May 30, 2013 DeKalb, IL dud shelf

Today as a diffuse severe weather day and I had little expectations for something significant.  My only hope was an isolated cell out ahead of the main line that was going to come through in the early evening.  However, that wish never came to fruition and I took my chances with the MCS that made its way here.  The main issue with the MCS was that there was no real big 'push' behind the line and it really couldn't get its cold pool going enough to create a nice shelf.  Overall, it wasn't great but it was something.  Enjoy.

May 18, 2013 HP Kansas Supercell

For the last few days Saturday and Sunday looked to be the big chase days with MDT risks being put out by the SPC well in advance.  However, when we woke up in the morning on the 18th we realized that things weren't so cut and dry.  The overall set up just looked to be very messy.  There was a real lack of upper level wind speeds and the dry air mixing in from Western Texas really created some issues.  We hit the road going south in hopes of hitting the bullseye in Southern Kansas.  All of the models hinted at a big day down there with some long-lived supercells.  But, we knew we had to be back in DeKalb by Sunday so we couldn't make it all the way down there.  We decided to play the Northern Kansas target.  We started off on a developing storm near McCook Kansas but soon began to realize that the storm to the East was becoming dominate.  We decided to race ahead of it and intercept it as it moved northeast.  The storm looked decent on radar, a bit sloppy, but still okay.  We got on it and just as we anticipated it was 'chaser convergence'.  Structure looked pretty good but it was very wet.  Thought it was hard to see, there was a clear low-level meso present.  As soon as we got on it, it began to surge out.  We left the storm and thought about heading down south to the next storm (it was starting to look really good on radar and ultimately produced a nice cone tornado) but sadly we didn't have enough time.  So, we actually were going to let the storm we were on pass us and get some lightning shots..... On the way back south we stopped to look at the amazing convection.  It was going nuts!  Bubbling, spinning, turning, etc.  We glanced out of the window and saw a crazy funnel cloud out of no where (I was driving and couldn't grab a shot).  It made zero sense.  So, we pulled over and took some shots and noticed a few more funnel clouds.  We had actually intercepted some type of strong wind shear boundary that was in the area and more than likely was the cause for the storm to the southwest being the storm of the day (producing amazing tornado).  We sat there in the field snapping shots of little funnel eddies, spinners, bubblers, etc.  as well as lightning.  The winds came in and it got blustery. Then just in a matter of 5 seconds it got dead still.... No winds.  No sound.  Very cool stuff.  So, even though we missed the storm of the day that produced a beautiful cone tornado, we got to see some amazing stuff.  Different stuff.  Enjoy.

Little horizontal funnel.  Seen about 5 of these.

Lightning hitting the sun.

May 17, 2013 High-based Nebraska Supercell

After a long drive the day before from DeKalb to Valentine Nebraska, we decided to play around the NE SD boarder.  We weren't expecting much to happen but there was a small possibility of elevated supercells.  The main issue with the storms this day was the lack of upper-level winds.  We really needed some wind shear to keep the storms isolated.  Below was the only shot we really had.  It ended up being a decent elevated/stationary supercell but soon began to surge out.  As it surged out, the convection on-going was really awesome. After the day of hills chasing we took off back south for a two hour drive to North Platte, NE.  The lightning on the way was awesome.  Saw a few upward flashes off of a tall radio tower.  Sadly, we did not get the shots.  Enjoy.

May 16, 2013 Nebraska Dusty Gust

Started the day off early in DeKalb around 5:00 AM and headed for the North Platte, NE area.  Though severe probabilities were marginal, it was worth the chase with the impending severe weather outbreak this weekend.  We played around south of North Platte trying to intercept some sloppy multicell storms and ended up getting a nice shelf cloud.  It was pretty darn dusty..... After the chase was over we decided to head to Valentine, NE for the overnight.  The drive through the Sand Hills was a good one.