Theme: Almost a bust, but with a consolation prize
Target: Burlington, CO
Chasers: Jill Schaefer Chris Rozoff
Chase Vehicle: Jill's 1996 Buick Regal
Data Contacts: Travis Ashby
Summary:
We drove to Burlington, CO, where a boundary enhancing convergence was
located. A short-wave disturbance was moving into CO today. It was
associated
with
instability in eastern Colorado/western Kansas and adequate shear, which
might provide some supercells. We left Ft. Collins at 11 am, with
expected initiation after 3pm, and hopefully
for the best coupling of shear and CAPE. Unfortunately, the initiation
time was around 1:30 pm or so along this boundary. Our target of
Burlington was excellent, but the initiation time was off. We missed the
numerous landspout tornadoes randomly occurring along the rapid
development of storms. We literally missed a few tornadoes by about 5
minutes, witnessing one of their lowerings after one tornado lifted. So
close, but no cigar. Another side effect of the early initiation was that
the conditions for supercells had not yet developed. I imagine, with the
strong helicity along the boundary, we would have had a wonderful day if
the storms would have had a little more patience.
We departed for home early. Luckily, due to strong mid-level instability,
despite lower humidity surface air, and the increasing shear, we ran into
a series of strange and rather unpowerful LP supercells on our way home.
In addition, Hearts Of Space was playing on KUNC radio with some
ambient "New Age" music. This made for a rather preternatural experience.
The first storm was in Fort Morgon and the remaining ones were
discovered in the vicinity of
Greeley. There were some hail reports with some of these storms.
Pictured below
are some photos of some of the storms. Unfortunately, the quality of the
photography is not great. I am hoping for a better camera someday.
