I stopped in at work on my day off to look a little deeper into the weather since I didn't have internet at home. At potent, early summer storm system was heading into the west with the upper level low centered over the Great Basin. In combination with the already-blossoming monsoon moisture, thunderstorms were erupting over much of the area. There was enough support to give us a
Mesoscale Discussion (#1442), which was the first that I could recall being in on the Western Slope all year.
Somehow, I ended up in a news vehicle with our weekend sports guy, Pierre Noujaim, headed for the Redlands as an ornery thunderstorm collapsed off of the Monument. To make a long story short, it was a little windy, but that was about it. We took a little video of the winds and brought it back to work.
Map (1st chase):
Later that night, more storms came through. This would prove to be frustrating as a strong storm was putting down a lot of great cloud-to-ground lightning in the Fruita area. In an attempt to get in better position (what's new?), I basically missed the show. While I did get to drive through a vigorous core, that was the extent of the fun for me.
By the time I was in a dry location, the lightning had evaporated. I had spent a considerable amount of time driving around in the desert north of Fruita... but alas, nothing. The following image was about all I would get to capture.
Dissipating Shower Over Grand Junction
Map (2nd chase)
STATS
Mileage: 66
2011YTD Mileage: 1487
States: Colorado
SPC Risk: Categorical
Max Hail: None
Tornadoes: None
Other Phenomena: Wind, lightning
Storm Reports for June 29th
Dann.
