Friday, June 11, 2010

2010 Storm Chase 23 Brief (June 10th)

Long story short:

Tonight was frustrating to say the least...

Actually made it out of the city on time to chase the storms. Decided on the southern cell and made an intercept but the base was pretty high.

Mistake #1:
Got distracted by the gargantuan hail. While collecting stones the meso lowered significantly to my east and produced two tornadoes which I was unable to see due to light refraction in the precip.

Mistake #2:
I anticipated the storm to right-move, so against the advice of my nowcaster, Michael Carlson, I decided to go south to cut the storm off, instead of north and then east, through the core. This put me out of position on the storm for almost 45 minutes.

Mistake #3:
AT&T No radar data for TWO AND A HALF HOURS, with half of that being after dark.

Mistake #4:
Not fully charging my phone and not bringing the charger... subsequently running out of juice and losing contact with nowcasters while radar data was down for TWO AND A HALF HOURS.

Mistake #5:
Chasing too far and too long and getting back home really late.


Victories:
1) Gargantuan hail, 3.5" measured.
2314 300 2 NW DEER TRAIL ARAPAHOE CO 3964 10407 HAIL 3.5 INCHES (BOU)
(not sure of why there is a discrepancy between the "size" and the "remark")

2) Decent storm structure, even after dark and being visual on the storm after dark without radar data.

3) Actually being on the storm after getting out of work just before 6PM.

Now, a couple of teaser pics.

GONKS



Mid-level funnel just northeast of Anton.


Amazing structure... A very interesting, almost skeletal view of the back side of the meso. There was a tornado report in the area about five minutes before this photo was taken.


Congrats to all who witnessed and documented tornadoes today.

Dann.

3 comments:

sknr31 said...

that last photo is wicked wild! that hail is so awesome...

suaave said...

Skinner took the words out of my mouth...it looks to be some alive evil beast; I suppose it kinda is huh.

Dann Cianca said...

Skinner/Eric: The visibility on the back side of that storm was fantastic. One of my favorite parts of the night was driving through the sand hills southwest of Yuma with that beast looming in the distance. And that hail... love big hail!