We started out the morning washing clothes at a laundromat in Wray, CO and had lunch at a restaurant in Wray called the Creekside Inn...good food. We then headed north to Julesberg, CO to await the storms of the day. All of the weather data showed us to be in the "hot seat" but Mother Nature played games with us. We had everything but the the ability to go vertical with the storms and then it started to get too hot outside. The first storms went up in WY and came at us so we decided to go north and catch them.
The first storm we saw today was very pretty and smooth in appearance but just couldn't seem to sustain it to give us a tornado. It sort of looked like a broad based mushroom from a far. We chased it for awhile but decided to drop back west and pick up a storm that seemed to be a little stronger.
The second storm wasn't as pretty visually as the one above but it was a whole lot more exciting. We chased it for awhile and then spent time trying to get away from the storm and rain. We were heading into a town called Bridgeport in NE when Chuck told me to becareful and I thought that was kind of strange. When we stopped at the light to turn south I thought I heard the storm sirens going off so I rolled down the window to be able to hear them a little better and told Chuck, "listen! the sirens are going off! (duh!)" and he replied "UhHuh, turn." We drove on another few minutes and he told me that he didn't think I was going to like what he was going to tell me but...Turns out that during that little episode above we were within .10 of a mile from a meso with a shear signature of 126 mph...There were power flashes seen by another chaser near where we had been which is indicative of a tornado! Close but no cigar!
Think there might be hail in this storm? This second storm had a lot of hail, wind, and rain.
Tonight we are in a Comfort Inn in Sidney, NE. We had supper late at the Perkins here in town and met up with several other storm chasers. It is always fun to meet and visit friends after a successful chase day!
Tomorrow is another chase day so hopefully we will be able to intercept another good storm and I will be able to post some more photographs.
WOOHOO! You guys finally see storms and you're almost blown away... :) Be careful you crazy kids!
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