Chase Log: May 25th, 2008
Click on any of the SPC products below (Convective Outlooks, Watches, or MCDs) to see the SPC's "Severe Thunderstorm Events" page pertaining to this event.
Total Distance: 260 miles
Target Area: Ness City, KS
Chase Area: Ransom to N of Great Bend, KS
Maximum SPC Risk category: Moderate
Watches:
Mesoscale Discussions (MCDs):
We had 3 deployments: 1) NW of Ness City -- previously-tornadic supercell weakened as storms developed to the immediate S and SE of the storm. We scanned for 10 minutes. We dropped this (these) storm(s) to head to a new supercell that rapidly developed to our ESE/SE. 2) S of Hays / E of La Crosse / W of Hoisington -- tornadic supercell to our NW through N, then another supercell went up to the immediate WSW of the former. Very nice wall cloud and at least one reported "tornado", but pictures showed it was a dust whirl under a lowering (perhaps a gustnado). Another couple of pictures showed what looked to be gustnadoes or perhaps landspouts. Total deployment time was 30+ minutes. The latter supercell had at least one nice occlusion, with a "hammerhead" hook that wrapped completely around into a donut hole. A tight couplet was noted on velocity data to our NW (~15 km). Visually, the storms became progressively more outflow-dominant. When the 2nd supercell moved east of longitude, we headed back E and N to redeploy. 3) NW of Hoisington -- Brief deployment as the cells started to gust out. Meso should have been to our west at the very start of the data collection, but we were hit by cold outflow a minute or two after deployment. Rain and hail followed as the cold pool surged southward and undercut the updraft. Total deployment time of 10-15 minutes.
05-25-2008 Chase Pictures
Click on any photo to see a larger version
