2011 Storm Chase 8 Teaser - June 8th

Since it will likely bee about two months before I can get the full report up, here's a quick peek at the action.

Recap:

I chased with Scott Hammel and my forecast target was Chugwater, Wyoming. We were chasing post-frontal upslope and I liked southeast Wyoming based on model output and pattern recognition from similar setups. Though the moisture was lacking, the vertical sheer was great for supercells with nice structure.

Storms initiated on the Laramie Mountains just to our west. We intercepted a storm in the mountains and then followed it back out, thoroughly enjoying its hail core and that of a subsequent storm that formed to its south. Eventually, we dropped south and intercepted another beautiful supercell near Cheyenne that evening. And then a fourth beautiful supercell near Greeley, Colorado later on that night.

It was easily the most photogenic chase of the year, even though none of the storms really made much of an attempt to produce a tornado.


Back side of a supercell over the southern Laramie Mountains.


Hail fog just east of Bordeaux, Wyoming.


Supercell over Cheyenne, Wyoming.


Supercell over Greeley, Colorado.


Greeley, Colorado supercell with a quasi-wedding cake-style mesocyclone.


All in all, it was an absolutely awesome chase. Even encountered three inch diameter hail patties in Wheatland, Wyoming. They were basically conglomerates of much smaller hail that flattened out but remained intact upon impact with the ground (in some areas). That was the first time I have seen hail of that fashion.

Dann.

2011 - March 23rd - Colorado River (Dewey-Moab, Utah), Arches National Park (Courthouse Towers-Balanced Rock)

With friends in town for their respective Spring Breaks, I had an ambitious plan to tackle as much of Arches National Park as time would allow.

We set out from Grand Junction in the morning and traveled into Utah. I decided to depart I-70 at exit 214, which is the "old highway" to Cisco. The road isn't maintained that well but it was deserted and fun to drive on. We had a beautiful, direct shot at the snow-capped La Sal Mountains, which really dominate the scenery in this portion of Utah.

The road meets up with Utah Highway 128 past Cisco and heads south where it joins the Colorado River at Dewey. From there, the road enters a canyon which as best I can tell, is not officially named. We stopped several times in the canyon to take pictures.

A curious ladder on the canyon wall.

The Fisher Towers in the foreground and the La Sal Mountains in the back.

Kendell taking in the view.

The road eventually leaves the first canyon into an open area named alternately Professor Valley and the Richardson Amphitheater. The view from this area is exquisite. I neglected to get any more photos of the Fisher Towers since the light was bad. However, the view to the southwest was of the outer spires bounding the Castle Valley beyond. In the picture below, the spire/pinnacle on the left is known as Castleton Tower (Google Maps) or Castle Rock (DeLorme). This is definitely one of my favorite photos from the day.

The road then enters another canyon along the Colorado River which stretches from Castle Valley to Moab.

We arrived at the entrance to Arches in the late morning and the three of us were very excited to explore! If you've never been to Arches before, the park road climbs out of Moab Canyon onto a flat plateau which is dominated by red sandstone fins, spires and other formations made of the predominant Entrada Sandstone.

The first sight the visitor comes to is the Park Avenue area and it is quite the sight! Especially on this morning with the sun behind us and a perfect blue sky to the north.



Just around the bend from the Park Avenue area, the road twists through the Courthouse Towers section.

The Organ (foreground), Tower Of Babel (back)

The Three Gossips

I couldn't decide which of the next two shots I liked the best, so you get them both! They are of The Organ.

The Three Gossips and Sheep Rock (right)

We continued north along the main park road past the The Great Wall and the Petrified Dunes. I kept promising Katherine and Kendell that we would stop later "when the light was better". I just didn't want to get too far behind on the day and not be able to see all of the main destinations I had planned.

We did stop for a while, however at the Balanced Rock area, taking the short trail around Balanced Rock and nearby rock formations.






Though temperatures were only in the fifties, it just feels warmer in the desert! We briefly stopped at the Fiery Furnace, though without a reserved guided hike, you are not allowed in that area, so we just took some snap shots from the road.

I would like to get into that area on my next trip to Arches, but we had to leave it this time.

I have a lot of photos from this day, so I'm going to break up the posts. In my next post, I'll be sharing photos from the Devils Garden section of the park.

Dann.
Next:  Sand Dune Arch, Broken Arch & Tapestry Arch

2011 - March 22nd - Colorado National Monument (Echo/No Thoroughfare Canyons, Rim Rock Drive)

It was Spring Break for some, but for me, it was just a couple of days off. I had filled in on the morning show on that Monday and thus was able to have most of the day off too, so I suppose it was an extended weekend of sorts, which was good as I had guests coming to stay with me.

My friend Katherine arrived on Monday night and we endured a muddy rain that painted cars brown while heading out for some dinner at Fiesta Guadalajara.

We got up early the next morning to head into the Monument so I could show her some of my favorite places. We started off at the first trail head at the East Entrance and headed into Echo Canyon. It was my fourth time in that particular canyon. (Previous accounts can be found here: 1, 2, and 3) With the previous evening's rain, I speculated that the waterfall(s) might/may be active.

We made good progress across the No Thoroughfare Wash and up the initial stretches of the Old Gordon Trail. The air was cool but the sun was shining. The clouds did look rather heavy, however.

As we worked our way down into the canyon, the sheltered recesses seemed to hold the heat in a little better and made it actually quite pleasant.


We made it to the end of the canyon in no time but found the waterfall dry. The pool at the bottom looked freshly filled, so I speculated that it does actually fall during the rain. There was also debris along the edge of the pool that was not there when I had previously visited. We hung around the pool for a while and took a few pictures.

Cottonwood Trees At The End Of The Canyon

I remembered that on my previous visit, the pool acted as an amazing mirror and was surprised to find out that it was even more vivid on this day.

Katherine Holding On To Her Hat As The Wind Swirled Around The End Of The Canyon

As we left the end of the canyon, we explored the "Half-Lemon" area that I've noted in previous entries. There was a little water at the bottom of the fall there as well, but nothing actively falling.

We passed the place where I had injured myself on cactus and then walked down along the "three pools" area as well. I found this vivid red-colored leaf floating in the water where it seeps out of the rock.

We encountered a strange sensation while in the canyon. All we could see was blue sky and warm sunshine between the canyon rims, but at times, it was snowing! As we left the canyon and ascended back to the junction with the Old Gordon Trail, we were completely engulfed in a snow squall.

Snow quickly fades

With plenty of time on our hands, we headed into No Thoroughfare Canyon. (Previous accounts here: 1 & 2) The sun was shining again and though it was a little cool, it seemed to remain nice out. The most interesting thing to me was that in many places, the trail had been completely erased by small dunes of blowing sand courtesy of the storm the night before. The storm also brought rain, which we found flowing a short way in.

We passed the first pool and the lower falls and made haste to make it to the upper falls. I regaled Katherine with tales of my harrowing slip and fall adventure while we sat and had a snack.

"Make a funny face for the camera," I said.

Realizing that time was short, we turned back and quickly made for the trail head. I popped off a few shots on the way as the light was very pretty.

Lower No Thoroughfare Falls (This Time Ice-Free)

The reason we were hurrying had to do with the fact that I had to pick up another good friend, "Inspector" Kendell LaRoche from the Amtrak Station. He was railing? in from Denver for a two-day visit.

When we picked him up, we went downtown for dinner at Pablo's Pizza. It was my first time eating there and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was still early evening and not wanting to spoil our trip to Arches National Park the next day, we resolved to drive Rim Rock Road and just take some pictures. I'll spare the play-by-play and just let the pictures talk.

Dann.