6/16 - 1am CDT - We're Back in Kansas!

NOTE: There will not be anymore live streaming video and fewer blog updates for the rest of my trip because our rental vehicle cannot be outfitted with custom mobile broadband and networking equipment. You can still see our current location at http://stormchasertv.com.

The last 36 hours have been very eventful, but we still got to go chasing today! Todd came and picked us up in Wray, CO this afternoon after accompanying the tow truck carrying his deer-stricken SUV to Denver. We went to Western Nebraska and then down to Northwest Kansas after east winds began to develop there. The dryline helped fire off a few supercells and we chased those well into the evening. There were a few small finger-like funnels, but that was about it for the tornadic aspect of these cells. They showed very healthy rotation and dropped some nice wall clouds, but in the end the area was too cluttered with cloud debris and other cells in the region for any tornadoes.

As the sun set, we were able to position to the southwest of a supercell near Colby, KS and watch the beautiful colors reflect off the cloud towers with frequent lightning as well. The lightning show during the evening only lasted a few minutes before this cluster of cells dissipated.

Here's what we saw today:



Our new chase vehicle is a Chrysler Town & Country. We still have wireless broadband web and a laptop, but there's no way to get the custom antennas and networking equipment for the high-speed connection on this van (needed for video and my blog updates) because it's a rental.


Our target area will be somewhere between Eastern Colorado and Western Kansas tomorrow. I'm still able to post on Twitter and Facebook from my cell phone every few hours, so you'll still be able to follow us for the most part.

6/14 - 10:30pm MDT - Oh Deer!!!

I just found a weak WiFi connection from the adjacent mom and pop motel. Life's good!

A deer ended our chase for the day:


(the Tazmanian Devil stuffed animal is there for good luck)

As we were traveling to McCook, NE to find dinner and a hotel for the evening, a female deer ran out in the road and we hit it on the passenger side, just inches from where I was sitting. Luckly it did not hit the windshield or cause injury, so it could have been worse. We thought that we could make it to Denver or McCook with our damage, but then we saw red fluid rushing out onto the ground from the engine. That was it for the car!

We hit this deer going 50-60mph (it perished instantly) and we think a passing train to our left scared it into the road. There was absolutely no time to brake because the deer was running extremely fast and we only had a fraction of a second to react. It was one of the scariest things that have happened to me in a car and the sound it made as it hit my side was the worst I've heard. There was no cell service from Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, or T-Mobile where we hit the deer, just inside the Nebraska border near Wray, CO. We were luckily to have a good samaritan named Joe pull over and help us out. He made trips between our mom and pop motel, carting us and our luggage. We thank Joe and wish him well with his pharmacy here in town.

Our leader Todd is on his way to Denver in the tow truck to drop off his SUV at the repair shop. He'll be renting a SUV tomorrow morning and come back to town to pick us up at around lunchtime. Since Todd's SUV is customized with cellular amplifiers and antennas for web access, we won't have that luxury in our rental. We'll still have access, but it will not be as fast and I might not be able to use it for blog and Twitter/Facebook updates. Most of our hotels have WiFi, so I'll still update the blog nightly with pictures and videos like I have been.

As far as chasing goes, we may chase tomorrow if Todd gets back to East Colorado by early afternoon. Our target area would most likely be somewhere near the NE/KS border tomorrow if we go. We didn't miss anything today because our storms east of Denver were all linear and didn't have any tornadic potential. We'll definitely be back on the road by Tuesday and things should go back to normal.