| Started the day out taking a quick look at the SPC
forecasts before I ran to class. Got back about 2, with a message
on my cell phone from Meredith. It looks like the Oklahoman brought
severe weather to town with him! Meredith and Bob
Conzemius had gotten together and the chase was on. Jamie arrived
and we set out at about 3:20. Bob and I both stopped at Sauk Centre
to try to grab some data. We did and proceeded for a target of about
Graceville, MN. From Sauk Centre, we headed out 28 to Graceville.
Stopped once for data, but neither Bob nor I could get descent connections
to get any data, so on westward! Just after leaving, Jamie's phone
finally got a nice solid connection as we passed the Morris airport.
Bad news though, not a single tower in the State of South Dakota,
except for a big monster that started around O'Neill,
NE. Once out to Graceville, we sat at the local gas station/restaurant
and got data and wondered where everything was... Had trouble at
first, as Bob's phone didn't like the local tower for some reason,
so we used Jamie's phone to grab data.
At about 8, we went in to have some dinner, and hopefully see
the towers as we walked out. It took about 45 minutes to get our
food, so we were jumping in and out watching for the towers to
go up that "had to be there". The sun was just setting
as we left the restaurant. Saw a little bit of cloud streaming
in from the west, this had to be from the storms firing up! No,
it was from a small and struggling cell just southwest of Aberdeen
that had been trying and trying for a few hours. While watching
all of this, Jamie got a little bored and decided to decorate
a satellite picture. There was a nice moisture axis in place through
SD, and an area of convergence right around Aberdeen, but it just
couldn't get going. I'm sure Bob will go into that more as well.
As we headed home, things were eerily the same as last year.
Getting closer to STC, there was getting to be quite a nice lightning
display to our north. Last year, that lightning display produced
an F2 tornado that went through Staples. Didn't happen this time
though. Just some storms.
Got back at about 11:30, and all together a fun day. Clear air
bust, but still fun. A good time had by all, and looking to the
next chase day!
Trip length: ~350, forgot to reset the trip meter
Cell phone time: 1:54:23, ouch.
Storm Reports
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