tag:downtoground.com,2008:/stormcast//3 2008-08-04T00:58:34Z Movable Type 3.31 tag:downtoground.com,2007:/stormcast//3.234 2007-09-11T17:29:23Z 2008-08-04T00:58:34Z

N.E. NM May '05 Hill City KS. 6-9-05...

N.E. NM May '05 Hill City KS. 6-9-05 ]]> tag:downtoground.com,2007:/stormcast//3.233 2007-06-09T15:43:17Z 2007-07-18T21:26:14Z

Yesterday we trekked from Iowa City all the way to Kearney NE. Stopping for a visit at the Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn, Iowa. It was a wonderful way to spend a few hours and learn a few things...

Danish Immigrant Museum in Elk Horn, Iowa. It was a wonderful way to spend a few hours and learn a few things about our family history and their way of life as homesteaders on the Plains. I'm really glad we made the stop. No doubt a highlight of an otherwise frustrating chase week. The SPC Day 2 forecast had Central Nebraska in a 15% risk. So we thought we'd park right in the middle of it for my last day in the Alley. Woke up this morning to blue skies under High pressure. So much for Chase '07. Today we'll take in some local flavor, make our way to Omaha, go out for a nice dinner and put this season to bed. I'll fly home tomorrow and start looking forward to a much bigger chase trip in '08. 'Til we chase again... db ]]> tag:downtoground.com,2007:/stormcast//3.232 2007-06-08T16:01:14Z 2008-08-04T01:02:34Z

Wednesday was a tough day to play. Our initial instincts to travel north from Ogallala to Valentine were probably correct. Too bad we didn't follow them. We broke north in the middle of the afternoon. Turns out the one storm...

Wednesday was a tough day to play. Our initial instincts to travel north from Ogallala to Valentine were probably correct. Too bad we didn't follow them. We broke north in the middle of the afternoon. Turns out the one storm that produced was about an hour ahead of us in SD. So we tacked east out of valentine and followed a line of storms along highway 12. Along the NE SD border. Some after dark funnel chasing. Then landed in Sioux Falls SD about 1am. Thursday - woke up and blazed east through MN into WI following a high risk forecast. Beautiful country but the storms were really unchaseable. A line of big cells broke early and travelled too fast. Some as fast as 70 miles and hour. Tough road network. Beautiful country but I'll never chase there again... Images to come. Today (thursday) transition day. We'll go west to NE. May have a small play tomorrow. My last day in the Alley. Last gasp for a tough little season. tag:downtoground.com,2007:/stormcast//3.231 2007-06-06T16:23:02Z 2007-06-06T20:14:44Z

Ogallala NE. – Long drive from Amarillo yesterday. We were hopeful that the Denver Cyclone combined with the Low Pressure moving in from the NW would kick up some action in NE Colorado but it all capped off. So we...

Ogallala NE. – Long drive from Amarillo yesterday. We were hopeful that the Denver Cyclone combined with the Low Pressure moving in from the NW would kick up some action in NE Colorado but it all capped off. So we continued into Nebraska to position for today's setup. Today's target is a challenge. Lot's of potential potential for Severe weather. The big question is "where?". Picking a target has everyone scratching heads. And this could be my one opportunity for action this year so it's a critical call (remote possibility tomorrow in Iowa). Whatever happens today will be late. We're keeping an eye on Central and NE Nebraska. Maybe South Dakota. My target is O'Niel NE some time late this evening... but anything could happen.]]> tag:downtoground.com,2007:/stormcast//3.230 2007-06-04T14:38:47Z 2007-09-20T19:14:46Z

We rolled into Amarillo yesterday (Sunday) at about 3pm. The potential for severe was slight at best. With the best possibility far south near the Rio Grande. Too far to hustle so we checked in our usual haunt and found...

We rolled into Amarillo yesterday (Sunday) at about 3pm. The potential for severe was slight at best. With the best possibility far south near the Rio Grande. Too far to hustle so we checked in our usual haunt and found it to be a "Chase Ghetto" with the team from the Center for Severe Weather Research and and the DOW camped out at the same hotel. We spent the afternoon catching up with Warren and had a good meal. Looks like today is another slight risk in the neighborhood. But we'll probably lay low and get ready to move back north. I'm going to go looking for a pawn shop guitars or something. We'll start making our way north tomorrow as the models are lining up for an explosive few days beginning Wednesday. 3 Days out and the SPC is issuing a Mod Risk. Looks like we'll be very busy from Wed - Sat. Right now my only nagging concern is the ability to get home. the severe setup will continue into next week and will probably sock in Chicago. I'm already bracing myself for travel complications. But if the forecasts pan out it will be worth the aggravation. fingers crossed. ]]> tag:downtoground.com,2007:/stormcast//3.229 2007-06-03T14:06:15Z 2007-06-03T14:58:57Z

Took a long leisurely ride to SW Kansas yesterday. There was some modest play down in the TX panhandle, but nothing worth blazing for. So we meandered on down and attempted to land in Dodge City. Should have known better....

Greensburg. so we decided to keep moving south. Stopping along the way to check out the Gray County Wind Farm. Today we'll make our way down to Amarillo and meet up with Warren. Who knows. Maybe we'll get a storm to play with. But we're all just waiting for the big setup that seems to be brewing for Tues-Wed. Hoping the models hold together for an outbreak or two. ]]> tag:downtoground.com,2007:/stormcast//3.228 2007-06-02T13:59:36Z 2008-08-04T01:01:24Z

After weather delays in Chicago, landed in Omaha around 11pm last night. Joel rented us an H3. Fun rig. With questionable visibility (and gas milliage). But it sure is comfy. We're going to have some fun. Drove west to Grand...

Drove west to Grand Island. Tomorrow will be a transition day. Lots of overcast gunk all over the alley. We'll head south west and hopfully hook up with Warren. Maybe land in SW Kansas tonight. Maybe play the TX panhandle tomorrow (Sunday). Today will be a good day for catching up with Joel. Long drive ahead.]]> tag:downtoground.secureserverdot.com,2007:/stormcast//3.224 2007-05-20T05:46:01Z 2008-08-04T00:59:56Z

It'll be a short trip this year. Only 10 days. Flying out to the Alley on June 1. Can't wait. That gives me just a couple of weeks to clean up this blog. It's in pretty bad shape. I had...

It'll be a short trip this year. Only 10 days. Flying out to the Alley on June 1. Can't wait. That gives me just a couple of weeks to clean up this blog. It's in pretty bad shape. I had high hopes of a major redesign before this year's trip. Yea, sure,... like I have the time... No complaints. I'm in! Let's roll this rock! db tag:downtoground.secureserverdot.com,2006:/stormcast//3.195 2006-06-06T03:47:10Z 2007-05-28T15:40:29Z

This was likely the last day of chasing for my season. Things were hopeful as we left this morning. A long grind from Valentine south to North Platte. Then east to Grand Island. We go a good start so we...

This was likely the last day of chasing for my season. Things were hopeful as we left this morning. A long grind from Valentine south to North Platte. Then east to Grand Island. We go a good start so we had time to gas up, feed up and rest up while watching and waiting. It was a tough day to target a location where the cap would likely break but we thought we made the right choice when we saw the Cloud Nine folks drive up. We enjoyed killing time with the group and had another pleasant conversation with Charles Edwards. Once the 3pm update came out we all broke west going our separate ways. We ended up going all the way back to North Platte and dropped into the NWS. The front stalled. Storms turned into another line of crap. Huge disappointment. Season's done for me I'm afraid. We landed in Kearney NE. Tomorrow we'll take our time heading back to Omaha. Tough year...]]> tag:downtoground.secureserverdot.com,2006:/stormcast//3.194 2006-06-05T02:46:17Z 2007-05-28T15:40:11Z

Nothing worth getting excited about today. Typically Joel and I will meet first thing in the morning to review the SPC forecast and regional forecast discussions. We know right away if we're going to have a game day or...

Nothing worth getting excited about today. Typically Joel and I will meet first thing in the morning to review the SPC forecast and regional forecast discussions. We know right away if we're going to have a game day or not. Today we took one look at the data, then a look at each other and decided to go back to our rooms for a nap. We've been driving long and hard day after day. We're both pretty wiped out. Should have slept in today. We met around 2:00 and decided to do some local sightseeing. It sure looked like fun, but neither one of us had the energy to go rafting. Instead we decided to go for a leisure drive west to Merriman. (about an hour's drive west) to check out the Bowring Sandhills Ranch. ]]> tag:downtoground.secureserverdot.com,2006:/stormcast//3.193 2006-06-04T01:55:37Z 2007-05-28T15:39:50Z

This morning we got off to a great start and our target held steady. Central and North Central Nebraska. Unfortunately the setup wasn't quite right. The Curse of '06 strikes again. Landed in Valentine,.. again (there aren't many places to...

Valentine,.. again (there aren't many places to crash in Cherry County NE). And the good folks at the Holiday Inn Express give us a decent rate for a decent room. We managed our disappointment with another great steak at the Pepermill. Day 2 has us sitting right here. If anything is going to happen we don't need to go far. Managing my expectations I refuse to get excited.]]> tag:downtoground.secureserverdot.com,2006:/stormcast//3.192 2006-06-03T03:55:22Z 2007-05-28T15:37:09Z

Seeing as we needed to get north we decided to take the scenic rout today up through Colorado. Target for day 2 is Valentine NE so we decided to stick to the foothills and not go up into the...

Seeing as we needed to get north we decided to take the scenic rout today up through Colorado. Target for day 2 is Valentine NE so we decided to stick to the foothills and not go up into the mountains (tough call). Mt. Capulin — an ancient volcano — came highly recommended so we made that our first stop. As promised the view was impressive. With clear air all around — under a modest cover of high based convection — we could see for miles in every direction. A brief stop at the visitor center filled us in on the history of lava flows and made the view that much more impressive. Once on top we decided to make the mile long hike around the rim (the most exercise I've had in weeks). We made it about 1/2 way around when a modest storm came across the mountain and had us reconsidering our decision to hike. Getting wet was one thing. But the evidence of a lightning strike on a mountaintop bench gave a clear message. This is not a place to sit and watch a storm. It only took one clap of thunder to move us along in a hurry. We struck on up into SE Colorado and decided to drive up through the Comanche Grasslands. I had driven south through that area last year and convinced Joel it was worth seeing again. We paused a few times along the way to watch and photograph a high based storm. Eventually making the decision to move as far north as possible. We drove on into the evening and landed in Fort Morgan CO. Tomorrow the SPC has a "slight risk" somewhere around South Dakota and central Nebraska. It's hard to get hopes up, so I wont. But we came to play so we'll make the best of it. Target: Valentine NE. ]]> tag:downtoground.secureserverdot.com,2006:/stormcast//3.191 2006-06-02T04:16:02Z 2007-05-28T15:36:53Z

Slight risk in our area today so we decided to stay put and book another night at the hotel. We hung out in town. Got a nice tour of the old town hall, did some laundry and and had...

Slight risk in our area today so we decided to stay put and book another night at the hotel. We hung out in town. Got a nice tour of the old town hall, did some laundry and and had pleasant send off lunch for Warren's client Dan. As bad as this trip has been for storms, the people you meet along the way can sometimes make up for the disappointing weather. Of course there were the colorful locals we met last night, a pleasant woman at the laundry mat who filed us in on local scuttlebutt, and during our visit to the old town hall I had a really interesting conversation with Charles Edwards from Cloud Nine Tours. Turns out that he works for FEMA when he's not driving chase tours. He had some amazing things to say about working the front lines of Katrina. He and his tour were stuck in town with a broken axle so Joel offered to drive him down to Amarillo to pick up a rental. More conversation on the ride down and a pleasant meal in Amarillo. It was a good deed done well. Very interesting guy. Look forward to meeting him again down the road.]]> tag:downtoground.secureserverdot.com,2006:/stormcast//3.190 2006-06-02T01:23:58Z 2007-05-28T15:36:40Z

Forecast held up this morning so we marched up into South Eastern Colorado. I always enjoy chasing there. Even though I've had little success at catching tornadoes (It's been 5 years since I've scored one up there). But the...

Forecast held up this morning so we marched up into South Eastern Colorado. I always enjoy chasing there. Even though I've had little success at catching tornadoes (It's been 5 years since I've scored one up there). But the upslope winds always fire some beautiful storms in the foot hills and beyond. We typically end up racing out of Amarillo, through Boise City (never forgetting to stop at No Man's Land for some fine Beef jerky) then racing north through Springfield, Lamar or further. Inevitably we'll backtrack, deciding late in the afternoon to go after the southern storms in north east New Mexico. Seems like we do this every time and today was no exception. There were several promising storms all over the region but nothing to get very excited about. We ended up back through Boise City and into New Mexico. Finishing our chase with a very strange Gust Front. Yet another bust for '06. We landed in "historic" Clayton New Mexico and decided to cap off our bust with dinner and beers at the Eklund hotel and saloon. An excellent choice as the evening turned out to be a highlight of an otherwise frustrating chase season. The place was filled with cowboys (real ones) and storm chasers from all over the globe. Not to mention the colorful locals. One in particular, who could use a few piano lessons... guess you had to be there. After last call, as we were making our way out the door, we stopped to check out some old pictures hanging in the bar. A series of gruesome photos of a public execution from the turn of the century. The locals seemed to take a certain amount of pride in telling us the legend of Black Jack Ketchum. One fellow even offered to take us on a midnight tour of the "hanging place" and a trip to Black Jack's grave site as well. How could we resist? ]]> tag:downtoground.secureserverdot.com,2006:/stormcast//3.189 2006-06-01T04:06:00Z 2007-05-28T15:36:24Z

We landed at the Holiday Inn in Dodge City yesterday, after a "murder burger" at Sonic. As is so often the case, there are few food options when you roll into town after 10pm. This particular Sonic drive in was...

We landed at the Holiday Inn in Dodge City yesterday, after a "murder burger" at Sonic. As is so often the case, there are few food options when you roll into town after 10pm. This particular Sonic drive in was clearly the hub of the social scene for anyone under 21 in Dodge City. It was entertaining. I was rocked out of bed by a loud clap of thunder around 4:00 this morning. Then a steady downpour that lasted until well after we checked out around 11 am. Storms were firing all over Kansas and the OK/TX Panhandles sent boundaries everywhere. There was energy, but pinpointing a quality target was daunting. We migrated south into Texas where we met up with Warren and a client of his down around Canadian TX. We marched on a few high based storms near the TX/OK border and did see an impressive funnel from a distance. But it was short lived and far away. So we broke off and made our way to Amarillo for the night. Stopping along the way to admire a Gust Front. Joel bought us all dinner and drinks at the local Outback Steakhouse. It's scary that I can walk in there and be recognized by the wait staff. But we do seem to land there every year. I'm sure we'll be aback again next year. It was fun to finally catch up with Warren. We'll all chase up into Colorado tomorrow if the forecast holds together. I don't have much hope. This season sucks.