bad rotation (both visually and on RADAR, and let me just say that this area of Kansas has horrible RADAR coverage, such that the lowest beam from the closest unit is about 10,000 feet in the air). But then it started to morph into this beast that had its rotation in the middle of the precipitation--a high-precipitation (HP) supercell. These storms are known for a) copious amounts of rain, b) low contrast and c) very seldom putting out visible tornadoes.
We went along the road with it for about an hour, but it was painfully obvious that the storm was going to stay an HP beast. Furthermore, we were no longer convinced that it was riding the warm front, and therefore ingesting elevated air parcels, so its chances of putting out a tornado were next to zilch. We bailed on that storm and checked out our options.
When we saw we had no realistic storm intercept options, we decided that Salina was nearby, it was dinner time, and one of our favourite BBQ places was there.
We had a wholly satisfying and leisurely dinner (hint: everything there is good!), went back out to the truck, only to open up the RADAR and find that a storm just to our northwest, as in maybe 15 miles, was showing signs of being interesting. Food in our bellies and energy renewed, we set off for that storm.
Well, this not being our day, it decided to become what the previous storm was: an elevated HP bomb. So we finally bailed and are now sitting in Wichita, Kansas, about to hit the hay, but also hoping for some overnight thunder and lightning to round out the night.
Tomorrow (well, now today) looks very tricky: the dryline will once again set up from here down to Texas, and pretty much everything (shear, moisture, CAPE, instability) looks the same right on down the line. The best we can do, then, is wait for any overnight convection and see where the boundaries sit, and play on them.
Ah, chasing: an exhilarating and frustrating endeavour.
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