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The April drought ended in style today on what turned out to be one of the most fun chases I've had to date. Ironcially enough, this day ended exactly where it started, and not on purpose either. After getting out of work at 11:30pm Saturday night, I picked up my friend, Kyle, and we outran the incoming blizzard to get into Kansas. Our initial goal was to make Goodland, Kansas and sleep for a few hours before heading into Hays to meet with other Colorado-based storm chasers. When pumping gas in Goodland, the cold wind gave me MY second wind, and we drove straight through to Hays where we woke up Verne at 6:30am CDT and napped on the floor for 2 and a half hours (yes, I ran this day on 150 minutes of sleep). We left from Hays shortly after 11a and headed into Dodge City where we were aiming for the low. After busting the Tuesday before, we wanted to make sure we stuck to the low. That didn't happen; we bailed after watching 3 cells go up and die, so we shot north along a series of dirt roads where the fun began. We intercepted our first storm in Trego County and watched 3 tornadoes drop from that cell, including a WATERSPOUT in Kansas! After getting separated from the Colorado gang, Kyle and I flew east on I-70, punching a storm to find a 4th tornado on the other side. We nabbed a 5th tornado north of Russell before calling it a day from Waldo. And incredible day and a top 5 chase!
Filling up with gas in Dodge City, Kansas
Jet Streaks from outside Dodge City, Kansas
 
Sitting beneath sheared apart towers in South-Central Kansas with Mike Umscheid and Fritz Kruse.
Tom Dulong posing for the camera with his camera.
The Storm Tracer back in action as the Colorado-based gang mourns over another dying tower.
We opted to abandon our southern target after watching three towers go up and get sheared apart. We fled north following Mike before shooting west and back to the north.
 
Firing north towards the better building storms. The left pic is the storm, the right is the radar of the storms we chased.
 
The first tornado of the way was actually a waterspout. Yes, a waterspount in Kansas! The highlighted area shows the funnel in the sky and the circulation on the water's surface. Taken as we crossed the bridge over Cedar Bluff Reservoir where the tornado touched down.
The tornado lifted as it made landfall, but the funnel remained. It passed directly over the highway and directly over the car. This was shot looking straight up through the windshield.
A funnel cloud teases us north of the reservoir but lifts into the clouds.
A chaser convergence with Melanie Metz, Doug Keisling (who's so stressed storm chasing, he lost ALL his hair *LOL*), and our gang from Colorado. Lovely parking jobs, eh!
The day's biggest tornado touching down in a field east of K-147 north of the reservoir. This was a beauty!
I met up with Amos Magliocco after passing him on the bridge and he cameos in my vids and pics!
 
 
We picked up a third, roope tornado a few miles up the Highway as we approached I-70 in WaKenney. That tornado was on the ground for less than a minute.
Punching the core of storms near Russell on I-70 and I have my closest encounter with a rainbow.
This one is touching the ground right in front of the car!
 
When we punched the storm, I was on the phone with Scott Roberts from KWCH 12 CBS News in Wichita as he was informing us this storm had a report of a wedge on the ground. Initially, I didn't even see anything that looked tornatic. I was informing Scott that there was in fact NO tornado. As we climbed the ramp, Kyle pointed out the tornado, our forth. I thought he was full of crap. All of a sudden, I find myself immediately retracting my earlier report. "Holy shit, Scott! There actually IS a tornado on the ground!" Scott set me up with a live phone report; 1 of 3 live reports I did via cell phone during the course of the afternoon's events.
 
A couple of scenic shots as we returned to Russell on southbound Hwy 281. Low on gas and the sun setting, we elected to return to the interstate where we remet with our Colorado gang and celebrated our incredible day!
Special Thanks to Scott Robers of KWCH 12 in Wichita for his nowcasting assistance and help with getting me live on the air with phone reports, one of which was given as a tornado was on the ground. Also, thanks to Scott for getting my video on air!
Special thanks to Verne Carlson for allowing me use of Baron WX in my vehicle. Baron was reponsible for getting Kyle and I the 4th and 5th tornadoes in Russell County.
The Colorado Blizzard Evacuation Club
Verne Carlson, Jon Merage, Tom Dulong, Kyle Kluge, Chris Rozoff, and several students from CSU! All of which are still sitting in Kansas Monday morning hoping I-70 reopens this afternoon and allows us to return home where Denver will be digging out of as much as 20 inches of snow. Every school in town was closed.. except Auraria Campus.. BOOOOO on them! Hehehehe!
Also, it was great to see all my chaser friends in the field. Amos Magliocco (you see me wearing my jersey, you know we're gonna score), Doug Kiesling, Melanie Metz, Mike Umscheid, Frtiz Kruse, and several others whom I passed but didn't get a chance to chat with. Glad to hear everyone who played Northern Kansas scored well! And as you can see in the SPC reports below, it was the ONLY tornado action in the country
 
Video stills from KMGH Denver and KWCH Wichita
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StormChaserTNL@juno.com
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