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Note: This blog is generally NOT updated during chasing activity. To find out the latest happenings when we are out chasing, including live streaming video and current GPS position,
visit VORTEXpursuit.com Live.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Record snows are a comin!
A few days after my first chase of the year (intercepted the tornado warned storm in Cowley County, Kansas on Monday...just got a wall cloud), the attention has shifted from the once previous spring like atmosphere in the Sunflower State of temperatures in the 70's and blooms on the trees along with the green grass to a snowstorm of record potential. This storm doesn't seem like the nuisance storms that Kansas has seen throughout the winter season where an inch or two would fall once in a while. Looking at recent model data, this storm has the potential to drop in an excess of a foot, as much as 2 feet of snow over a wide swath of Kansas, from Liberal to Kansas City. A snowstorm of this magnitude would be enough to cripple the Kansas City Metropolitan area for a few days. Blizzard warnings are already in effect for the southwestern portion of the state and the warnings and watches will continue their eastward movement with a possible issuance of watches by both the Topeka and Pleasant Hill NWSFOs this afternoon. NAM and GFS models have been pretty consistent over the last several model runs in a bullseye of maximum snow accumulations roughly along the US Highway 56 corridor in Kansas where the maximum snow may fall. Some of the maps on Earl's model site have parts of the Kansas in the maximum by the map of snowfall so who knows what tomorrow through Saturday has in store for the Sunflower State. I am hoping for a decent snowstorm for once, something to at least close out the winter season as spring tries to make a comeback sometime soon. All I know is that should we get the massive snow amounts that are predicted by the models, KC will literally shut down for a few days, and the casino will be a ghost town when I go in for work Saturday evening.
# posted by VORTEXpursuit.com Storm Chasing @ 3/26/2009 11:06:00 AM 0 Comments
 
Sunday, February 22, 2009
It's 2009 and it's been...8 months since my last entry!
Wow, time does fly when you are busy, and busy I have been. I am just about in the middle of the last semester of community college before the 4 year school is set to begin in August. Storm Chasing season is just about here in just about a month for the Sunflower State. Some new equipment is in the process of being purchased for the new season, including a weather station for the Xterra along with a small HD camcorder (those cheap Aiptek ones) for use as a dash cam. The resolution produced on the Aiptek is 1440X1080 which will match that of the HV30 that I currently have. The car is slated for a small repair sometime in the next month to correct a problem that it is having with the overdrive (car likes kicking itself in and out of the 5th gear when I'm coasting on the highway). Other than that, there are no major equipment purchases to be made this year as I have been saving up some dough for the 4 year school (NW Missouri State in Maryville, Missouri, for those who are wondering) and for a trip to Walt Disney World for myself and my kids in August. And yes, I have been saving up for that occasional storm chase that'll pop up here and there this season. Good times are abound in the months ahead as I shift away from the working world and back into the educational setting that I was in before, of course, without putting a damper on the storm chasing activities, I hope. This Winter has been pretty much a scathe away from all of the nasties that come with the season. We haven't really had much of any snow or ice to contend with in the Kansas City Metro, which can be a good or bad thing, depending on who you ask. Well, it's a short hour and some before my shift is to start at work tonight so I'll leave it at this for right now. Hey, at least it's an update!
# posted by VORTEXpursuit.com Storm Chasing @ 2/22/2009 03:58:00 PM 0 Comments
Monday, July 14, 2008
It has been awhile!
Yes it has been awhile since I last posted on this blog. The main severe weather season has winded down and I have been working mucho overtime at work to put some money away for a much needed trip beginning next week. Still hoping for another chance at some chasing this year, but so far it isn't looking that would occur anytime soon.
# posted by VORTEXpursuit.com Storm Chasing @ 7/14/2008 01:29:00 PM 0 Comments
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Yesterday
 
Yesterday was a chase day for me (no tornadoes), but was also a devestating day across Iowa and Kansas as tornadoes kill 6 including 4 teenagers in a boy scout camp north of Omaha/Council Bluffs. My heart goes out to those affected with these tragedies. This line of storms produced tornado warning after tornado warning from Iowa to Kansas including warnings which blared the tornado sirens in Omaha.
I chased the storms yesterday and intercepted several tornado warned storms. Here is the report that I posted on StormTrack:
No tornadoes yet again for me but an interesting chase to say the least as I again bounced around from tornado warned storms from Valley, Nebraska to Plattsmouth, while chasing through the metro Omaha area during rush hour! I intercepted the tornado warned storm near Valley where strong rotation was observed. I continued east on this storm along Maple Street in northwestern Omaha where the rotation continued to be observed as it headed into Omaha. As the storm moved further north and then to the east, I broke off of the storm as it headed towards Iowa to try my luck on storms developing to the south and west. Noticing a few minutes late that the OAX radar was not operating, switched over to the Hastings radar and tried to intercept the storm near Lincoln. I didn't make it that far as I then intercepted a newly warned storm near Gretna where a funnel cloud might have been observed. Headed back into Omaha and then south on 75 to intercept another tornado warned storm headed towards Bellevue and Offut AFB. Realizing I was in the path of the storm, I quickly headed south on 75 while observing some rotation. Did not see anything really from this storm and as darkness fell, decided to call it a day and head home.
While tornadoes occured in Nebraska and Iowa, another Kansas town falls victim to a tornado as the town of Chapman (between Abilene and Manhattan) had many businesses/houses damaged and/or destroyed. The pictures above shows a picture of downtown Chapman and a picture of the city limit sign of the city I took in 2002. Tornadoes also hit the northern part of Manhattan severely damaging several buildings on the Kansas State University campus. The storms don't even appear to be done yet as another day of severe weather with possible tornadoes appear probable today in southeastern Kansas through Missouri and Iowa/Wisconsin/Illinois. For those wondering about my live streaming, I have temporarily disabled it as my video capture device hardware which links my camcorder to my laptop is not working correctly. That and I will be purchasing an amp for the sprint card which should allow for a better signal and better video quality. The streaming should be up again sometime soon. # posted by VORTEXpursuit.com Storm Chasing @ 6/12/2008 10:40:00 AM 0 Comments
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Sorry for the lack of updates
I have been pre-occupied over the last week or so between the kids, work, and storm chasing that has been occuring. As for storm chasing this week, I will be watching today's potential but I doubt I will be heading out. Tomorrow looks more like a sure thing for heading out to chase. Thursday, though, has my doubts as storms will be rocketing to the northeast at or over 50 knots (according to Bunkers). That and I have planned to be headed towards Saint Louis on Thursday afternoon for a trip with my kids and my parents for the weekend. My last chase on May 29th involved intercepting the Kearney, Nebraska supercell. I intercepted at the southern edge of town. Though I did not see a tornado, power flashes in the city provided evidence of a possible tornado. More later...
# posted by VORTEXpursuit.com Storm Chasing @ 6/03/2008 10:05:00 AM 0 Comments
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Chase of May 22/23
Wow, so many things I did wrong and quite a few tornadoes I missed out on due to positioning and getting stuck in the mud...but I did manage to see at least 1 tornado (the other was a rain wrapped tornado with numerous power flashes, though could not confirm a visual) May 22 ended up with me being stuck in the mud for 2 hours in the middle of nowhere Kansas! I didn't have a cell phone signal to boot, but I had my internet connection working so I loaded up the storm chasing chat room and asked people in there if they could get in contact with somebody for me to get me pulled out. Low and behold with their help, volunteer fire fighters and a nice gentleman with his tractor pulled me out. NW Kansas hospitality is wonderful and a life saver. Needless to say, no tornadoes observed that day as I missed the Hoxie wedge by a minute as I encountered down power lines along US-24 just west of town. May 23 ended up being a little better as I did get to see a tornado or two but a wealth of positioning mistakes and mistakes on my part cost me a few more tornadoes. If I would have been patient and followed storms that I had originally been on, I would have tracked the tornado near Quinter, and one near Shields, along with countless others... But I ended up in Ness County where I had very friendly encounters with LEO, especially with a sheriff and his wife who were in a marked patrol vehicle who I chatted with and provided radar updates for about 5-10 minutes showing him a supercell that was tracking northeastward into his county. He went off to the SE towards Ness City, and then I followed to boot a few minutes later. I intercepted this storm S of Ness City and then followed it north and then west, and then east, and then back north again where I reported a tornado on the ground NNE of town on the Spotter Network. I followed the storm east on K-4 where all I could see was power flash after power flash but no visual on a tornado. This tornado, I believe, turned into a wedge and headed for the Cedar Bluff lake. With nighttime falling, I discontinued the chase and drove back home. It was a scary site driving through the communities of Hays and Ness City with sirens going off, also with hearing reports of a large tornado near Greensburg (and I thought, not again..). Overall, if I could repeat this chase, I would change so much on what I screwed up. Even though I did not come out empty handed, I am not too happy with this multiple day chase. Oh well, there is always more to come this year... I met up with Fred Plowman from Olathe (he says that he sees me all the time on chases...and this is very true!). He showed me video of the wedge he got near Hoxie, KS from Thursday, quite impressive I could say. He also told me how he also got stuck in the mud on Thursday, not for 2 hours like my experience, but for 18 HOURS! Wow, I would have lost my mind then... I also waved at the TornadoLive team with Dick McGowan at the wheel as I always seem to see them every chase now-a-days too! There are always a lot of chasers out in these storms but these two I seem to always see all the time! Wicked! Tomorrow looks like a doozy forecasting, but I might be heading out for the chase, regardless, as it seems that a closer to home risk may be in store for some tornadoes along a southward moving front. A frontal chase...I am going to have to take a second look at that...more to come soon!
# posted by VORTEXpursuit.com Storm Chasing @ 5/25/2008 01:25:00 PM 0 Comments
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Chasing Today/Tomorrow
Be sure to check out VORTEXpursuit.com Live for the latest status on today and tomorrow's chasing activities! http://www.vortexpursuit.com/live.html12Z NAM from this morning showing slower storm motions, 500mb winds veering more to the SW (instead of the due S winds) for targets south of I-70, and dewpoints in the middle 60s. Instability is lower than on previous model runs, but should still definitely be a worthwhile day in terms of chasing. Stay tuned on VORTEXpursuit.com Live for the latest updates as the blog is usually not updated during chasing activity...
# posted by VORTEXpursuit.com Storm Chasing @ 5/22/2008 09:21:00 AM 0 Comments
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