HeadcornWx

One word sums up todays chase. Amazing! We left Scotts bluff and temps/dew points were just about right to make the whole place feel juicy and ideal for development of severe storms later that day. As we headed west towards the Rockies we could see huge convection on top of the mountains. Things were looking good and soon these storms became severe warned. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18429] Driving down toward the mountains to intercept, we passed the town of Wheatland and after about 5 miles could see the hook echo on radar and rotation markers. We waited and were joined by Matt Phelps from Extreme Chase Tours. Just down the road a funnel formed and for a few seconds the first tornado of the day was on the ground. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18430] I don't think I've ever seen so many funnels in one day. A few minutes later one dropped nearby and golfball hail was falling everywhere with a few locals running for cover. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18432] [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18431] We drove further south east and followed a new storm developing on the tail end of the system. This was starting to drop funnels. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18433] [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18434] Soon the whole mesocyclone lowered and was rotating like a huge mothership just above the ground. As it left the high ground and moved out over the warm juicy plains this could only lead to intensification of an already monstrous system. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18437] Driving further east we matched its speed driving alongside it, and could see rotation disturbance on the ground indicating a second tornado as shown in this [[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_03kwchkvj4"]YouTube Video[/url]] and the photos below. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18435] [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18436] Further down the road another candidate touchdown, possibly outflow this time. Everything was happening so quickly. Amazing lightning from this system too as shown in this [[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xve0F-7P0fM"]YouTube Video[/url]]. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18438] Our final catch of the day happened after we crossed into Nebraska. Just beyond the town of Dix we saw radar indicated rotation. We pulled off the road and whilst looking at an area of rotation the sheriff next to us called in a tornado. To our right was this beauty [[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2cfwYxTOVs"]YouTube Video[/url]] which initially we thought to be a landspout but experts have said this too is probably a tornado off the mesocyclone. I was pleased to be asked for a copy of this photo for the Denver TV news that evening. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18439] What a fantastic end to the day and to the tour. Steaks well deserved for dinner tonight! [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18440] As always a full set of photos on todays [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9qb5ckmqu727jap/sUqeN87Z72/Day%2010%20-%20June%2022nd"]Headcorn Weather Dropbox Gallery[/url]. I took 500 photos today and a huge amount of full HD video which will need editing. This will be published in due course and uploaded here so keep a watchful eye out. Some beautiful pictures to come once I get chance to fully review all of them. Tomorrow we head back to Denver and the flight home. It could be another interesting day with a chance of tornadoes on our route back so even the chance of a bonus Day 11 chase! Tour 5 this year has been great. We've seen some great places, met some great people and got to see the heartland of America. This is now my second year chasing with Netweather. Pauls knowledge is outstanding and he's done a great job getting us on the best storms of the day almost every day. From great structure to large funnels, funnels dropping by the roadside, huge hail, great lightning shows and finally 3 stunning tornadoes we saw it all against the stunning backdrop of the sparsely populated Northern Plains. To witness the immense power of nature up close is truly amazing but one must always treat it with the greatest respect. 2013 has been a year that will remain in everyones memory for a very long time to come following the devastation and loss of life in Oklahoma. This will hopefully make the scientific community even more determined to observe, report and analyse data to ultimately make predicting where and when the worst of these massive storms will strike more reliable. I've thoroughly enjoyed being part of the tour and intend to return in 2014, hopefully to the Northern Plains again. A very big thankyou to Paul, Dave, Ian and Netweather for making this such a great holiday. As always, if you've been following the blogs and want to know more about stormchasing with Netweather please visit their dedicated holidays website [url="http://www.weatherholidays.com"]Weather Holidays[/url]. Thankyou for following. As mentioned above, I'll be uploading a few more photos and edits over the weeks to come onto the [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9qb5ckmqu727jap/pu1luZ7OFJ"]Headcorn Weather Dropbox Photo Gallery[/url]. Please visit there to keep upto date. [i]One final word. Whilst chasing this year I learnt about the Storm Assist organization which has been setup by storm chasers to provide support to those directly affected by damaging weather events in the US. If you're able to support with a donation please visit [url="http://stormassist.org/"]STORM ASSIST[/url] where you can read of their work and make a direct payment via PayPal or Credit Card. Thank you.[/i] Until Next Time...

After a wild days chasing in North Dakota yesterday, a well deserved lay-in this morning. This was rudely disturbed around 7am by elevated storms to our south over the Badlands National park. These quickly turned severe with very large hail upto 4 inches reported and damaging wind gusts. They finally moved off to the East and by late morning we left for lunch in the South Dakota town of wall with its western themed buildings and bars. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18426] The plan for the afternoon was to drive to the extreme Southwest corner of South Dakota for initiation of the storm. This we did, however apart from some close lightning, hail and basic structure the storms didn't deliver any visible rotation. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18427] Tomorrow we head back into South Dakota for the final chase then a late night drive back to Denver for Sundays flight. The full photo set is available at the [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9qb5ckmqu727jap/mCoLAhupDO/Day%209%20-%20June%2021st"]Headcorn Weather Dropbox Gallery[/url].

After a great night of lightning photography we left our hotel in Chadron, Nebraska and headed North into the green countryside of South Dakota. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18404] Passing the Black hills and Mount Rushmore we headed first East then North towards the triple point where the cold, warm and occluded fronts meet; always a hot-spot for interesting weather wherever it occurs and where our storms would be initiating. As we approached the North Dakota stateline we could see the anvil from 75 miles out. After a frustrating delay in roadworks at the stateline we made the final push into North Dakota just outside the town of Strasburg. A wall cloud was already present and we followed the system on a farm road to a great viewing point. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18405] Rotation was insane in multiple parts of the wall cloud which was quite linear in nature. Most promising was a large funnel which lowered ahead of us almost 3/4 way to the ground. This was well on the way to forming a wedge tornado but was sheared apart just like all the others. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18406] This was the day of the funnels. They formed, they lowered and they retracted. Plenty of candidates and i'm sure there were a few people who may have called some of them as tornadoes. Either way it was great watching and some great opportunities to take photos over wide open country. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18407] [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18411] [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18409] [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18410]

After leaving Burlington this morning we initially headed south for a dry line risk of storms initiating west of Lamar. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18381] Whilst a few promising ones kicked off mid afternoon with a few CGs and some streamed on the webcam we decided to abandon this for the risk areas to the far North and east in the Dakotas and possibly Minnesota. Tonight we make the long drive North staying in Chadron. The final stretch now towards what could hopefully be a moderate risk over the next few days. As I write this we're driving North across the plains of Colorado and into Nebraska. The setting sun to our west and dust blowing across areas of parched landscape desperately in need of rain. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18379] Finally we move into an area of greener farmland. We turn off the main highway and onto the country routes. Ian reminds Paul that it's only 50 miles to go on these dirt roads as we head further North into the darkness. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18378] We get to see some great lightning after dark from the storms over Wyoming to our West as we punch through into Nebraska.These dark skies could be wonderful for nighttime photography over the next few days. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18380] Totally different country ahead. The chase goes on...

After a stay in Burlington, Colorado, we left late morning only to find a dead battery in the SUV. [img]http://f.nwstatic.co.uk/forum//public/style_emoticons/default/help.gif[/img] This was quickly sorted with the help of the local police and we were soon on our way towards Denver and the [url="http://www.theweatherprediction.com/weatherpapers/013/"]Denver Cyclone Convergence Zone (DCVZ)[/url], an area renowned for spawning many of the tornadoes in eastern Colorado. After a stop in Limon, we waitied for Initiation of the DCVZ and headed west. Things happened very quickly and a tornado was reported at Denver Airport ahead of us which unfortunately we missed. We headed SE on I-70 towards Kit Casrson for the afternoon and were saw a couple of well formed funnels, one of which formed just north of the road and started to cross the road ahead of us before retracting back into the wall cloud, an amazing sight to see. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18374] [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18373] [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18372] The storm also had an amazing shelf cloud associated with it and some intense gust front winds. [sharedmedia=gallery:images:18375] We're back tonight in Burlington. Tomorrows risk area currently is SE Colorado or the far high plains. A full set of photos can he found in todays [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/9qb5ckmqu727jap/8oDbmozijw/Day%206%20-%20June%2018th"]Headcorn Weather Dropbox Gallery[/url]. Don't forget you can follow us live via the [url="http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=chaselive;sess="]Live Netweather Stream[/url] or on [url="http://www.chasertv.com/wall/"]Chaser TV[/url] as UKTWISTERHUNTERS. For those of you wishing to find out more about stormchasing with Netweather, or the other tours offered please visit the [url="http://www.weatherholidays.com"]Weather Holidays[/url] site.