5/11 - 11:30pm CDT - Video of TIV 2 and TVN Dominator

Even though we didn't see any severe weather today, we were able to hang out in Pratt, Kansas for a little while to see the Tornado Intercept Vehicle 2 (TIV 2) and Tornadovideos.net's Dominator vehicle, both from Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers TV show. It was a rare find for us because it's not common to see both the TIV and Dominator in the same place at the same time. Discovery Channel crews were actively filming the show while we were there, and some of our group may even show up in the 'behind the scenes' episode that airs at the end of each show season. Check out the video below for a look at what we saw!

5/11 - 1:30am CDT - We Saw The TIV in Pratt, Kansas!

We rolled into Pratt, Kansas, where we're staying overnight to position for tomorrow's chase, to quite a show this evening. The Tornado Intercept Vehicle 2 (TIV2) and TVN's Dominator vehicle were both in town waiting for tomorrow's chase and shooting video for the Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers TV show. We got up close and personal with the TIV as its driver Marcus Gutierrez gave us a tour of its features in a parking lot near our hotel. It's a magnificent vehicle even though it's prone to mechanical problems and glitches. Check out the Flickr player below for photos of our tour:

It still looks like we'll be in Central Kansas, our current location, or Western Oklahoma tomorrow (well, later today) for what could be a substantial tornado outbreak. The Storm Prediction Center has issued a Moderate Risk with a 10% tornado risk for this area and as long as everything sets up according to plan, it should be a good chase. I'll have more details early tomorrow morning after a quick sleep tonight!

5/14 - 11:30pm CDT - Heading Back to Amarillo

We're on the road to Amarillo, TX right now so that our current tour guests can fly out in the morning and our new guests can arrive for Tour 3. It's been a great week out here in the Plains, and we're just getting started! We'll be chasing again on Sunday, most likely in Texas again like today and yesterday. There aren't any big severe weather outbreaks on the radar for this week, but we'll see what we can turn up!

Today's chase was very interesting to say the least. Supercells got going near Kermit (the Frog?), Texas just after the noon hour. This early firing caused by a weak atmospheric cap nearly depleted tornado chances because the environment became cluttered with cells very quickly and the maximum heating of the day had not occurred yet. We tried to intercept a very strong cell that formed close to us, but road options were terrible and we could not make it to the updraft base before it merged with adjacent cells. This supercell did produce a brief tornado according to chaser reports and photos that were sent in to local media. Another supercell then formed to the southwest in the warmer air to the south of the cold front and that one showed quite a bit of promise for over an hour. Like the last cell though, it perished as cool outflow air from other storms corrupted it and caused it to merge with the squall line that had formed. VORTEX2 was on this second cell and we saw their vehicles all over the place. The TIV2 (Tornado Intercept Vehicle 2 - IMAX film production crew) even zoomed by us as well.

Once all the storms joined into a linear complex, we punched north through it and headed for dinner in Odessa, TX. About half an hour after dinner on the way to Amarillo we saw a compact supercell on radar in the cool air behind the cold front. Intrigued by this strong little cell that was along our route, we pulled over to watch it. It dropped one inch diameter (quarter-sized) hail and did not have much rain at all. The sunset pictures of this cell were just gorgeous (see right) and we let the storm pass over us after parking under a gas station overhang. I think everyone is still trying to dry out after getting pelted with small hail and brief heavy rain as we stood outside to watch the storm pass.

I'll upload some video of each storm event as soon as we arrive in Amarillo and have it posted here.

6/12 - 11am CDT - Marginal Storm Threat

We're heading south from La Junta, CO to intercept some storms that will fire shortly. Shear, instability (don't need much with upslope flow), and moisture look OK, but everything else looks pretty tame this morning. In any case, we'll see what forms and chase what we can today. I'm not really expecting anything impressive, but things can change quickly out here. I'll post later if things improve or if we find a good storm.

If you haven't seen the video and pictures in the post below, I highly suggest you do so. We saw an amazing pair of supercells merge in Eastern Colorado yesterday, but they just stopped short of putting down a tornado. I was able to get up-close video of Sean Casey's TIV II (Tornado Intercept Vehicle II) from Discovery Channel's Storm Chasers and a brief rope funnel as well.

I'll be on Twitter and Facebook as usual today.

6/12 - 7am MDT - Supercell in Colorado Yesterday

Things started pretty quickly once we got out to Eastern Colorado yesterday. Cells fired due to upslope flow, but they started sticking together and could not produce tornadoes at that point:


We watched these storms form just east of Denver and then we let one pass over us so that we could get south of it. Marble-sized hail fell brutally upon our vehicle, but nothing was big enough to cause damage. What did cause some problems was the amount of hail that stayed on the ground minutes after the storm passed:


I-70 east of Denver was covered with hail and we lost traction at least twice while braking. The air temperature also dropped to a frigid 39 degrees as the hail fell, down from around 65 just minutes earlier. We went to the tail-end of this now conjoined storm system to see if anything would intensify, but nothing was happening.

That's when a little cell near Pueblo, CO started making itself known on radar. It was unknown how this cell would develop, but after a few minutes of radar observation it became clear that this cell was going to be a good one. We made the drive down to the Pueblo area and found an intense supercell that was dropping a wall cloud. A second one formed just to the south of the first after a few minutes and then both started to fluctuate and join. This joined supercell was absolutely enormous and gave chasers (including VORTEX2, the TIV, and The Weather Channel) a few hours of absolute action. We even found the TIV (Tornado Intercept Vehicle) and took some very close-up pictures! Unfortunately it did not put down a tornado, but we did see a brief rope funnel (2:34 in video below). Here's a video of the cell from its early stages to sunset:



Here are some pictures:

6/7 - 10:30am MDT - On Our Way to Central Kansas

We ate lunch at the Village Inn near our hotel this morning and now we're on our way to Central Kansas. Instability and shear are looking VERY good this morning out in Eastern Kansas, but we would like to intercept any potential cells that may form early on.

Here's what the CAPE (instability) is looking like for this afternoon:


With CAPE potentially surpassing the 3000 J/KG mark, there's obviously some excitement in the air!

We'll likely end up in Northeastern Kansas tonight when it's all said and done, and I can already tell you that there will be a ton of chasers in that area. VORTEX2 and the TIV (Tornado Intercept Vehicle) could show up at some point in our travels today, so I'll be sure to post pictures if we see them!

I'll be posting quick updates on Twitter when we get into the thick of things this afternoon, so be sure to follow my feed: http://twitter.com/ryan_weather

6/1 - 10pm MDT - What a Day!!!

Do I have some pictures for you! We followed a super cell from Scottsbluff, NE to Grant, NE that constantly maintained scary looking wall clouds and even a couple funnels. We were darn sure that it was going to drop a tornado, but it simply didn't execute. Since this cell was the only show in town due to its isolation, the TIV (Tornado Intercept Vehicle), the DOW (Doppler on Wheels), and the whole team from the hit Discovery Channel show Storm Chasers showed up. We passed them a couple times as a wall cloud really got going. Since this all happened at sunset, the photos are simply stunning. I'll try to upload as many as I can tomorrow morning. Some of these are National Geographic magazine quality shots... Time to get some sleep!