Cut to the Chase

Starting October with Crazy Weather

2011-10-08T14:50:00.000-07:00

Today I woke up to what I thought was the sound of a fighter jet taking off. I went to the window to find that it looked like a blizzard outside, and that it wasnt an aircraft but thunder rumbling in the distance. Becca sent a message over chat while at the NWS office saying it was thunder snow. I got really excited, Ive never heard it that obvious, it was a crack of a CG (cloud to ground) that you would hear in a thunderstorm.

For our first snow in Cheyenne, this is pretty intense. We have had power surges and outages at times today.

Becca Mazur said two days ago on her Facebook Status

"Last night was the first shift where I had to address nearly every weather type out there. Fog, tstorms with even the possibility of tornadoes, snow, heavy rain, red flag conditions, and of course wind wind wind. I'm pooped. And I ♥ my job."

The end of this week has been busy in the WX world. And she was right we were chasing on Thursday in Wyoming not far from where these snow pictures were taken. We were on nearly tornadic storms with lightning, hail, very strong winds, and heavy rain just 48 hours ago.
This Picture below was of the storm we chased Thursday near Chugwater WY, this area was rotating and had a gustanado underneath with lightning.

Just yesterday chasers drove from many places to Kansas to get some October Storm chasing action. Here is a picture from Colt Forney near Holcomb, KS of a beautiful supercell at dusk.

Earlier this week Skinner and I were chating on Skype about this system that was on its way. He told me look at 300mb winds. I opened up the models and immediate replied holy crap. He then said "thats what I said". It was looking to be an interesting week in October for sure.

I know some Meteorologists that would kill to be in Cheyenne today to witness the Thunder snow, and document it. Some of them are doing grad research on this topic. It is a rare thing to hear lightning while it is snowing. And not far from Cheyenne it doesnt look like the winter wonderland. In Nebraska there are thunderstorms and rain. And Travis Knudsen our Met at KGWN CBS 5 was driving south of WY/CO Border and reported HAIL!

Becca measuring 6" of Snow at 4:45pm MST

May 24th 2011 Tornado Fest Video

2011-10-07T14:44:00.000-07:00

Please go to youtube or fullscreen this video.

We finally have posted our video form the May 24th 2011 Chase where we chased at least 4 Tornadoes in one day. One was a Long Track Wedge Tornado.

KGWN On Air

2011-09-04T03:40:00.000-07:00

Letterman - Weather Channel Top 10

2011-09-04T03:27:00.000-07:00

Hurricane / Tropical Storm Irene Stock Pictures

2011-08-28T16:15:00.001-07:00

Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Irene Stock Pictures for sale. Irene hits Connecticut shores at New Haven and East Haven. East Haven Stock Photos. East Haven storm aftermath. $40 per photo, or buyout price (will not sell to any more clients) is $90 send PayPal payment to shepardr@comcast.net and then email the number and description of the photos you want to purchase. You will receive an 18mp photo, without copyright.

Call Ryan for immediate assistance or interview at 970-978-1577

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May 23rd 2011 - Western OK- Hail Fest!

2011-05-29T12:35:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to go Chase with Brad, Steph, Skinner and I
Me doing the timelapse of this funnel cloud really trying.

First funnel cloud gets pulled into the meso and a new one forms to its left.

Got this awesome picture of these horses as huge hail was falling, wore skinners helmet while I took this pic, feel bad for the horses but what a beautiful scene.

After stopping for gas we got a chance to take a look at the Softball hail we collected in our cooler

Full Screen it!!

May 20th 2011

2011-05-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

(Tractor finally shows up, John Deer never looked so beautiful!)

(After getting pulled out we immediately went on the chase meeting up with Tornado Hunt from The Weather Channel, including Mike Bettes and Greg Forbes out in the field. Never see Greg out there awesome!)

(One of the best shots of the day, things were interesting but mostly outflowed and HP)

Full Screen it!

Thursday May 19th Kansas

2011-05-29T12:03:00.000-07:00

Had a long night after chasing a nice Meso into this horrible farm road. We got stuck shown here 10 min before a tornado touched down on the other side of the trees we were behind. Destroyed our chase at the grand finale. We were here for 14 hours until we got pulled out of the mud by a tractor.

Backyard Chase?

2011-05-26T13:26:00.000-07:00

Thinking about chasing Wyoming/Nebraska today but so far its looking pretty capped along with all this cloud cover. Not quite sure if something will fire but if it does then there is some decent shear today for something good.

TORNADO FEST IN OKLAHOMA

2011-05-25T12:35:00.000-07:00

THIS IS THE RADAR CAPTURE DURING NORTHERN PIEDMONT, OK GETTING HIT BY A LARGE RAIN-WRAPPED TORNADO. WE WITNESSED THE WEDGE JUST NORTH OF EL RENO, OK AS SEEN IN THE THIRD TORNADO PICTURE.

Mike Bettes Visits Cheyenne NWS

2011-05-21T16:54:00.000-07:00

Mike Bettes from the Weather Channel came to Cheyenne NWS to get a briefing as well as talk about chasing possibilities for the week on Monday May 16th 2011

Chasing Kansas Today

2011-05-19T12:09:00.000-07:00

Saw our lucky number as the Gas Pump Stopped hoping this brings us good luck today in Kansas!
Were already seeing some awesome robust convection on I -70 East of Colby
Headed South to our target area, should get interesting soon

Will be streaming, check the above Imap for our car icon

Funnel Cloud - Broomfield, CO

2011-05-18T22:48:00.000-07:00

Saw an impressive funnel cloud from a very organized storm over Broomfield, CO today, it had a nice clear slot, and was rotating for about 30 min, called in the report and the sirens followed. Was a fun day with every weather element (besides a tornado I suppose), in commerce city it delayed the National College Lacrosse Tourney and thousand people went into shelter in the stadium as this went over the field. Was talkin to Skinner as he was on I-25 watching these storms, and he saw some good rotation as well.

May 17th 2011

2011-05-17T22:19:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Day in Colorado as Tornadoes and Supercells develop in Eastern Colorado. And the moon was very big.

4-9-11 Local - Cheyenne, WY Small Hail

2011-04-09T19:39:00.000-07:00

Skinner informed me that there was about 500 j of cape after 1pm today and to look for some convection. I was a little doubtful about anything that interesting due to the low energy, but the LI and helicity values did seem interesting. I left the house after a long day of developing convection over the hills as one cell was moving towards Cheyenne from the southwest. I went to a high spot I know and then got hit by blueberry sized hail, and saw some interesting convection indeed. Not bad for a chase at home literally.

Video Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t84n3nqbcVg

Cold blasting gust front - Greeley, CO

2010-11-18T04:17:00.000-08:00

Tuesday I left the house it felt about 55 degrees and felt warm and calm, I drove about 5 blocks noticing the clouds looking convective and intense. Very quickly it dropped what felt about almost 20 degrees and the winds were gusting an estimated 35 Knots. I took some pics of the convectiveness and the defined boundary and skinner archived these radar and sat for me after i texted him about it. You can see the crazy front on radar and what looks to even be some 35 dbz in there, possibly just some heavier rain, as it was raining. Later that evening it started to rain pretty hard and then sleet.

In the pics below you can see that the base of the clouds is defined in some, I was watching strong rising motion!, and also what sort of resembles mammatas clouds

Largest Hailstone

2010-08-10T16:43:00.000-07:00

(The new Record Holder from Vivian, SD on July 23rd 2010 on the left (Actual Hailstone), and the replica of the old record holder from Coffeyville, KS on the right)

Today I had the privilege to go down to Boulder at UCAR to see the Largest Hailstone in US History and could be the largest in Recorded World History. Thanks to Becca, and her friends in her line of work we were able to see this hailstone before it goes back to the owner for sale on ebay. We also got to see the replica of the Coffeyville, KS hailstone which was the previous record holder to the Aurora, NE hailstone, which we got to see slices of.

(Radar Image of the Vivian, SD Cell)

Boundary Action

2010-08-07T17:06:00.001-07:00

A nice looking boundary this afternoon left over from yesterday's storms, taken from Nunn, CO (see August 6th chase)

Recap

2010-07-24T05:17:00.000-07:00

Check back in a couple weeks, I will start recapping the season with more video and picks. I have found it hard to keep up the blog this year but some interesting footage will come soon.

Independence Day Chase

2010-07-04T23:40:00.000-07:00

Flooding in Kimball

Video coming soon

I know its been a while since my last posting, I will post more of what happened in June soon. I was out of my computer for a while. Today was great with my chase in Wyoming and Nebraska. Had tornado warnings out all over the place, when I saw the RUC at 5am this morning I said woah today is going to be epic, and that wasnt far from the truth. With as many supercells and tornado warnings as there were. I saw a possible large tornado near Chugwater, WY earlier in the day. I say possible because the bluffs were in the way and I could only see the top of what seemed to be a stovepipe tornado. I chased the second cell accross Hwy 313 to 85 and ran into Verne Carlson. From there we watched for a bit until outflow killed it. Then went south to the cell that developed northeast of Cheyenne. Once we got really close verne and I outside the car caught a rapidly developing funnel, and then it touched down on the ground for a brief time. With Becca on my text chat on the comp, and her as coordinator and then operating radar, I was able to deliver fast and detailed reports which helped out with accurate warnings. After the breif tornado, decided to punch the big white reflectivity on radar to see what the hail would bring. I got golf ball hail, I imagine it was probably bigger just a bit earlier in the storm cycle.

My SPC Torn Report

2309

7 N BUSHNELL

KIMBALL

4133

10389

SPOTTER REPORTED TORNADO ON GROUND FOR ABOUT 30 SECONDS.

CO Hail May 26th

2010-05-27T08:42:00.001-07:00

Backyard Chasing May 26

2010-05-26T09:41:00.000-07:00

Chasing in our backyard today, looks like we have a chance for large hail and isolated tornadoes in our area. Will be out chasing today on the northeast of our plains.. Hard play today, just got to keep an eye on breaks in the clouds and watch radar, for the areas of the best cape and shear. I still like the Cheyenne Ridge today.

May 23rd 2010 Goodland, KS tornado

2010-05-24T08:54:00.001-07:00

Target area today

2010-05-23T14:29:00.000-07:00

Targeting Oakley, KS area for initiation today, and surrounding area for best Helicity and Cape. The RUC Composite shows development starting at 6pm CDT around Oakley. Waiting for this cu field to move westward in Wakeeney right now while checking models, then break cap in a couple hours.

May 22 2010

2010-05-22T01:32:00.001-07:00

Chasing in Becca's favorite territory today! Except for the area near NE/SD border which is horrible territory. Which happens to look the best on the models.. It also seems that a nice cell in the Texas panhandle may occur today.. :)

May 21 2010

2010-05-21T01:40:00.000-07:00

(Just before the tornado west of wheatland, wy)

(Reported as a Tornado, near Wheatland, WY)

(Near Jay Em, WY found at 6:30pm)

(South of Lusk, WY 6:45pm)

(Near Crawford, at 7:30 pm)

After the sun went down, and some beers with TIV crew, we went back out around Chadron, NE watching a very incredible lightning storm, and a very very low meso on what seemed to be a nicely structured storm. Staying the night in Chadron, NE tonight to position ourselves for South Dakota.

Chasing with Becca, briefing with Chris Yates at 12:30pm today... Going to be a fun chase around the Cheyenne Ridge area...

May 18th 2010

2010-05-18T09:56:00.000-07:00

(Where my chase started out over south Denver, lots of tight circulation)

(Neat Striations and CG's out of this cell west of Fort Morgan, CO)

Moderate Risk and 10% tornado in Colorado today!

May 16th 2010

2010-05-17T13:21:00.001-07:00

What a great day, was some of the best daytime cc and cg lightning i have seen in a while, got to see a bell shaped meso, and a rotating wall cloud in front of a sunset. On the way home I saw a meteor break through a good portion of the atmosphere too! Chased from Wiggins to Fort Morgan area.

May 15th 2010

2010-05-17T13:19:00.002-07:00

This cell (top 2 pics) west of Cheyenne produced a Tornado Early Afternoon, crazy low topped cells with lots of convergence and boundary action

Lots of hail north of Kersey, CO

Nice CG northwest of Sterling, CO after watching a funnel and nice storm structure on this cell

May 13th 2010

2010-05-17T13:19:00.001-07:00

May 12th 2010

2010-05-17T13:18:00.005-07:00

May 11th 2010

2010-05-17T13:18:00.003-07:00

May 10th 2010

2010-05-17T13:18:00.001-07:00

High Risk 30 percent torn

2010-05-09T23:28:00.001-07:00

Getting some rest in Elk City, OK tonight, then going out for what looks like a chaotic day. Havent chased a high risk with 30 percent tornado in quite a while. Hopefully noone gets hurt tomorrow, everyone stay safe and goodluck! Will be streaming tomorrow on TVN, Check blog map

TN Flood Preliminary Kills more than Tornadoes

2010-05-02T02:13:00.001-07:00

At least 5 dead from flooding in TN

May 1st 2010

2010-05-01T21:06:00.000-07:00

Recent PDS 8pm - 4am CDT

Brandon Ivey and Byron Turk Today

PDS Earlier Today

Governor Declared A State of Emergency

Looks like a very intense day for Arkansas. There are very violent tornadoes today.. With 90 over 70 earlier, and the very intense vertical wind shear, high supply of moisture, theres a chance of long track tornadoes into the night. I saw a posting on facebook by Mike Umscheid of spotter locations according to the radar and thought its ridiculous. There are a lot of "storm chasers" out there now, and yet they continue to risk their lives.

As much as I like to watch the weather channel, maybe now or tomorrow would be a good time to watch it or cnbc, or something to see what happened to the people in this state. These were very strong tornadoes. And there still is a dangerous situation unfolding tonight.

You can see storm reports at www.spc.noaa.gov

Next Week

2010-04-24T08:49:00.000-07:00

I know its a little early, but I want to put it out there that I think as of the current models my chase target will be Enid Oklahoma on Thursday April 29th.

April 22nd 2010 CO Chase

2010-04-24T07:05:00.000-07:00

Part 1

More to post later, but heres a quick still from my tornado footage today of the Cheyenne County Tornado

2352		12 N FIRSTVIEW	CHEYENNE	CO	3900	10254	TORNADO ON NORTH SIDE OFINTERSECTIO OF COUNTY ROAD DD AND COUNTY ROAD 34 MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST. (GLD)
0005		14 NNE FIRSTVIEW	CHEYENNE	CO	3902	10246	TORNADO WAS ON THE GROUND 4 TO 5 MINUTES THEN ROPED OUT.

April 21nd 2010 Bennett, CO

2010-04-22T21:57:00.000-07:00

First Severe Storm Chase of the season! Had lots of hail, was up to 6 inches deep in some areas of pea to marble sized hail. Got some good CGs after the meso died out. Was a fun little chase in the backyard before getting into thursdays forecasted insane day..

April 20th Flagler Area

2010-04-19T23:44:00.000-07:00

Today it looks like Flagler area might be a good target. Best surface winds, convergence, low lcls, cape, and position of the lee cyclogenesis. The shear will be good tomorrow, but moisture and energy needs to be amped up a bit. Will have to re-evaluate the models to be more accurate later on this morning.
Yesterday Skinner got some great shots of a cell moving through castle rock area with a nice Meso. Check out his blog!

Me this thursday morning

2010-04-19T00:26:00.001-07:00

This will probably be me this thursday morning the way the models are looking right now

April 18th Garden Variety

2010-04-18T22:47:00.000-07:00

Some nice convection and a couple little cells that came through weld county today. Skinner was on it since its birth, and I was watching it on GRlevel2AE and decided around 6 that I had to get on it because of the strong shear environment out there today, and the fact that it was so close. Chased it out to Wiggins CO, with skinner not too far. Saw some great lightning, and then it started a fire near a pig farm. The fire got pretty big then it died down as it rained and fire fighters sprayed it. Video as seen on 7 news tonight included.

Tornado Reported Today

2010-04-13T22:29:00.000-07:00

A massive squall line came through today, lots of hail and strong winds! A tornado was also reported in Eastern Colorado today. I was messing around with GRLevel2 Analyst Edition for the first time, some pretty cool features. I did not want to go out on it today because I am a little more limited on time and resources this year, and it was a squall line. Not saying that there wasnt some cool stuff to see.. Verne Carlson got some sweet pics today, and I watched some of his live stream, looked like some pretty covered roads by pea sized hail.

Clarification

2010-04-13T22:09:00.000-07:00

So over the last year since I worked with Sean and Discovery I have had a lot of people ask how I got the job driving TIV and working on the film crew. I suspect a lot of people especially ask because I haven't been storm chasing for as many years as some. Out of jealousy and resentment some bridges have been burned as well and in my opinion for immature and no good reasons. I wanted to clarify that driving TIV was not a storm chasing job, our mission was an IMAX film, and driving the vehicle took extreme situational awareness. My background consists of video production, and transportation (aviation specifically) which requires a lot of situational awareness to fly aircraft. These were two important attributes to have that did not have anything to do with the storm chasing community. I was not a forecaster... so meteorology was not a priority. I did meet the right people at the right time, and did some networking. After getting the job I was just as excited as anyone would be, and I spent some time sharing with everyone I know. Some people took it the wrong way, and others supported me. I was not trying to be flashy in a way that said haha look what job I have and you dont. I was just being proud of my job and sharing it with everyone I could. Finding my true loyal and supportive colleagues was easy after that, because people would go one way or the other. I have been accused of turning storm chasing into a business and losing passion for what its really for, but thats extremely wrong. I believe creating a business is not only smart but even more passionate, because you are striving to do it anyway you can. Sean for instance is passionate about film making and storm chasing, who should criticize him while hes doing what he loves and was intelligent enough to figure it out. Its too bad that some of you cant just go out and enjoy storms and get over some of that instead of gossiping and attempting to attack personally.

NEW! Monthly Newsletter

2010-02-11T15:09:00.000-08:00

Sign up for our awesome monthly newsletter, with interesting articles, pictures, stories, and funny inserts. Just send an email to CutToTheStormChase@gmail.com and put in subject line Newsletter. We will add you to our email list!

Storm Chasing Tours

2010-02-03T00:21:00.000-08:00

Cut to the Chase will be offering seats for Storm Chasing Tours this spring from May 6th through the 16th. Members apart of Cut to the Chase are a forecaster, another meteorologist, and a driver of the Tornado Intercept Vehicle featured on Discovery Channel Storm Chasers, and a Severe Weather Research Pilot. Film crews will also be apart of the travel, for a TV show. You will be responsible for Airfare, Hotels, and Food costs. The ground transportation and Storm Chasing experience is included in the cost. Please email cuttothestormchase@gmail.com for scheduling inquiries and pricing for the 10 day tour.

Snow Fog

2009-11-15T18:10:00.000-08:00

Sometimes after it snows its likely to have fog at night, when the moist air cools, and the air is calm. Here is a vid of fog the night after our last big snow storm in October.

Interview on KFKA 1310 AM

2009-10-29T09:54:00.000-07:00

Had an interview on KFKA this morning about Storm Chasers and my thoughts/experiences on the Balloon Boy incident.

Pre Halloween Heavy Snow Storm

2009-10-29T09:15:00.000-07:00

Crazy October storm bringing up to 20 inches of snow so far! Before Halloween! This day years ago we had a tornado in Boulder that caused some damage, and were having a blizzard! The snow should continue but decrease throughout the day, however winds will pick up making visibility harsh. Hundreds of school closings still in effect, (except for my school, once again), DIA is handling the situation very well especially for a rare October storm. Most flights are either on time, delayed within an hour, and minimal flights canceled. A lot better than what most people expect at the Airport. Surprisingly I see a lot of people out driving around, there is a lot of people going shopping, I guess they are thinking of Christmas and they are utilizing the day off from the Snow Day Excuse. I saw one near accident today, a pickup took a turn too fast and went into oncoming traffic, goes to show that there is ice under that snow, be careful, your 4 wheel drive doesn't matter on ice. I-70 is closed! I have a flight at 7am to Ohio in the morning, I don't believe I will have much trouble.

Halloween Snowman! On Air Today KMGH 7

2009-10-29T07:36:00.000-07:00

Snow BRR

2009-10-28T04:57:00.000-07:00

We are in the process of getting a lot of snow today

"Snow and areas of blowing snow. Temperature falling to around 31 by 4pm. Breezy, with a north wind between 15 and 22 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 4 to 8 inches possible."

All the While....

A Slight Risk in the Southern Plains! 5% Tornado!

That's what happens when you have a trough look like this! I saw this thing a week out! I knew there would be some dumping going on here and some severe wx down south.

A look at this weekends Episode of Storm Chasers

2009-10-28T03:34:00.000-07:00

Sean is trying to give away, what was my Dog for a while (RFD) I miss that puppy, he has a new home in California now

Episode 2 Airs Tonight! 10pm EST

2009-10-25T13:06:00.000-07:00

Watch Storm Chasers tonight at 8pm MST or 10 EST as we chase some amazing tornadoes in the panhandle of Texas and go through a big ordeal in the mud! I was driving TIV 1 for this entire episode.

Texas Twins April 2009

2009-10-24T00:23:00.000-07:00

This day was my most intense day driving TIV 1, with sisters and getting stuck in the mud it was quite a ride. I may make an appearance when our team meets up with TVN. Watch it this Sunday at 8pm MST.

Runaway Balloon

2009-10-15T19:50:00.001-07:00

Finally

2009-09-30T01:32:00.000-07:00

Yey, some severe weather finally once again!

Vote for Storm Chasers on Youtube

2009-08-24T15:17:00.000-07:00

Hey Discovery Fans,

YouTube just launched a new contest today - and we want to win it! From today until September 14th, users will have the opportunity to vote on their favorite fall television show previews right from YouTube. We're hoping you guys can help us out with some votes, and here's how!

Step 1 - Visit YouTube's new "Fall TV Preview" channel by clicking right HERE

Step 2 - Find the thumbnails for your favorite Discovery Channel shows. We've entered previews for three of our shows: Dirty Jobs, MythBusters and Storm Chasers. Here's what the thumbnails look like:

And how they will look on the Fall TV Previews page:

Step 3 - Click on the thumbnail to open up the video, and then give us a "thumbs up" vote (if you want to!)

That's it! On September 14th, YouTube will select the most voted on preview to be featured on their homepage for the day. Remember, you can vote multiple times so keep checking back to vote for your favorite Discovery shows and tell your friends!

Thanks so much for your support,
Soumik@Discovery
http://discovery.com

SD today starting near sturgis to midland

2009-08-07T20:40:00.001-07:00

August 4th Landspout Report

2009-08-06T14:37:00.001-07:00

Spotter: Ryan Shepard (Greeley, CO)

Above picture was taken at 8:56pm MDT from Highway 20 between Harrison and Crawford looking northwest.

Location 1 (Blue) is my location at the time of the Land spout, and location 2 (Red) is the approximate location of the Land spout Tornado.

There was a lot of terrain west of Crawford, I had to get far enough west on 20 to be able to see the storm structure and ground. I got on a high spot for viewing the storm. It was dark, but the full moon and intensive lighting allowed for great night vision on the storm. The picture is not anywhere near what naked eye sight at night was able to see. Without lighting I was still able to see the tornado. The tornado formed very quickly, started from the ground as I saw a debris swirl, it quickly connected to the cloud base and lasted for 1-2 minutes. I called 911 at 9:05 pm to report the tornado after it had dissipated. I was unable to contact the NWS office because I was out of service. Cheyenne issued a Severe Thunderstorm warning immediately after I called on the storm I was spotting. I followed the storm as it passed 20 west of Chadron. After reviewing the radar and stills, It is my opinion the land spout formed on a rapidly developing cell fed by an outflow from the cell to the east at the time. At 8:55 radar indicates that the main updraft was not in the vicinity of the report of the sighted tornado, yet the southern portions of the 30dbz cell was rapidly developing. In fact south of the main meso, there was incredible striations and structure, where the land spout connected to.

(Picture 8:57pm) South Edge of Cell

August 4th 2009

2009-08-05T03:09:00.000-07:00

Today I thought was going to be a bust for Western NE as storms died and the skys cleared. I stoped in a resturant trying to accept defeat in central panhandle of NE. I finally decided that i came that far not to see anything so I wanted to go drive through a storm that would be coming out of WY/SD into NE. So I drove north and intercepted the storm moving across the border of NE/SD. I ended up between harrison and crawford NE watching the storm to the northwest cross the border. As I was watching this incredible lightning and meso in the distance, a landspout formed on the southern edge of the convective activity. It lasted for about 60 seconds and then disapeared as quick as it came, but was a solid obvious landspout tornado what seemed so close to my eyes. I was able to go home really happy this day when I expected a 400 mile drive bust. I didnt get any hail as I had problems with my driver side window so I decided to wait to punch the hail core. I did punch the core with no hail on the way home. My vehicle reached 100,000 miles this trip, and its a 2006 model haha. Almost hit about 3 deer on the way home.

July 20th 2009- NE/KS Supercell/Tornado

2009-07-21T15:51:00.000-07:00

Today I left Cheyenne east on 80 to chase storms out near kimball, NE. By the time I got there the target storm had died but there was a couple more storms that exploded, these looked isolated and very robust. I continued to chase the southern cell that was headed from southwest nebraksa to northwest Kansas. I chased this storm over some great distance, when it got into Cheyenne County Kansas, that is when it went crazy. Softball hail was reported and then when I caught up to the storm it had mad wind shear and a rotating wall cloud. I stayed in front of it as it moved Southward through Cheyenne County, When I went south on 21 to St Francis I noticed it started to get rain wraped. When the road curved back east I got a bad feeling, especially the way the wind was blowing and the way the rain curtains were moving. I decided to not drive through the cell to get to the south in position. It was too dangerous, and I also didnt let a few other drivers go through yet as well. After this area passed 21 to the south I rushed east then south to Highway 36. Once I got there I turned west to get back to 385 because I didnt want to drive through the hail core to get to goodland. When I got about a mile west, the storm caught up to me, I pulled over because the wind was getting too strong and turned it into the wind. All of a suddon and explosion of wind made the previous wind speed a joke blew out my plexi window, riped my hail guard off the henges, and then fliped a semi truck just down the road from me. I went down the road to check on the truck driver, I said "man are you ok? because you just drove through a tornado" he said "no I didnt, because I didn't make it" lol. Anyway this storm had amazing structure for July, it blew me away. After seeing the radar, most people can say thats one of the best hooks seen in July.

July 17 2009 CO/NE Hail Chase

2009-07-18T02:15:00.000-07:00

July 11th 2009

2009-07-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

East of Last Chance, CO

SPC Day 2

2009-07-10T19:46:00.001-07:00

TSTMS ARE EXPECTED TO INITIALLY
DEVELOP/INCREASE THROUGH MID/LATE AFTERNOON
ACROSS THE CO/WY FRONT RANGE AND SD BLACK HILLS...
WITH SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENT INTO THE ADJACENT
HIGH PLAINS THROUGH EARLY EVENING. A RELATIVELY MOIST
AIRMASS /PREVALENCE OF LOWER TO MIDDLE 60S F
SURFACE DEWPOINTS/ AND MODERATE INSTABILITY...ALONG
WITH VEERING WIND PROFILES AND 40-50 KT OF EFFECTIVE
BULK SHEAR...WILL SUPPORT SUPERCELLS CAPABLE OF LARGE
HAIL...WITH DAMAGING WINDS AND A TORNADO OR TWO POSSIBLE
AS WELL.

More Colorado Action

2009-07-10T12:08:00.000-07:00

We got a couple possible good chase days here, today there is a 5% tornado risk, there is good low level moisture, wind shear, and a weak upper level disturbance. I already can see some striation or structure on some of the up slope near fort collins, and a small que field near Ault, CO. I have to help my brother move in to his apartment in Denver so I will probably miss out on todays action but tomorrow looks good too so I will be chasing for sure then.

NE Colorado today

2009-06-25T13:20:00.000-07:00

So I had a dream last night that Akron was getting hit by a tornado, I woke up today and now there is a tornado risk and 3000j of cape there haha. Part of me wants to chase out there today to see if it comes true. Kinda weird timing, epecially not knowing the forecast for today until now. There is stuff firing off the palmer right now, but things will develop in the northeast corner and may produce large hail and a possible brief tornado.

Denver at 2:22pm MDT

June 23rd 2009

2009-06-25T13:19:00.001-07:00

coming soon

June 23rd 2009

2009-06-23T13:16:00.003-07:00

There is a slight risk and now a 5% tornado risk along the front range today, I'm going to have to take this day to chase, one of those given things. I was suppose to hang out with my girlfriend this evening but heres her quote " I am telling you to go chasing like the good meteorologist girlfriend that I am, but when I get off work I will be chasing fo shizzle" lol. Could I ask for a better mate?
So on that note i will update later whats been going on lately, with the transition of the season I havent had a lot of time to update my blog lately.

June 17th 09

2009-06-23T13:16:00.001-07:00

Coming Soon

June 16th 09

2009-06-23T13:15:00.000-07:00

Coming soon

June 15th 09

2009-06-15T03:55:00.000-07:00

Today my tornado forecast point is near Sharon Springs Kansas, with supercell development in far eastern Colorado. So well see how that pans out, its going to be earlier initiation as well so Ill have to be out there ready.

Colorado has severe/tornado risk again

2009-06-15T01:14:00.000-07:00

I will be chasing in Colorado today as its close to home. Its nice chasing everyday and getting some good action close to home. Ive never seen a funnel cloud day after day like this before, pretty crazy. Maybe tomorrow Ill have a couple more funnel cloud pictures up once again lol, but id rather have a tornado.

Pre June 15th 09

2009-06-14T20:41:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow looks good for storms once again. I would like to see the mid level winds pick up a bit but the 300mb might take over for those. The dewpoints will be in the 50s tomorrow for palmer divide to the east. I hope the Southeast component holds up, if it does may see a tornado tomorrow or at least funnel clouds again. Crazy times for Colorado, funnely days this week. :)

June 14th 2009

2009-06-14T19:56:00.000-07:00

Funnels near Kingsburg, just south of I-76 today

June 13th 2009-Funnels/1Tornado

2009-06-13T21:51:00.000-07:00

Funnels and a tornado spawned in Morgan County today, we saw two funnels on the west side of 52, then the 3rd one touched down. We couldn't see the ground because of the trees in town but we saw the vortex extending its way down. Someone saw the circulation on the ground up north, so not an obvious tornado for us but it was technically a tornado that we saw.

Colorado...Again today

2009-06-13T02:12:00.001-07:00

June 11th 2009

2009-06-13T01:32:00.000-07:00

On the way down to Southeastern Colorado we intercepted this beautiful meso near Akron, CO. Somewhat looked tornadic for a little bit.

Skinner, Becca and I went down to lamar to chase the cell that came from the Pueblo area. This was a monster beast of a supercell. It had good rotation and striation for hours, was definitly a long track long lived, however it did not produce a tornado which is crazy. Im thinking the surface winds may have had something to do with it, but the way this looked all afternoon with the wind shear/rotation its suprising one didnt drop. We then punched the hail core got up to tennisball sized hail was a blast!!

Again

2009-06-11T02:17:00.000-07:00

Another round for Colorado today. A little bit more of a tornado risk, but well see. Skinner and I plus production will be out today, yesterday was chaos chasing solo, trying to drive, navigate, film and report, with multiple weather hazards in severe to extreme levels, so it will be a lot more relaxing and organized hopefully.

June 10th 2009

2009-06-10T23:17:00.000-07:00

Got on a severe cell off Fort Collins and it produced a funnel over Windsor, filmed it from Greeley. Then followed the cell as it went south east, cored the cell got golfball hail, then saw the hp beast, then cored it again trying to get off dead end roads right when it looked like it was going to produce a tornado and that was when the roggen tornado was reported. The winds in the core started to tilt my vehicle. I then got back in front of it, had to drive home because i forgot my wallet and I was low on gas, drove on some dirt roads with severe flash flooding, cars almost got swept away.

Tornado risk for Colorado again

2009-06-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

Today there is a little bit of a tornado risk once again, a severe thunderstorm warning just was issued for laramar and weld counties, my alert system was going off like crazy so I'm jeting out of here like a firefighter lol.

June 9th 2009

2009-06-09T19:29:00.001-07:00

Today skinner made a great forecast, we waited around southeast of dodge city for a couple hours this afternoon. The cell of the day and tornado was exactly where we waited, however we left!!! an hour before it happened we got storm add and went to the cells near Wichita KS and then it happened. We saw an awesome cell, good striations and it almost tornadoed. It is good to see that I can have confidence in Skinners forecasting after today, and that he really can think ahead of the system. Production was with us today and it made another great segment.

Ok now I know alot of people are wondering well what about Colorado. We were not there... why do u ask? because it wasnt the best target. Yes it had a risk and a chance but we wanted to go with what would be the cell of the day...Dodge City, KS. When we left Colorado this morning we knew tornadoes were possible, if you dont believe me read my status on facebook from earlier this morning. Luckily it was just a funnel cloud, we take a lot of chances to get the best shot, so sometimes that means leaving the storms at home.

Funnel Cloud in Broomfield

June 9th 2009

2009-06-08T23:39:00.002-07:00

Skinner, Chris (Production) and I are headed to Coldwater, KS right now for our initial target area. We had an early start getting ready in Denver after leaving greeley at 5am. Still some forecasting to come to narrow things down but today will be pretty much cut and dry where we will want to be. I am pretty confident we will see a tornado today

Tornado Risk has been extended into Northern and Eastern Colorado!

FORECAST SOUNDINGS E OF THE TRIPLE POINT AND NEAR THE
OUTFLOW/WARM FRONT SHOW FAVORABLE PROFILES FOR SUPERCELLS
CAPABLE OF PRODUCING VERY LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...
AND ISOLATED STRONG TORNADOES.

June 8th 2009

2009-06-08T23:39:00.001-07:00

Today started out looking pretty good, with the surface obs, the Denver cyclone setting up, the low level wind shear and some cape. I decided Palmer would be the best target because of that cape, and low level stuff, up north there was better bulk shear, but not as much cape. I saw this storm develop over Denver, as I was driving i could see some great wind shear, I was wondering if it was going to tornado. As I got more out in the open we saw a funnel cloud half way extended to the ground not far in front of us. It dissipated quickly and then the storm weakened. It did have some nice looking mammatus clouds and rain bows lol. Since the storm looked like crap we went and explored an abandoned missile silo and I ran through the sprinklers.

June 7th 2009

2009-06-08T23:38:00.002-07:00

Today was an epic day for colorado, there were many tornadoes touching down in Denver and east off I 70. Skinner Becca and I were chasing north near greeley, got some large hail but we were late to the show off the palmer. If you go to www.thedenverchannel.com then you will see numerous pictures of the tornadoes that touched down in denver. Because of a shortwave, windshear, and good upslope with a good moisture supply these tornadoes had the environment needed to form. Becca was teaching me about the Denver Vorticity Convergence Zone where flow and pressure perturbations over the palmer with the downslope component from the mountains. Here is a video of a collaberation of a set of pictures I took every second of the meso that was the Denver tornado producer when it was east of deer trail. We did see a tornado start to form, there was a funnel above and circulation on the ground, but did not condensate all the way. Was a frustrating day that we missed the action.

June 6th 2009

2009-06-08T23:38:00.001-07:00

We had an early start today, as we were chasing in Nebraska about the same area as yesterday. Our production team was with us today. We got a nice supercell with a meso, some quarter sized hail. The cell took til dark to produce a tornado so we missed it, but it was tornado warned most the time we were on it. It was a fun day, we ended it with dinner in North Platte. Was a heck of a time driving home as we were exhausted.

June 5th 2009

2009-06-05T01:46:00.000-07:00

Today we waited around in Northeastern Colorado for most of the day, Skinner had a forecast that there would be supercells in our part of the state. For some reason it did not verify, and we were late to the show in Wyoming, part of it was also waiting for a production crew member to meet us on highway 14 to bring us a lense and we were low on gas and had to go to sterling to fuel up first. After it got late we decided it was a bust in Colorado and went north to the cells in Nebraska. We saw some nice structure, and it looked like it wanted to tornado again really bad. But we missed the tornado that lasted for 20 min and was the most researched tornado in history near Cheyenne since Vortex 2 was on the cell. This is a day we are not going to like to talk about.

June 4th 2009

2009-06-05T01:27:00.000-07:00

Chris Yates in the Station Van, doing B-Roll shots of him

Our second production crew

ummm... the skin and shep what else

On the way to the first cell out of Wyoming

Second cell

Today was a great day, production wise we got a lot of productive work done, saw some great storms and had a great time doing it.

Home Chase

2009-06-04T00:14:00.000-07:00

Well with this tornado risk, its not hard to guess where we will be today, since we live right in the middle of that circle. Crazzy

June 2nd 2009

2009-06-04T00:12:00.003-07:00

We were late on a cell that developed further south in TX, we were hanging around in OK waiting to decide to chase the cold core or not. We went for the Abilene stuff and we should of stuck to our original forecast because the cold core was the only place for tornadoes. However look at this beauty that we did catch up with, by this time this cell was tornado warned for at least 30 minutes.

June 1st 2009

2009-06-04T00:12:00.001-07:00

Saw some really cool development and cloud bases in Texas Pandhandle, but the day didn't pan out as well as hoped. The upper level winds just didn't come in on time, it got very hp and there was little hail. I also don't think we got the low level moisture in time as well. We stayed in Elk City OK to chase in TX the next day.

May 31st 2009

2009-06-03T23:21:00.000-07:00

Chased a severe storm near Ault, CO, was just rain and a little hail, there seemed to be some minor structure. wind profiles were very unfavorable this day. Got to a dead end and also had to drive through some rivers on the road.

May 30th 09

2009-05-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

Today we spent some time working on the first day of our production Cut to the Chase. The film guys came out and we had some fun. I had to work at 5 so I was unable to go chasing with Skinner after that. He ended up getting on some cells that converged and then picked up some shear. The cell did produce a bit of a meso. Skinner got some great lightning shots. I noticed this cell had picked up at mid levels because I could see some outer structure as I was driving east. It was a great first day of the production.

Hilarious Video

2009-05-28T14:48:00.001-07:00

Schedule

2009-05-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

Rough Forecast Schedule (skinner and shep)

Saturday May 30th
NE Kansas, NW Missouri, SE Nebraska, SW Iowa
with Jet dipping into SE Nebraska, SW Iowa and surface low creating a boundary
Dewpoints 60-70
chances of tornadoes 10%

Sunday May 31st
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa
with Jet dipping into Western Missouri during the day and into 12Z for NW Kansas
Dewpoints 60-65
chances of tornadoes 10%

Monday June 1st
Panhandes of TX & OK, Western OK, NE CO, Western KS, SW Nebraska
with subtropical closed low @ 300mb and mini shortwave, very weak Jet, surface low in place
Dewpoints 50-60
chances of weak tornadoes 10%

Tuesday June 2nd
Eastern CO, eastern WY, western panhandle NE
Dewpoints 50-60
with developing surface low moving into the area, Central NE showing exit region of Jet
chances of tornadoes 20%

Wednesday June 3rd
Central Nebraska, South Dakota, South Eastern CO
with shortwave across the state of NE setting up a boundary, greatest Jet entrance is western SD, NW Nebraska, eastern WY
Dewpoints 45-60
Chances of tornadoes 40%

30th - 1st Probability

2009-05-27T13:15:00.000-07:00

It appears that Skinner and I will be chasing Day 4 through Day 6th (30th - 1st). It seems to be a good typical retrograding low setup, which we have been waiting for all spring, that dang polar Jet has just been hanging out in Canada. Now its time... RFD may take the trip with us, and possible camera guy. Good time to start filming our show.

May 26th 2009

2009-05-26T22:03:00.000-07:00

Free Cars

2009-05-26T18:03:00.000-07:00

Aerial Storm Chasing

2009-05-26T18:02:00.001-07:00

To check out some Aerial pictures of a storm a friend of mine Wayne Meinhard got on a fly chase recently near Edwardsville, IL.... CLICK HERE

May 25th 2009 Cold Front

2009-05-26T17:56:00.000-07:00

May 24th 2009

2009-05-24T21:18:00.000-07:00

So today I was trying to decide if I wanted to go to Northeast Wyoming, I looked at the models and decided that there was pretty good wind shear in Colorado, and looking at dew points, temps, and vertical motion I thought why is there no tornado risk in Colorado, and I should chase off the Palmer and stay closer to home anyway. I went to Adams county as storms were firing, I was a little late as I had stuff to do this morning. When I got to the first storm south from Kersey North of Keensburg it already had a meso, a nose feeder cloud and a foot downdraft! Was impressive!! I was very excited at this point, and even got more excited when i turned on NOAA radio and heard an advisory that a cell in Adams county was likely to produce landspout tornadoes. I rushed west on 76 towards Denver and intercepted the second cell with an even more impressive meso! Saw a possible funnel but no tornado, apparently a trained spotter "saw" a brief touchdown, still waiting to see a pic out there.