Final update before I vanish into my meeting...
Everything's a go for the trip... SPC's new Day 2 remains about the same but has heavily worded their discussion with a mention of possible significant tornadoes in the Lubbock area. They mention the potential for tornadoes in western Kansas, but it appears their focus is on the Texas panhandle as has been mine for the last few days. Concerns of a squall line developing remain the biggest question, but models seem pretty good in showing a window of at least a couple hours to get on isolated cells before things line out. Large hail, greater than baseballs, may also be possible with storms. Storm motions don't look too bad as the highest speed I've seen is under 40 in a north/northeast direction with an overall system movement slowly to the east.
Because of the slow eastward progression of the system, we should be able to remain in good position for most of the event, including after-dark chasing of lightning ahead of the line tomorrow which oughta be a show as good as the one we had in Texas last week. All plans as of now would include after-dark photography and perhaps a hail core or two.
The plan remains to meet at the PnR and be on the road as soon after 6 as possible. I'll get up there right about 6 to start getting set up and we'll leave as soon as the last person is packed in and ready to go. I've reserved a pair of rooms in Garden City, KS for us and Verne's crew whom we will likely meet this evening upon our arrival into Kansas. Hopefully a light show will be ongoing at this point to give us a chance to clean the dust from our cameras. We will work our way south to Garden City with an arrival between midnight and 2am.
I want to be on the road by 9am tomorrow morning in case we do go all the way to Lubbock which is 350 miles or approx. 5 hours. I would like to be at a logical target by 2pm to allow us a chance to micromove if needed to get into best position.
As the day moves into night and we turn focus from tornadoes to hail/lightning, we can position ourselves to shoot. The line which is expected to eventually form will have some punch and may be a good story to get into a bowed area in some town to sit and watch it roll through. We may get some interesting stuff. Pending our energy levels, we can decide tomorrow if we want to push it all the way home or drive back on Sunday. If we score, I'm sure we can all agree no hurry is needed as we'll probably want to get someplace and enjoy our finds!
I'll make at least a quick update once we arrive in Garden City tonight and perhaps once from the road if we get lucky enough to catch a lightning-producing cell. Busy few days upcoming, but discussion on next week will be quiet until this event passes...
