May 21, 2014 Byers, CO HP Supercell

Day one of my chase trip started early (left DeKalb at 3:20 AM) and ended in Denver, CO (1,000 plus miles later).  It was one of those days where the storms fired early and we were pleading with the weather gods to hold off producing a great storm.  Nevertheless, a storm fired over Denver International Airport and began to illustrate one of the biggest hooks I have ever seen.  At first, the storm didn't look like the rotation was that tight up but shortly thereafter it started wrapping up nicely.  We were still a bit too far out to see anything (tornado) the storm may have been producing.  It was also very evident that the storm was going to be a rain-wrapped monster from early on so, we ended up playing around for some structure shots.  A near miss with the RFD surge and chaser convergence hell pretty much ended our day.  We did get a nice treat on the way back to the hotel where we saw a huge hail streak on the rolling hills.  Our attempts to get there were cut short by the rain-soaked dirt roads.  Overall, it was a long chase day but well worth it.