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3-31-07
Total Chase Mileage: 415 miles
After last
Sunday's major bustola, we were pretty eager to get out there again.
Saturday was shaping up pretty nicel albeit a slight outlook. The real
question was if cloud cover/grunge would clear out well enough to allow
sufficient heating. Around 11:30-ish we started noticing the
first blue skies. Clouds soon started breaking up rather quickly after
this and towers wasted NO time in getting going. Further down the
highway we actually noticed some convection way off in the distance
already getting going. Around this time the temperature was 63 and
dewpoint was at 61. That's a pretty nice setup for March!
Skipping ahead a little bit, we finally entered Ottumwa, our initial target. Once again, wi-fi was pretty sparce. Towers were REALLY taking off now and it was kind of annoying not being able to find anything. We noticed an Americ Inn across town and decided to check it out. Turns out it provided some extremely fast connection and we were able to check models and posts a quick NOW-case on Stormtrack. By this time SPC had already issued a pretty wide spread tornado watch for central to western Iowa.
There were some rock hard towers exploding to the NNE. Things were looking very interesting, but still no mesoscale discussions. This turned out to be the only time we were able to pull wi-fi. Man, we REALLY need a Sprint card for constant access. This access point stuff is already getting a little old.
After pulling radar data and looking at updated models and nowcasts, we decided we wanted to be further west of Ottumwa. We started getting VERY annoyed by all the hills and valleys. It was like driving on one long roller coaster. We were just hoping and praying for the land to get flatter, but there were zero signs. We looked for a road to turn off just wishing for something, anything. At this point it appeared as if options were very limited. We turned off this kitty litter dirt road which was definitely not a good option. But, in a way I'm pretty glad we did because looking across the land there was nothing but just flat rolling open fields. It was very picturesque, but we were storm chasing. I grabbed a few really quick before turning around and getting back to the main road.
Roads still weren't very pleasing. Nothing but ups, downs, lefts and rights. Before long we see another very rock hard tower straight ahead which really peaked our interest. But, unfortunately we were running out of gas. We stop in Albia for a quick fill.
This was sort of a bad time to gas up. Storms were moving at a blazing 60 mph. That is definitely one bad thing about spring chasing. They are literally impossible to catch up to once you fall behind unless you drive countless miles just to get ahead of them again. So, realizing we had NO shot at this, we continue further west. Again, looking for side roads to pull off and scope out the skies, we find this chincy little "rest area" thing on the side of the road. It contained a tiny A-frame housing with a bench and a small pond at the bottom of the hill. That was it. Surprisingly, it actually showed up in the atlas. From here we kept noticing the better areas out to the west. I snap one shot here and we continue on.
We continued all the way into the next county over, Lucas Co. We decide to pull off on yet another road and check it out again. The towers we spotted earlier were really starting to explode to the north. There was obviously no catching up to them, but still was a pretty awesome sight.
Filming more stuff to the west. After this shot, we set off westward one final time.
We frantically search for another road as we sight a storm that looked pretty interesting. We eventually find one more side road that was perfect for us. We sat here and waited for it to get closer so we could see structure. We were on the extreme eastern edge of this storm and started showing some very interesting movements early on. Earlier when this same storm was in northern Missouri, it actually had a hook echo for a very short stint. We believe we were definitely on the right cell.
That base showed some pretty interesting lowerings a few times. Like flipping a switch, it starting dropping some pretty heavy precipitation. It was a pretty white shaft, but we couldn't tell if it was hail or rain.
This storm showed very interesting characteristics the entire time. It was really just nice to see this again, especially after last week. Rain shafts started to appear everywhere, some very well defined. In the distance you could also see a wall of precip on its way.
Now things start getting a little more interesting. Lowerings were appearing in alot of places now as the storm neared.
As it got closer and closer, a wall cloud develops a little ways south and shows constant movement as it nears.
As this is happening, a storm that we noticed dropping some CG's and some heavy precip shafts is rapidly approaching. This storm most likely killed off its inflow and nothing every produced, but still a very pretty sight to see.
The lowering was still showing some pretty rapid changing motion and we could start to see the weak, but obvious rotation.
Here is a radar grab right about the time this is occuring. We are located just to the east of the "CNC". Thanks to Joel for finding the grab (and for putting us in great position the first two chases of the season).
.
Now the rain is quickly approaching as the sprinkles get heavier and heavier. Just before this, we call by brother Josh and have him take a quick look at the radar for us. He informs us that more cells are firing back to the east, south of Ottumwa. We get back on 34 and shoot back east through some very heavy rains and high winds. The storms start to line out at this point and we quickly lost interest. Now we just wanted to punch east as fast as we could and hopefully intercept an isolated cell working its way north. No such luck. The entire line joins and everything is now completely linear. We DO get caught up in a pretty nice dime size hail storm on the way home, but that was about it.
As the squall line approaches us back home (we are about 1/2 hour away from home now), a doppler indicated tornado warning comes in over the weather radio to the east of us. They were quickly lifted and no funnels were seen. There really needs to be stricter guidelines on issuing warnings. More and more people are ignoring these warnings now because of this exact instance.
So, I would guess it's a bust considering we didn't grab any tornadoes again this time, but at least we actually SAW something this time.
EDIT: Wow. After reviewing some pictures, Joel did some work on one of mine and discovered something amazing!!! As I was shooting the wall cloud, I must have overexposed the photo quite a bit! After a few minor adjustments with brightness and contrast, this is what he found!!!
haha...sorry.
Happy April Fool's Day everyone.
Skipping ahead a little bit, we finally entered Ottumwa, our initial target. Once again, wi-fi was pretty sparce. Towers were REALLY taking off now and it was kind of annoying not being able to find anything. We noticed an Americ Inn across town and decided to check it out. Turns out it provided some extremely fast connection and we were able to check models and posts a quick NOW-case on Stormtrack. By this time SPC had already issued a pretty wide spread tornado watch for central to western Iowa.
There were some rock hard towers exploding to the NNE. Things were looking very interesting, but still no mesoscale discussions. This turned out to be the only time we were able to pull wi-fi. Man, we REALLY need a Sprint card for constant access. This access point stuff is already getting a little old.
After pulling radar data and looking at updated models and nowcasts, we decided we wanted to be further west of Ottumwa. We started getting VERY annoyed by all the hills and valleys. It was like driving on one long roller coaster. We were just hoping and praying for the land to get flatter, but there were zero signs. We looked for a road to turn off just wishing for something, anything. At this point it appeared as if options were very limited. We turned off this kitty litter dirt road which was definitely not a good option. But, in a way I'm pretty glad we did because looking across the land there was nothing but just flat rolling open fields. It was very picturesque, but we were storm chasing. I grabbed a few really quick before turning around and getting back to the main road.
Roads still weren't very pleasing. Nothing but ups, downs, lefts and rights. Before long we see another very rock hard tower straight ahead which really peaked our interest. But, unfortunately we were running out of gas. We stop in Albia for a quick fill.
This was sort of a bad time to gas up. Storms were moving at a blazing 60 mph. That is definitely one bad thing about spring chasing. They are literally impossible to catch up to once you fall behind unless you drive countless miles just to get ahead of them again. So, realizing we had NO shot at this, we continue further west. Again, looking for side roads to pull off and scope out the skies, we find this chincy little "rest area" thing on the side of the road. It contained a tiny A-frame housing with a bench and a small pond at the bottom of the hill. That was it. Surprisingly, it actually showed up in the atlas. From here we kept noticing the better areas out to the west. I snap one shot here and we continue on.
We continued all the way into the next county over, Lucas Co. We decide to pull off on yet another road and check it out again. The towers we spotted earlier were really starting to explode to the north. There was obviously no catching up to them, but still was a pretty awesome sight.
Filming more stuff to the west. After this shot, we set off westward one final time.
We frantically search for another road as we sight a storm that looked pretty interesting. We eventually find one more side road that was perfect for us. We sat here and waited for it to get closer so we could see structure. We were on the extreme eastern edge of this storm and started showing some very interesting movements early on. Earlier when this same storm was in northern Missouri, it actually had a hook echo for a very short stint. We believe we were definitely on the right cell.
That base showed some pretty interesting lowerings a few times. Like flipping a switch, it starting dropping some pretty heavy precipitation. It was a pretty white shaft, but we couldn't tell if it was hail or rain.
This storm showed very interesting characteristics the entire time. It was really just nice to see this again, especially after last week. Rain shafts started to appear everywhere, some very well defined. In the distance you could also see a wall of precip on its way.
Now things start getting a little more interesting. Lowerings were appearing in alot of places now as the storm neared.
As it got closer and closer, a wall cloud develops a little ways south and shows constant movement as it nears.
As this is happening, a storm that we noticed dropping some CG's and some heavy precip shafts is rapidly approaching. This storm most likely killed off its inflow and nothing every produced, but still a very pretty sight to see.
The lowering was still showing some pretty rapid changing motion and we could start to see the weak, but obvious rotation.
Here is a radar grab right about the time this is occuring. We are located just to the east of the "CNC". Thanks to Joel for finding the grab (and for putting us in great position the first two chases of the season).
.Now the rain is quickly approaching as the sprinkles get heavier and heavier. Just before this, we call by brother Josh and have him take a quick look at the radar for us. He informs us that more cells are firing back to the east, south of Ottumwa. We get back on 34 and shoot back east through some very heavy rains and high winds. The storms start to line out at this point and we quickly lost interest. Now we just wanted to punch east as fast as we could and hopefully intercept an isolated cell working its way north. No such luck. The entire line joins and everything is now completely linear. We DO get caught up in a pretty nice dime size hail storm on the way home, but that was about it.
As the squall line approaches us back home (we are about 1/2 hour away from home now), a doppler indicated tornado warning comes in over the weather radio to the east of us. They were quickly lifted and no funnels were seen. There really needs to be stricter guidelines on issuing warnings. More and more people are ignoring these warnings now because of this exact instance.
So, I would guess it's a bust considering we didn't grab any tornadoes again this time, but at least we actually SAW something this time.
EDIT: Wow. After reviewing some pictures, Joel did some work on one of mine and discovered something amazing!!! As I was shooting the wall cloud, I must have overexposed the photo quite a bit! After a few minor adjustments with brightness and contrast, this is what he found!!!
haha...sorry.
Happy April Fool's Day everyone.