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Wed, July 2, 2008 Central Kansas States: CO Chaser ALL CHASE LOGS Chase Miles: 237 Career Miles: Chase Vehicle: White Lightning Storm Stats ALL STATS Tornado Count: 0 ( ) Max Hail Size: 0.75 Wind Reports: 80mph + Flooding Observed: Major Urban Lightning Shot: None Chase Partners   Dann Cianca

SPC 1630z CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK OUTLOOK RISK - TORNADO PROBS - HAIL PROBS - WIND PROBS 1630z SPC Text

Wednesday, July 2, 2008 - Brush, Colorado

Its nice to have chase friends that just enjoy a good storm regardless of the tornado chances that come with it. During the day, I was working on campus and was in touch with Dann Cianca throughout the afternoon with the idea we could chase later in the afternoon. Honestly, I was less than excited with prospects close to home and didn't want to make a 500 plus mile marathon out of the day.

About 3pm, Dann got word he would have the day off and called to twist my arm into the chase shortly before 4pm. I had been watching the storms west of Ft. Collins for some time and it looked like it could be interesting for hail at the very least. I decided what the hey and met with Dann shortly thereafter.

We initially fought our way through rush hour traffic up I-25 and cut over to US Highway 85 through Dacono where we intercepted the weakening storm at Greeley. The cell had weakened considerably and was losing our interest. We decided to head east on US Highway 34 toward Wiggins when another cell was developing south of Prospect Valley. With slow storm motions, our plan was to intercept the cell south of Ft. Morgan and possibly take an intercept route along CO-71.

Enroute along 34, our storm began to pulse up again, bringing with it some decent structure and very gusty outflow winds with plenty of dust to show for it.

Blowing dust southeast of Wiggins just south of I-76.

The storm began to dwindle a bit as it moved toward Ft. Morgan, but stronger intensification was occuring in the cells on the north side of I-76 just north of Ft. Morgan.

We blasted east through Ft. Morgan and quickly got cored with penny-sized hail, very heavy rain, and extremely high winds. Other chasers recorded wind gusts in excess of 80mph. About this time, a TVS was showing up to our immediate north and the storm was quickly tornado-warned.

Traffic nearly at a stand-still between Ft. Morgan and Brush as the core and high winds blasted interstate drivers.

Heavy hail almost looked like snow as it piled up several inches deep.

Intercepting the tornatic area of the storm was going to be a challenge as the cell's path was southeast taking away from major roads. We decided to give it a go and exited at Brush for a easterly path along 34 or south along CO-71. As we exited, we noticed the town was without power and were soon greeted by down trees. As we approached downtown, over a foot of water covered most of the roads.

What we drove into as we arrived in Brush.

Downtown Brush became a lake was tree debris and hail clogged storm drains.

Many downtown businesses had water come up and through the front doors.

A woman trudges through knee-deep water in downtown Brush.

A man removing trees from a flooded side street.

Other images from Brush

We decided at that point that the storm was out of reach, and it turns out, both Hwy 34 and CO-71 were closed due to high waters, so our chase ended there. We returned to I-76 and headed back to Denver, me getting home in time to catch my video leading off the 10pm newscast.

Thanks again to Dann for twisting my arm to get out and for the company! Nice to enjoy crazy storms with friends!

SPC MDs SPC Watches None Other Chase Reports

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