Chase Map

After a lack of chasing in Kansas in 2011, a early season opportunity presented itself in NE Kansas. I targeted a chase zone in near Topeka for Wednesday March 28^th. After reviewing models, I was confident in severe weather ahead of a warm front moving North from Kansas into Nebraska and Missouri. I missed a chase opportunity due to work on March 27^th. Some significant surface based super cells developed in Central NE Kansas and produced numerous reports of large hail, a possible tornado and some great structure. Wednesday March 28^th looked to be an even better day, with more moisture, CAPE and EH-I values.

Chasing this year has been very difficult to date. With the addition of a new baby boy to our family in November of 2011, I knew that chasing may be limited. I always enjoy the opportunity to have someone join me on a chase, as most of my chasing is done solo. My favorite chase partner is my wife. She has been my main chase partner over the years, and I really enjoy spending quality time with her on the road. She was not a weather fan or a storm chaser when we first met, but  over the years she has grown to love it. It is not often she gets to join me, but she decided to come along for this chase. The first step is always finding a babysitter. So we made the trek to Denver to drop the kids off with grandma. Thanks grandma J. We made it to Denver on the evening of Tuesday March 27^th. We dropped the kids off and hit I-70 towards Kansas.

Kansas is a storm chasing paradise. Open country, low population, great road network and close proximity make it one of my favorites. In recent years La Nina has forced moisture further South East, limiting the storms and chasing opportunities in Kansas. Early season activity is a good signal that we will be back in Kansas many times this year.

We arrived in Salina Kansas late Tuesday night and decided to get a hotel room. I typically don’t like getting hotel rooms, and prefer to sleep in the back of my Chevy Impalla. Obviously, when my wife joins me, this is not an option. We also like to enjoy our time away from the kids with a little bit more relaxation. The Chevy Impalla is cheaper, but is sure is not relaxing.

Tuesday night and Wednesday morning models were still indicating a slight to moderate threat for super cells with large hail and possible tornadoes. The threat and target area remained consistent to the North East corner of Kansas. So we decided to make our way further North East towards Topeka. Along the way we stopped in Manhattan Kansas for an oil change. Manhattan is a very lovely town, and we stopped to shoot some pictures of the beautiful purple foliage in town. We were shooting pictures when a police officer pulled over to make sure we were ok. She asked me what I was doing. I said “taking pictures”. She said “of what”. I said “of the purple flowers”. She said “ok…just checking”. It was on odd exchange, but I guess one would wonder why I would be pulled over taking pictures of something a local sees every day.

After our oil change, we made our way towards Topeka. Models continued to remain consistent and the SPC had an area of 5% tornado risk in NE Kansas and SE Nebraska. We arrived in Topeka and got some lunch.

A nice cumulus field had begun to develop both ahead of the trailing cold front and ahead of the warm front. I was split between moving further North to intercept cells ahead of the warm front or to remain in place and intercept cells ahead of the cold front. Typically the best storms in this environment (high instability-low shear) form on the warm front and will latch on to it creating rotation and the best chance at a tornado. So we waited just outside of Topeka for initiation.

As the day wore on I felt the best chance for a super cell was North of the warm front in extreme NE Kansas. We made our way North of Topeka as cumulus towers began to go up around us. I was fairly confident at this point that we would be seeing some severe weather. The cumulus towers made for some great pictures.

The first cells began to fire in extreme SE Nebraska indicating the warm front was a smidge further North than I anticipated. We began to shoot further North as the storms continued to grow. Initially storms looked really good, but many of the bases were high indicating a higher LCL level. This told me storms would not be as severe as I hoped. None the less, the storms were firing and we were here, so we chased what we had.

Storms tried to take on classic super cell structure, but were merging with each other and not developing like I had hoped. We chased a few storms that had moderate hail and some very nice wall clouds. The best storms continued to form on the Southern side of a line in SE Nebraska. We witnessed multiple wall clouds, and I was able to capture the best one of the day near Auburn Nebraska. As darkness began to fall, I had the feeling our chase would be over soon. As sometimes happens, a strong cell redeveloped on the Southern flank again, closer to the Missouri border. Battling darkness and multiple chasers we followed the storm over the Missouri River. The storm developed a great wall cloud and intense rotation over Rockport Missouri. The town’s tornado sirens began to wail, and we got a little thrill from the storm as it got more intense. We chased the storm past Rockport until darkness fell and we decided to retreat. I do not enjoy chasing at night, and unless the situation is very interesting I will typically call a chase. It turns out that the storm would produce a possible tornado near Tarkio Missouri further down the road. The tornado was not confirmed by the NWS, but several chasers did get some convincing photos. Night chasing is something I have never understood. The off chance of getting a tornado back lit by lightning is exciting, but not worth risking my life or others. So, needless to say, this was a fun chase. I loved having my wife with me and we had a great time. Not a bust, but not a memorable chase otherwise.

We made the long drive back to Colorado that night. It was great chasing back in Kansas, and chasing with my wife.