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HeadcornWx

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    Headcorn, Kent, UK
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    Weather, Storm chasing, Photography, Amateur Radio
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    Severe Weather, Thunderstorms

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  1. [u][b]Tue 24th June 2014[/b][/u] Our final day of Tour 4 began in Sterling Colorado. Whilst todays risk looked to be a repeat of yesterday in NE Colorado, as we approached the target area so the whole system broke apart leaving us with nothing more than a Particularly Drizzly Situation. To our North, across in Wyoming things were starting to look interesting. A short hop on the freeway past Cheyenne and out on route 85 NE and we started to see 2" hail along the road. A beautiful hailbow stretched across the road ahead and a few sorry looking motorists emerging from the abyss licking the wounds on their vehicles. Although there were a few lowerings, a wall cloud as well as a radar indicated Tornado Vortex Signature we saw no evidence of anything else from this storm and it soon began a rapid decay as we headed South via Pine Bluffs to Cheyenne, our base for the night before returning to Denver and the flight to London. Photos from todays chase can be found on the following [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htak3nmei1ga7c3/AAAfWQqrgDPJdnVCq3rYwDm4a/Day%2011%20-%20June%2024th"]Dropbox Link[/url] and all the [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htak3nmei1ga7c3/AADVSVut43KGJYwdsgIU7D1na/HD%20Movies"]Videos can be found here[/url]. From Colorado to Kansas, thru Nebraska, the Dakotas, Iowa, Minnesota, Wyoming and finally back to Colorado this is a truly wonderful and varied country. If it weren't for these tours I would never have visited many of the places or have had the opportunity to meet these kind people. Stormchasing has a massive following here in the US which is growing all the time. Unfortunately as in all walks of life there are those few who loose sight of the fundamental goal which is to provide timely information to protect life and property and further scientific knowledge. Only when that primary goal has been met should we look to capture the true spectacle of mother nature. There are those who talk about regulation of stormchasing. In my opinion it needs no more than a code of ethics which we should all abide by in life to look out for those around and apply a good deal of common sense on the roads to ensure a safe environment for all. As a visitor to this country, I'd like to think I've personally done everything I can to uphold this and given the severity of the storms over the past 2 weeks particularly in Nebraska would like to think that the timely actions of our team in reporting and advising has helped the affected communities in some small way. I will once again be making my photos and videos available to the [url="http://stormassist.org"]Storm Assist organization[/url], all profits which go to helping communities affected by Storms. I encourage you to visit their site and review their merchandise in particular their videos/BluRays available at a very reasonable price. Thank you for following these blogs this year and thankyou to Paul, Richard and Netweather. I hope you've enjoyed the coverage of these past 2 weeks of wild weather.
  2. [u][b]Mon 23rd June 2014[/b][/u] Today we left Nebraska crossing the state line into Colorado. SPC had a slight risk for the state as well as a 2% tornado risk which was briefly elevated to 5% and then dropped again. HRRR indicated development in the NW portion of the state so we headed west of Sterling near Jackson Lake State Park to watch and wait. After brief interest with the storms developing to the South of Denver, we returned and focused on the storm near the Wyoming state line which was already Severe Warned and developing rapidly. As we approached from the SE we could see a few funnels dropping in the distance and the storm was structuring up nicely. This really was a structure day, some hail on the way back to Sterling and a beautiful example of a Back Sheared anvil however conditions really weren't conducive for any further development. Overnight tonight in the town of Sterling. Photos for the day in the [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htak3nmei1ga7c3/AADV3dyB5TfsLS7w_UiYRYapa/Day%2010%20-%20June%2023rd"]Dropbox Gallery[/url].
  3. [u][b]Sun 22nd June 2014[/b][/u] Given our far north location and the southerly risk area, we used today as a positioning day to head south towards the eastern Colorado state line ready for Tuesdays risk east of the Rockies. Heading south a developing cumulus field showed signs of development. As we neared North Platte the field became agitated and rapid convection was evident with tops soon reaching 40000ft+ We passed through some heavy rain on the I-80 West and stopped just west. The storm was already dropping 3" hail by this time and a few funnels were seen forming but nothing else. A few photos included in todays [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htak3nmei1ga7c3/AACXlUk_03bPAmfr0YV6ltOsa/Day%209%20-%20June%2022nd"]Dropbox Gallery[/url]. Overnight tonight in the town of Ogallala Nebraska.
  4. [u][b]Sat 21st June 2014[/b][/u] We began Saturday in Waterton South Dakota. SPC and HRRR were indicating a South Dakota Target today and with a boundary laying towards the North of the state this was prime territory for storm initiation later in the day. We headed to Redfield for Lunch. On leaving there and heading west the storm had started taking hold into the boundary layer and tops were were already climbing rapidly through nearly 60000ft into a classic supercell structure. As we approached Bowdle, the storm was taking on real structure with a wall cloud forming to our west and rotation clearly evident. The storm tried a number of times to drop a funnel and then dropped a rotating wall cloud as it continued to move Southeast. We eventually moved southeast to Faulkton which would soon be hit by torrential rain and hail. Just as we were about to leave the cell became tornado warned. A massive shelf cloud was evident on the storm as we headed east then south out of town ahead of the circulation which although not confirmed most probably contained a rain wrapped tornado. After driving through torrential rain and winds of around 70mph, we arrived at Mitchell SD for the night. Photos from today can be found in the [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htak3nmei1ga7c3/AACOWrV7znS1rpbv1dmTWY3Pa/Day%208%20-%20June%2021st"]Dropbox Gallery[/url]
  5. [u][b]Fri 20th June 2014[/b][/u] It's Friday and SPC have todays Tornado risk firmly in Minnesota; and as Paul quite rightly quoted Land of 1000 lakes and a billion midges! Nestling up on the Canadian Border, Minnesota is a beautiful green state with lakes covering much of the North and East. Todays chase would start at Wahpeton, following the development of an LP Supercell which we'd already seen the predictions for on HRRR and then watched its developent as we drove North from the Dakotas. Today was a low CAPE and high Shear day, and although the storm was Tornado Warned and definitely showed tornadic potential dropping numerous funnels there were no reported Tornadoes. We followed the storm east with some great structure evident at times and rotation close to Henning but eventually broke away from it and headed south just after that point. The storm lost its tornado and severe warnings as it headed east across the state towards Wisconsin. The drive back was beautiful with green farmland and lakes everywhere. A few lake and sunset photos included in the gallery as well as a structure panorama of the storm. All photos from today can be found in the [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htak3nmei1ga7c3/AACIDPPjaCLh-8jtqM_J7zpla/Day%207%20-%20June%2020th"]Dropbox Gallery[/url] HD Videos from the trip are in the [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htak3nmei1ga7c3/AADVSVut43KGJYwdsgIU7D1na/HD%20Movies"]HD Movies Dropbox[/url] One final note and indeed a very sobering thought given the events of the past few days. I received comment yesterday from a US stormchaser commenting on the quality of our info over the past week in particular mentioning data they'd reviewed for the Pilger day. He mentioned we were tagged at Norfolk Nebraska that day and were one of the first out there. I commented that we were with Fire/EMS that day on the hills outside of Pilger, spotted the tornado re-forming and in discussion with them they acted on this instantly. If our actions meant a valuable few minutes or even just seconds of extra warning time were given then it makes everything totally worthwhile.
  6. [u][b]Thu 19th June 2014[/b][/u] Today was a waiting game. The risk further east was clearly a line event as depicted by HRRR so we remained in South Dakota hopeful for the SPC 'See Text' risk and HRRR development mid-state. We headed North then West towards Pierre. As we aproached the town of Bluff the storm started to develop rapidly on radar. Already it had dropped a couple of tornadoes and numberous funnels. Chasing it North East we witnessed numerous funnels but this was a cold outflow dominant storm. One of the areas of rotation looked promising and briefly a rotating lowing in the distance appeared to be generating some ground disturbance however this was all over too quickly. See photos. Although we have no live stream this trip, you can follow us and other Storm Chasers during chases on the Live Map with Radar/Satellite Overlays available at: [url="http://www.spotternetwork.org/pages/map"]Spotter Network with the ID Nick Parnell[/url]. Also via Twitter [url="https://www.twitter.com/headcornweather"]@headcornweather[/url] Photos from today are available via the [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htak3nmei1ga7c3/AADOgPfcT1RR7W9-SfAMuhA_a/Day%206%20-%20June%2019th"]Dropbox Gallery Link[/url].
  7. [u][b]Wed 18th June 2014[/b][/u] We started today from Souix City, Iowa. Looking at the NOAA High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model, it indicated late afternoon supercell development in the south eastern portion of South Dakota so we based our target on this and monitored both this and the SPC throughout the day to adjust our focus. We headed initially North then west on the I-90 toward Mitchell. Adjusting our final target as SPC issued their Mesoscale Discussion and watching for rapid convective development to our North West we headed up towards Wessington Springs. We could see funnels dropping and tornadoes had already been reported. As we headed east toward Crow Lake, a large wedge dropped behind us. We continued east on country roads and the odd farm track through the wind farm which was taking a few CG lightning strikes making for some exciting driving. We finally got clear of the wedge and got through to the small town of Lane. As we stopped, an area of rapid rotation formed to our South and dropped a cone which quickly matured. As I looked, a rope tornado was forming over our heads and into fields a few hundred metres away; an unbelievable scene. We continued East then North and finally withessed the developed cone which had become a stovepipe and finally roped out in front of us. In total 3 distinct tornadoes today. All tornadoes seen were reported to the local National Weather Service Office in Souix Falls. Photos from today can be found on the [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htak3nmei1ga7c3/AABRQwTXZleN5uDCks0ouzvEa/Day%205%20-%20June%2018th"]Dropbox Link[/url]. My videos can be found in the [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htak3nmei1ga7c3/AADVSVut43KGJYwdsgIU7D1na/HD%20Movies"]HD Videos Dropbox[/url], however also checkout [url="http://www.youtube.com/user/HairyRusts22"]Rich's YouTube channel with videos from the tour[/url].
  8. [u][b]Tue 17th June 2014[/b][/u] After yesterday I didn't think we could possibly equal such sights. How wrong could I be. We left our hotel in Columbus with two targets in mind, one to the NW in SW North Dakota and one in Central Iowa. Based on the High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) Model data from the SPC we eventually chose to go with the eastern option. As the day progressed and we entered Iowa with Temps of near 90F and Dewpoints aroundf 73F, the model was indicating a shift back to South Dakota/Nebraska so we headed North and West to cross the South Dakota state line near Vermillion. Heading south into Nebraska across the Missouri with CAPE of 6000, tops had exploded above 50000ft and we entered the core headed south keeping east of Coleridge where radar indicated rotation. As we emerged from moderate rain, to our west was a Wedge tornado which quickly became rain wrapped. As darkness fell, this system kept producing and we saw tornado after tornado; Cones, Wedges a beautiful stovepipe... A total of 6 for the day! What was strange was that for hours and hours this supercell only moved a few miles to the southeast seemingly trapped by the Missouri. Maybe the native Americans were right in building their settlements to the east of the great Missouri after all! Photos for the day can be found in the [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htak3nmei1ga7c3/AADTLNoDDLAlz4ptk6GGYxZka/Day%204%20%20-%20June%2017th"]Dropbox Gallery[/url]. Videos can be found in the [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htak3nmei1ga7c3/AADVSVut43KGJYwdsgIU7D1na/HD%20Movies"]HD Videos Gallery[/url].
  9. [u][b]Mon 16th June 2014[/b][/u] A day of mixed emotions. Firstly one of awe in seeing the sheer power of nature and the very rare occurance of two large tornadoes so close together. Secondly immense sadness for those affected in the towns and settlements where this tornado hit here in Nebraska. My thoughts and prayers go out to those people and may I ask you each consider a donation to the [url="http://stormassist.org/contribute"]Storm Assist organization[/url] which directly helps the victims of storm damage. We began the day today in Sioux City Iowa on the Eastern Banks of the Missouri. Following the passage of a late morning Mesoscale Convective System (MCS), we headed west to our intended target area of Norfolk, Nebraska. After a short break for lunch and a refueling stop it was soon clear a massive supercell was building behind us. Dewpoints were already juicy and convection explosive with a massive anvil forming and quickly growing to fill the Southwest sky.. We headed out to our east, just south of the warm front where we could see the storm was headed towards and riding along. We drove up onto the hills near the town of Pilger and were joined by a local Fire and EMS official. Looking towards our south and in the distance we could see a funnel forming and eventually a tornado on the ground near Stanton. Local sirens were sounded in good time and reports and photos were sent to local NWS as the tornado strengthened and moved towards us. We moved on further up the hill. Looking back, we could see a second twin funnel forming. This soon gained strength and become a strong and destructive twin tornado. Unknown to us, this tornado was causing extensive damage to the town of Pilger. We witnessed other strong tornadoes near Wakefield and further north of there. Also countless funnels. In total 7 Tornadoes this day. Photos from today can be found in the [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htak3nmei1ga7c3/AABdkLRFs8_ScL1pdiyUrJRra/Day%203%20-%20June%2016th"]Dropbox Gallery[/url]. Included in the HD Videos Dropbox is a [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htak3nmei1ga7c3/AADVSVut43KGJYwdsgIU7D1na/HD%20Movies"]video of the Twin Tornadoes[/url].
  10. [u][b]Sun 15th June 2014[/b][/u] Leaving our hotel Colby Kansas, we decided to leave todays risk and head North to Iowa positioning for Mondays significant potential over Nebraska/Iowa. An all-day drive took us out of Kansas, through Nebraska and eventually along I-80 to Lincoln where we exchanged the rather battered and bruised Jeep following yesterdays barrage of Hail. Along the way we saw town after town severely damaged by the straight line winds of upto 115mph the previous night. Whilst tornadoes generate a localised path of destruction, these straight line wind events can go on for 100s of miles and leave a huge trail of destruction. Crossing the Missouri we entered Iowa and headed North along its huge flood plain. Our final destination for the day was Sioux City, Iowa. Photos for the day can be found on the [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htak3nmei1ga7c3/AABtqC4jOXJoJ8Xf7w2pj7B8a/Day%202%20-%20June%2015th"]Dropbox Gallery[/url]
  11. HeadcornWx

    Stormchase USA 2014

    Tour 4 2014 - Denver and the High Plains by Nick Parnell
  12. [u][b]Sat 14th June 2014[/b][/u] [b]Denver Colorado: 4am Mountain Daylight Time[/b] After a good flight and 5hr snooze thanks mostly to a cheeky upgrade, arrived in Denver in good shape. Wide awake at 4am thanks to the jetlag so am blogging. SPC moderate risk for Very Large Hail, Damaging Winds and Isolated Tornadoes today for the risk area so we're headed out of here around 9-10 mountain time. Batteries charged for some hopefully great photos. [b]Post Chase Update:[/b] Wow! What an amazing day. The drive North East then south back towards Limon today revealed the development of massive supercell structure then just as we tried to head south we were caught under the base and touched the hail core being instantly hit by huge hail estimated at 4-5inches, Both cars smashed windscreens and dents following the event. This storm went on to line out and accelerate through the town we stayed in, speeding up eventually with forward motion around 115-120mph! [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htak3nmei1ga7c3/AABCXNvhvrfTNxUvbwRY0nPPa/HD%20Movies/Jun%2014th%20-%20Limon%20Huge%20Hail%20-%20Courtesy%20Richard%20Mott.wmv"]Video of the Hail Encounter Courtesy of Richard Mott[/url] [url="https://www.dropbox.com/sh/htak3nmei1ga7c3/AAA1PN8XvBYupfipqJBPHJFda/Day%201%20-%20June%2014th"]Link to Todays Dropbox Gallery[/url] Follow our progresses as always on twitter [url="http://www.twitter.com/headcornweather"]@headcornweather[/url] and during chases on Spotter Network ID: Nick Parnell
  13. [u][b]Fri 13th June 2014[/b][/u] After months of waiting and watching some excellent coverage of the past 3 tours, tour 4 is finally here. Friday 13th has been kind so far with a relatively quiet journey up to Heathrow T5. Oodles of time to spare and a 10 hour flight ahead now, but already SPC have issued a moderate risk for Day2 so we'll be hitting the ground running on Saturday. See you on the other side...
  14. Whats the stream link for later. Is it the usual one? Good luck on Day1. Nick
  15. Tour 4 (the old 5) into Denver again for me this year. Flying in on Friday 13th for luck. Last year saw some great structure in Nebraska and then a great chase day near the end of the tour. A few photos & blogs from previous trips included in the links on here: http://www.headcorn.org/html/stormchase.html Nick
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