Hello again,
As we are nearing the end of this project we came to realize that we have not put any of our wonderful pictures of the tornado on the blog. Enjoy…
The tornado as it was just starting to form.
It became rain-wrapped, but we could still see it coming closer.
One of the last pictures taken before we had to bolt, the tornado was about a mile away from our location heading right for us.
We are still awaiting the final decision on what this tornado will be categorized as. Dr. Atkins and Dr. Wakimoto have done both a ground and aerial survey, so the final decision should not be too much longer. In a few days we will return back to the east coast and we can be rest assured that this year was a success for VORTEX2.
Hello all!
I apologize for the lack of updates recently…operations have really picked up for the Vortex2 team! After nearly 4 weeks of quiet/marginal weather (see previous posts…), the atmosphere is now regularly providing the ingredients that can give rise to tornadic storms in the V2 domain. On Friday, June 5th, we intercepted our first tornadic supercell. Would anyone have ever guessed that our first would be on June 5th in Goshen County, Wyoming? We certainly never though so!
Data was collected from well before tornadogenesis until the tornado roped out (dissipated)…some members of our LSC team had to move quickly to get out of the way! No major damage was caused and there were certainly no injuries caused by this event, so we feel comfortable saying that the intercept was a big success for Vortex2.
More info and some pictures will be added soon! Keep checking back…
Hi everyone,
I wish there were more exciting news to report, but so far nothing…today the SPC has graced us with a 5% tornado contour. We will see as the day progresses what today has to offer, if it does not look like much, we may head south for another marginal chance tomorrow.
Even though so far our domain has been grim, and Josh Wurman just came over the radio to give us the disgusting statistics of SPC warnings this May, we are holding out hope for this weekend. The high over low block off the west coast is beginning to break up and the low begins to protrude eastward. This will hopefully return flow into our region. So stay tuned this weekend, as we hope to bring you much more exciting news!
Hi everyone!
Again, not too much to report from last time. On Day 15, we moved from South Dakota down to Amarillo, TX. The next day we chased a supercell in southwest OK, however, by the time we set up and got everything rolling the supercell began to die. We did, however, see a forward flanking line and a wall cloud, but no dice. Below is the lowering assocaite with this storm.
Day 17, we were waiting for storms to initiate in Gainesville, TX, but as they began to pop up, they were heading for the Dallas/Fort Worth area. We sat and waited to see if any other convection would initiate. To our luck, the supercell split, and one started moving to the north and west. It became a “left mover” if you will, an interesting pattern with anticyclonic shear that would have been an incredible case had the shear persisted. There was a more impressive wall cloud, and large hail reports with this storm. Below, circled, you can see the lowering, sorry about the contrast but we were in twilight.
So after all is said and done, we are now on a down day, sitting in the Weather Center in Norman, OK, with no tornado sightings yet…
We are likely going to be moving north again back into Kansas and Nebraska and await our destiny there.
So if you’re wondering, this has been our movement for week 2.
Until next time
Hello all,
The weather continues to be very slow……
We had an opportunity to sneak up to Mt. Rushmore before a mission yesterday. Quite the site…, a couple of pictures are shown below.
We all continue to hope for a pattern change……
NTA
Hi Everyone!
Sorry to say, but there is not much really to report on. So I will update you on where we have been the last few days.
Day 9 we moved to Ogallala, NE where we stayed for 2 nights. On day 10, we ventured just south of Sidney, NE into Colorado to watch and gather data on microbursts. The atmosphere over the plains has been very dry, so as this being our only excitement we decided to check it out.
Day 11, we moved north to Alliance, NE and chased a few cells, one being a weak supercell. However, nothing too spectacular came of that.
Today we once again moved north, trying to stay within resonable shear, and are now in Hot Springs, SD. We will wait until tomorrow to see what our best option is, east or west. Tomorrow looks to be the last day of any excitement for awhile for VORTEX2. I do, however, hope to bring more exciting news for the next post! Please help us and wish for a pattern change!
Hello all,
As noted by Rachel and Tony in the last post, we are in Hays, KS with clear blue skies. Not good for supercells!!!
Here are a couple more images from our last deployment near Enid, OK.
Hope all is well with everyone.
NTA
Another view of the gust front passing overhead.
Gust front directly overhead:
Hi everyone!
Not too much to report just wanted to show you all a map of where we have travelled so far. We are currently in Hays, KS.
up to day 7 travel
Hopefully our conditions will change so we can give you more exciting updates!
The weather has taken a turn for the worse…well, better…but worse for us. There were no storms in th Vortex2 domain today, and that will be the case through Monday, most likely. For that reason, we have moved to the central part of the domain (Northwest Kansas) and will stay for a couple of days, at least, with no operations. Quite a drive from Enid, OK to Hays, KS today! We will use the downtime to make sure everything is working fine, discuss and refine our mission plan, and do some laundry! Fortunately it is early in the project…and things can only get more exciting from here! For now, enjoy this lightning picture that I captured from out hotel room in Enid last night:
Hello again!
After heading up to Wichita, KS last night, the decision was made to head back into Oklahoma. We arrived in Enid and headed north of there to intercept the forming cells along the squall line. After much waiting for this storm to develop and move south and east, we saw a pretty amazing shelf cloud accompanied with a decent gust front. However, no tornadoes were written in the cards for us today. Tomorrow and the next few days do not appear to be favorable for severe weather conditions. Below are a bunch of pictures from today.
Tony and the TIV
DOW "looking" at the shelf cloud
Shelf Cloud
More pictures to come