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This chase trip proved that you don't need supercells and tornadoes to have a wonderful time! This trip actually ranks in the top few most fun trips I've taken, mostly in part to the people I was chasing with! Our usual 2005 clan from Colorado ventured out on a well capped day from Denver heading to SW Nebraska. In route, we began to chat over the radio about a vehicle which had been following us since about I-76 in Hudson. The jokes became rampant as we lead them along US Hwy 34 heading into Nebraska, us cracking about how they had to be following us cause no one in their right mind would be out here for any reason other than chasing! *LOL* We dubbed them our groupies and finally were able to meet them at a gas stop in some ho-hum town just east of the CO/NE border. We ventured a bit further east into the capped skies of McCook, Nebraska where I downed a $1.80 double cheeseburger and a Hi-C while praying for something to break. It finally did, but back home. We sprinted back west along Hwy 36 to intercept the MCS developing in Eastern Colorado where we ridded ourselves of a total bust by running into some crazy lightning, several encounters with hail, some low hanging clouds (which we're still analyzing), heavy rain, fog, sleet, and snow pellets! We had all four seasons fall upon us in a 40 miles stretch of highway centered around Last Chance, Colorado. A very bizarre weather night with a fun twist that made the nearly 600 mile round trip worthy of taking a day off for! This chase personified what its all about. Its not just about the weather, its about the people you're with! Sometimes we rise together, other times we fall; this time, we fell in the mud and enjoyed every minute of it! The chase began in Denver where my former Map Use instructor, Jon Van de Grift, met me and we drove from the Auraria Campus to the Brighton Park 'n' Ride where we met with Verne Carlson and Tom Dulong. Jon Merage and his partner, Sean Mullen caught up with us on I-76 between Fort Morgan and our turn-of in Brush.
They begged us for 20 minutes as I filled up with gas at a rate of half a gallon per minute to join us. After negotiating a reasonable rate, we permitted them to jump in tow. Hehehe.. of course, I'm just kidding!
We made our way into McCook, Nebraska where we pulled into the Holiday Inn Express Parking Lot. For the record, this is a GREAT place to stop. Free Wifi from the hotel; restaurants within walking distance (McDonald's next door, Wendy's and Subway across the street), and a good road network to get you just about anywhere quickly. We stuck around here beneath benign skies for well over an hour; some of us grabbing grub, others eating entire meals. We mooched the Wifi for a while, hoping and praying for some hope! We got it in the form of a wind shift from the northeast to the southeast. We had hope.. then we realized we had lost our minds! Our "wind shift" was created because winds were funneling between the hotel and the McDonalds... the flags in front of McDonald's pointed out our mistake. This, or course, AFTER I post it to Stormtrack! I quickly went back and regraded my field observations. Afterwards, I went for what I thought was suppose to be a $1 double cheeseburger; it turned out to be $1.80! I joked about that as I laughed to our group about how I drove all the way to McCook, Nebraska for an overpriced double cheeseburger!
We hung around a bit longer before the developing MCS with rotational skits caused us to retreat back to the west for an intercept of the monster blob. We left the hotel and stopped at the Wal-Mart for fuel where we goofed around while filling up. Our groupie friends were camera hams and between Jon V, Jon M, myself, and the pics the girls were taking, probably fired off a crap-load of silly pics. Here are a few..
We were determined to avoid busting this trip, and we made an effort. Jon retook the lead of our 4 car caravan to run radar! for us as we hauled across Southern Nebraska, passing old couple in beat-up cars who were sure to be saying something like "fucking kids" as he flew by them at rather insane speeds! Unfortunately, I was proved right again in regards to my thinking of how a radar detector isn't worth the investment. Jon got tagged by a Nebraska State Trooper for doing 78 in a 65; which was a bit lower than I remember seeing my speedometer at the time (closer to 85,maybe 90). We left Jon behind with the trooper upon his suggestion as I'm sure we all would've seen tickets had we stopped. Our estimates put Jon 45 minutes behind us at that point as we dropped south to Bird City, KS and hopped on Hwy 36 west to put ourselves in a better intercept position. We unfortunately did not see him again the rest of the evening, but he did have the pleasure to dance with the MCS near Yuma as we were closing in on Last Chance. As we headed westward, we invented Headlight Trivia! Our UNC groupies had a scanner and were listening to our frequency as Verne and I chatted on the HAM. Using multiple choice questions, we asked over the radio and the gang would flash their headlights for the answer. This killed off a good hour and was actually quite funny as Jon and I got a bit slap happy at times. We asked weather related questions; how much wood could a woodchuck chuck; air disasters, etc. That was actually quite fun. I cannot recall what it was exactly that had Verne laughing so hard that he nearly drove off the road, but it was a mix of funnies along the way. The gang behind us called our cell to inform us that the "boy" needed a bathroom break. We stopped in Idalia at this Grille which I'm keeping in mind next time we chase out this way (nothing to celebrate just yet). Imagine our surprise (sarcasm) when it was the girls who flew from the car making a b-line for the bathroom. We joked around a bit with Shawn while awaiting them to finish. Julie and Katie came out laughing about the bathrooms and said they had to take pictures. This is what we saw when they returned!
We continued along Hwy 36 towards Last Chance, stopping several times to film. Our first stop was on the main surge of the storm which had several rotational skits on it according to Verne's Baron WXworx. We got out and filmed for 20 minutes. In that time, we had several lowerings; possibly funnels, a possible tornado, we're not sure. It was an hour passed sunset and the only light we had was from the incredibly frequent lightning. It's gonna take some serious video analyzing to determine if we scored anything or not.
We had some fun with this system, although we weren't exactly sure what was going on. Several cells developed on the southwest side of the MCS, keeping us on various storms for over an hour! We got hailed on several times and even had to make a quick retreat back to the east when a cell began showing a potential hook and some shear on radar with a bulls-eye painted on our heads. The rest of the way home is where things got interesting. The temperature gradient between Limon and DIA at this time was about 20; 50s in Limon, 30s at DIA. In a 40 miles stretch of highway centered about Last Chance, we ran into all four types of precip in various forms; rain, hail, sleet, and snow pellets. It was insane! Never before had I seen anything quite like it, especially on the Plains. In the mountains, sure! But in the flatlands! Sheesh! It was a helluva system kicking out, and saved us from busting all in all. I ran Jon back into Boulder and returned home shortly after 12:30am. This trip covered 13 hours in three states over 5 time zone changes (MDT to CDT, back to MDT, back into CDT, then back to MDT) in less than 600 miles. And oddly enough, it was the last 100 miles that gave us the chase-able weather! This trip was by far one of my most fun chases to date (hence the very long entry for so little weather). This was made in part to the wonderful people we were able to chase with! First of all, to our groupies, Shawn, Katie, and Julie; you guys are welcome to chase with us anytime! I think I speak for everyone in our group when I say how much fun you all were! You had a great sense of humor, were fun to hang with, and we would be absolutely thrilled to chase with you again! Hopefully we'll have something a bit more exciting to celebrate! Second, to what's becoming a pretty sturdy Colorado Chase team! Verne, Tom, and Jon; great to be on the road with you again! I hope May gives us more opportunity to dance again! Third, to my chase partner, Jon! Hope you had as much fun as I did! Look forward to roaming the Plains with you again soon! Fun day, little weather til the end... I'd take it anytime! Off to save for Mayathon! See ya in the Plains again soon! |
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