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Mon, May 30, 2005 Southeast Colorado 1630z SPC Outlook: SLIGHT Chase Partners Verne Carlson Seen on...

Chase Miles: 470 Career Miles: Storm Intercepts: 3 Tornado Count: 1 Largest Hail: Golfball Flooding: None Other Chaser Reports None

A nighttime tornado touches down at the end of a long day.

A massive amount of chasers were in the caravan in Southeast Colorado on yet another fun Memorial Day. We embarked from Trinidad and chased storms off the foothills along the chaser favorite Highway 160 between Trinidad and Springfield in Colorado. We had several funnels attempt to make it to the ground, but it wasn't til close to dark when one of those funnels finally made it to the ground in front of a large audience of storm chasers. After saying my goodbyes, I had several close encounters with hail and even had to be pulled from a mud hole in the midst of one of those hail storms. I finally made it home to Lakewood shortly after 2am where I officially concluded Mayathon 2005.

A fine way to close out my Mayathon 2005; a tornado in my resident state! Took a while and some persistance, but we were finally able to score the beast! It was brief, but couldn't have been more rewarding!

The day started off with car repairs with Amos and Dave; Amos repairing a flat and Dave swapping out an oxygen sensor. Fortunately Trinidad was open on Memorial Day and both were able to take car of their respective car troubles. We then hung in Trinidad with friends til the first storms weaned us from Trinidad.

The second storm gave us a gorgeous wall cloud which teased us before it, too, went into the ass closet.

In route to the third storm coming up from Raton, New Mexico, we hear that Amos clobbered a deer back on the highway. He was behind us by a ways, so when we pulled off to observe the storm, we awaited Amos and his vehicle to limp in. Fortunately, Amos was uninjured and was still able to smile admist the ordeal. After some observation and a bit of cutting with some kiddie pink scissors, he was able to resume the chase.

Verne and I bailed on the Raton storm shortly after it gave us a semi-persistant funnel. We hauled eastward to developing storms in Las Animas and Baca counties. We stopped south of Pritchett, Colorado on Highway 160 and awaited the southern storms to pass over us. The rest of the crew joined us and danced around some Bob's roads between 160 and the CO/NM border and ended up returning to 160 after the storm moved its way across the road. Verne and I pushed a bit west and briefly got cored by some decent sized before we stopped to watch INCREDIBLE storm motions; fastest I have ever seen!

As dark was falling, so did the clouds! Our tornado FINALLY touched down to the delight of all the chasers in the area. It was a brief sight, but a beautiful one!

We pushed to the next meso before I elected to sign off... I listened to many chasers congratulate me on today and wish me well as I was heading out. That was pretty cool! Thanks guys! However, my night didn't end there. I got cored again on Highway 160 heading back to the west when I stopped to film the hail. As I went to turn around, I misjudged the shoulder and got my front wheels stuck in the mud less than 12 inches from the damn road! I rode out parts of the storm as my car was trying to slide into the very deep ditch. With no cell service, I was reduced to calling 9-1-1 for help. As I was on the phone with the dispatcher, several very large hailstones (close to baseball) pounded my car. The dispatcher asked what the noise was (the loud bangs); I then kindly asked her to rely my hail report to the National Weather Service in Pueblo.

Unfortunately, my cell phone died while on the phone with her, but I was quickly relieved to see an Ace Towtruck stopping behind me. I jumped out in the pouring rain and hail and asked the guy for a pull. He wasted no time jumping out into the rain and hail to tie a rope to my car and yank me the 12 inches to get my on solid ground. As quick as he stopped, I thanked him and we both went our separate ways.

Then as I headed north on CO-109 towards La Junta, I was thinking I was going to score some great lightning shots; it was more hail; quarters slammed my car and the road again as I stopped to film at the Bent County line. The storm was quick to move on, and I was finally left to a peaceful trip home where I walked in the door to a happy girlfriend and my own bed!

Many thanks to tons of people in the caravan today! Too man to mention, but I would imagine most will post their report. Jeff, Kersten, Chris, Amos, Verne, Jason, Scott, Kurt, Dan, Bill, Mark, Steve, and Dan just to name a few. It was quite the gathering! Really a fun day!

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