{"id":12602,"date":"2015-06-11T00:00:02","date_gmt":"2015-06-11T08:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/?p=12602"},"modified":"2015-09-07T21:36:50","modified_gmt":"2015-09-08T05:36:50","slug":"june-11-2015-lamar-and-springfield-co-supercells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/2015\/06\/11\/june-11-2015-lamar-and-springfield-co-supercells\/","title":{"rendered":"June 11, 2015 Lamar and Springfield CO supercells"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"150611_7668_Springfield_CO\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I was solo this day. \u00a0As the Tempest Tour 6 bunch tried their luck in extreme northwestern Missouri, I stayed on the High Plains of eastern Colorado. \u00a0Out of Oakley, KS, I drifted west as it looked like I needed to be somewhere from Limon to La Junta. \u00a0Today would be a little different for me, as I had no easy data via the laptop as I usually do when in the Tempest van. \u00a0I relied heavily on the weather radio, with occasional checks of the cell phone for surface maps and radar data. \u00a0The severe weather setup looked pretty decent. \u00a0Here is the 1630Z Day One outlook by SPC:<\/p>\n

SPC Jun 11, 2015 1630 UTC Day 1 Convective Outlook<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If you are disinclined to click on that link, here is the pertinent part regarding the slight risk area (and 2 percent tornado risk) for southeastern Colorado and vicinity:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

.CO INTO KS\/OK...\r\n   A POSITIVELY TILTED MID LEVEL TROUGH EXTENDS FROM WESTERN NEB INTO\r\n   THE FOUR-CORNERS REGION TODAY.  SEVERAL WEAKER IMPULSES ON THE\r\n   SOUTHEAST FLANK OF THIS TROUGH WILL HELP TO INITIATE SCATTERED\r\n   THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE CENTRAL ROCKIES TODAY...SPREADING INTO THE\r\n   PLAINS STATES.  A COLD FRONT SAGGING SOUTHWARD ACROSS WESTERN KS\r\n   WILL PROVIDE ONE FOCUSING MECHANISM...WHILE OTHER STORMS FORM\r\n   SOUTHWARD ALONG THE DRYLINE OF WEST TX.  A DEEP-MIXED BOUNDARY LAYER\r\n   OVER MUCH OF THIS AREA WILL POSE A RISK OF GUSTY\/DAMAGING WINDS IN\r\n   THE STRONGER CELLS.  SUFFICIENT WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT WILL ALSO\r\n   ENHANCE RISK OF ORGANIZED MULTICELL OR ISOLATED SUPERCELL STORMS\r\n   CAPABLE OF HAIL.<\/pre>\n
 <\/p>\n
By the time I reached Kit Carson — the town, not the person — I had a storm to intercept! \u00a0It was to my west — dead ahead — by about 80 miles, and moving to the east.<\/p>\n
And, by 2:38 p.m. MDT, a severe watch had already been issued for southeastern CO and a new mesoscale discussion was issued:<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
SPC Mesoscale Discussion 973<\/a><\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0973\r\n   NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK\r\n   0338 PM CDT THU JUN 11 2015\r\n\r\n   AREAS AFFECTED...PORTIONS OF E-CNTRL AND SERN CO\r\n\r\n   CONCERNING...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 284<\/a>...\r\n\r\n   VALID 112038Z - 112215Z\r\n\r\n   THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 284\r\n   CONTINUES.\r\n\r\n   SUMMARY...A LARGE HAIL\/DAMAGING WIND THREAT CONTINUES ACROSS WW 284.\r\n\r\n   DISCUSSION...RADAR IMAGERY FROM KPUX SHOWS SEVERAL STRONG TO SEVERE\r\n   THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS SERN CO...WITH ONE SUPERCELL OVER SRN LINCOLN\r\n   COUNTY MOVING ESEWD WITH TIME. ADDITIONAL CONVECTION IS FORMING\r\n   ACROSS THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF SERN CO WITH THE APPROACH OF A\r\n   SHORTWAVE TROUGH OVER SRN CO\/NRN NM. OTHER STORMS MAY FORM ALONG\r\n   OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES GENERATED BY EARLIER CONVECTION. SFC TEMPERATURES\r\n   HAVE WARMED INTO THE LOW TO MID 80S...WITH DEWPOINTS GENERALLY\r\n   REMAINING IN THE MID TO UPPER 50S. MLCAPE OF 1000-1500 J\/KG WILL\r\n   CONTINUE TO SUPPORT A LARGE HAIL THREAT WITH THE STRONGER\r\n   CORES...WHILE STEEP LOW-LEVEL LAPSE RATES MAY ALSO PROMOTE A\r\n   DAMAGING DOWNDRAFT WIND THREAT. WITH MID-LEVEL FLOW STRENGTHENING\r\n   WITH THE APPROACH OF THE SHORTWAVE TROUGH TO THE W...THE CONVECTION\r\n   FIRING ALONG THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF SERN CO SHOULD ALSO BECOME SEVERE\r\n   WITH TIME. ELY LOW-LEVEL FLOW VEERING TO SWLY ALOFT AND 0-1 KM SRH\r\n   AROUND 150 M2\/S2 PER THE KPUX VWP SUGGESTS AN ISOLATED TORNADO MAY\r\n   ALSO BE POSSIBLE...ALTHOUGH WINDS IN THE 0-2 KM LAYER ARE RELATIVELY\r\n   WEAK.\r\n\r\n   ..GLEASON.. 06\/11\/2015\r\n<\/pre>\n
 <\/p>\n
This was working out nicely for me! \u00a0But, I made the mistake of heading west and then WNW on 287 to Aroya, thinking that the storm would move mainly to the east. \u00a0It started to turn more to the ESE — no big surprise — but I didn’t figure that out soon enough. \u00a0As I headed east from Aroya on 94, I pondered my chances of squeezing by in front of the storm along 71, between Punkin Center and Ordway. \u00a0That was looking too dicey. \u00a0I didn’t need more hail dents on the Xterra and windshield glass in my lap. \u00a0This new supercell was starting to look pretty good, and I needed to be a little southeast of it. \u00a0Now, I was northeast of it, in a rather sparse paved road network. \u00a0I pondered going back to Kit Carson and south to Eads and west to Haswell to get into position. \u00a0GAD! \u00a0That would take forever and take me too far from this nice storm for too dang long! \u00a0Well, what about a dirt road? Hmmm…there’s that old State Highway 63 that goes north-south through here somewhere west of Aroya…but it is not paved. \u00a0I think I had used it once before to get from Aroya to Haswell without any problems. \u00a0 But, it was a good 30 or 35 miles to Haswell, and it has been a wet spring, there’s this growing supercell approaching, nothing could go wrong, right?! \u00a0I had a high clearance 2WD SUV, though, I should be able to get down south easy enough! \u00a0And, lo and behold, there’s old State Highway 63 right there, it’s time to turn left! \u00a0You wouldn’t expect a storm chaser to turn around and do the prudent thing, would you?<\/p>\n
Right off the bat, the dirt road was a problem. \u00a0There was a long mound of dirt going down the middle, and I soon learned why — a couple of big road graders were doing what graders do best — grade big roads. \u00a0Apparently the road had been messed up and needed attention. \u00a0Not good. \u00a0I was driving in the left shoulder where the sand was pretty bad in spots. \u00a0A conventional car would have had big issues through here, but my Xterra was doing okay. \u00a0I just didn’t know if the road ahead would get worse or not. \u00a0If it got worse and I had to turn around, then I might be dealing with a bad road getting rained on, and then I might be in heaps of trouble.<\/p>\n
After I passed the graders, I was still driving in the sandy left shoulder for a while. \u00a0A few miles later though, the unpaved road was back to normal and I could do an easy 50 mph on it. \u00a0The developing supercell was still to my southwest as I neared the halfway point to Haswell, and I had a little time to stop and take some pictures.<\/p>\n
\"150611_2116_Haswell_CO\"<\/a>\"150611_7612_Haswell_CO\"<\/a><\/p>\n
The mammatus just to my northeast was quite impressive! \u00a0I needed to keep moving or risk having my road ahead getting wet and soft. \u00a0It was raining lightly when I reached Haswell, and the storm base was to my southwest by maybe 9 miles. \u00a0A nasty hail core loomed down highway 96, west-southwest of Haswell. \u00a0A major-league wall cloud begged to have its photo taken, though it did not seem to show much rotation. \u00a0I stopped in the rain just east of Haswell to appease it.<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
\"150611_7620_Haswell_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_7617_Haswell_CO\"<\/a><\/p>\n
With the updraft to my southwest and storm motion to the ESE, I had more re-positioning to do. \u00a0I headed east to Eads and south towards Wiley. \u00a0I stopped near Wiley and had a great view of the action area as it headed in my direction.<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
\"150611_2124_Wiley_CO\"<\/a>\"150611_7630_Haswell_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_7637_Wiley_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_7638_Wiley_CO\"<\/a>\"150611_2131_Wiley_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_2126_Wiley_CO\"<\/a><\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
The shots above show a large tail cloud feeding the updraft base from north to south. \u00a0The other lowered areas were generally industrial-sized pieces of scud which were attached to the base and not rotating much, at least from my vantage point.<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
\"150611_2145_Wiley_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_2139_Wiley_CO\"<\/a><\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
I scooted closer to Wiley as the base, above, moved towards Highway 287. \u00a0It didn’t look like this supercell was going to make a tornado, so I went into \u00a0 structure-viewing mode. \u00a0About 20 minutes later I was a few miles east-northeast of Lamar, with a good view of the supercell.<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
\"150611_2156_Lamar_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_2148_Lamar_CO\"<\/a><\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
My chase buddies Martin and Kim were getting hammered by hail at this time on the west side of Lamar. \u00a0They kept calling me — Is the hail core clear of U.S. 50 yet?! \u00a0Nope — it is sitting on Lamar and you can’t get here from there without getting pounded! \u00a0The supercell continued to look good as it cleared Lamar and took aim on Granada.<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
\"150611_7643_Granada_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_7654_Granada_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_7658_Granada_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_7663_Granada_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_7667_Granada_CO\"<\/a><\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
and, during the same time frame near Granada , with a second camera:<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
\"150611_2161_Granada_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_2168_Granada_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_2171_Granada_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_2172_Granada_CO\"<\/a><\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
The updraft began to weaken and the updraft base became a bit cockeyed at this point. \u00a0I think I stayed with it to Coolidge, KS, but by then it was a goner. \u00a0It was only 6 p.m. MDT, though, so what to do next? \u00a0SPC was still thinking CHASE, BILL, CHASE!<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
SPC Mesoscale Discussion 978<\/a><\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
   MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0978\r\n   NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK\r\n   0710 PM CDT THU JUN 11 2015\r\n\r\n   AREAS AFFECTED...SE CO...SW KS...NRN TX PANHANDLE...OK PANHANDLE\r\n\r\n   CONCERNING...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 284<\/a>...286<\/a>...\r\n\r\n   VALID 120010Z - 120145Z\r\n\r\n   THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH\r\n   284...286...CONTINUES.\r\n\r\n   SUMMARY...TSTM ACTIVITY...INCLUDING SUPERCELLS...IS EXPECTED TO\r\n   PERSIST FOR AT LEAST THE NEXT TWO HOURS OVER AT LEAST THE SRN\r\n   PORTION WW 284 AND THE MAJORITY WW 286. GIVEN THE PRESENCE OF\r\n   SUPERCELLS...ALL SEVERE HAZARDS ARE POSSIBLE WITH LARGE HAIL\r\n   REMAINING AS THE PRIMARY THREAT.\r\n\r\n   DISCUSSION...REGIONAL RADAR IMAGERY CONTINUES TO SHOW NUMEROUS\r\n   STRONG TO SEVERE STORMS...INCLUDING SEVERAL SUPERCELLS...ACROSS THE\r\n   WATCH AREAS. WITH THE ANTICIPATED PERSISTENCE OF STEEP MID-LEVEL\r\n   LAPSE RATES AND STRONG SHEAR \/RECENT KPUX VAD HAD 50 KT OF 0-6 KM\r\n   BULK SHEAR AND 00Z DDC SOUNDING HAD 46 KT OF EFFECTIVE SHEAR\/...THE\r\n   OVERALL ENVIRONMENT IS EXPECTED TO REMAIN SUPPORTIVE OF SUPERCELLS\r\n   FOR AT LEAST THE NEXT 2 HOURS.\r\n\r\n   A SEMI-DISCRETE TO DISCRETE STORM MODE WILL LIKELY CONTINUE THROUGH\r\n   01Z. PROLIFIC HAIL PRODUCING SUPERCELL THAT MOVED ACROSS PROWERS\r\n   COUNTY CO HAS RECENTLY SHOWN SOME SIGNS OF WEAKENING WHILE MOST OF\r\n   THE OTHER SUPERCELLS HAVE SHOWN THE TYPICAL CYCLING OF STORM\r\n   STRENGTH. AT SOME POINT...THIS INITIAL CELLULAR ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED\r\n   TO EITHER DIE OFF OR MERGE INTO CLUSTERS AS THE LOW LEVEL JET\r\n   INCREASES WITH A RESULTANT INCREASE IN ISENTROPIC ASCENT OVER THE\r\n   FRONT. AS A RESULT OF THESE POTENTIAL MERGERS AND INCREASED STORM\r\n   COVERAGE...THE POTENTIAL FOR UPSCALE GROWTH EXISTS.\r\n\r\n   ..MOSIER.. 06\/12\/2015\r\n<\/pre>\n
 <\/p>\n
A strong cell was south of Holly, so I checked that one out. \u00a0I would have liked to have gotten south of it, but the core blocked Highway 89 for a while. \u00a0By the time it cleared, the storm was sputtering. \u00a0Some new stuff was moving into Baca County, and the air there still looked good. \u00a0Martin and Kim had found me, and we made our way down to Lycan and over to Two Buttes. \u00a0We stopped a few miles short of 287 on Highway 116, with a good view of a nasty storm that was taking aim on Springfield!<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
\"150611_7668_Springfield_CO\"<\/a><\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
This was a REAL beast! \u00a0It was large and it was spinning hard and it meant business. \u00a0Daylight was in very short supply, though, and I wanted to be a little closer. \u00a0I made my way to 287 and then south perhaps five miles, halfway to Springfield. \u00a0The supercell’s main updraft was primarily to my southwest, with a sculpted wall approaching fast from the west, too.<\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
\"150611_7671_Springfield_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_7675_Springfield_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_7677_Springfield_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_7679_Springfield_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_7683_Springfield_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_7685_Springfield_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_7688_Springfield_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_7690_Springfield_CO\"<\/a> \"150611_7672_Springfield_CO\"<\/a><\/p>\n
 <\/p>\n
In the images above, the dirt road heads to the west and the line of power poles leads southward, to Springfield. \u00a0Even the 15mm lens could not fit the entire thing in! \u00a0As the core neared my location, I had to get out of Dodge FAST. \u00a0Actually, there were three options. \u00a0I could stay where I was, ride it out, and probably get hammered by golfballs. \u00a0Or, blast south into Springfield and try to find shelter for the vehicle in time. \u00a0Or, blast north and put as much space as I could between myself and the nastiest part of the storm, which was approaching Springfield. \u00a0I chose the latter option! \u00a0Springfield was visited by all sorts of atmospheric tumult, and it is a good thing that I didn’t try the dash to Springfield. \u00a0That window had closed! \u00a0Tornadoes were reported northwest and northeast of town. \u00a0 Two-inch hail swept through on severe winds. \u00a0Numerous power poles were blown down in and around town. \u00a0This was a very large and vicious storm! \u00a0It got even worse a little farther east, at Walsh, with severe winds and 3-inch hail. \u00a0I managed to make it a few miles north, back to the junction of highway 116. \u00a0The hail wasn’t too big, but the wind and heavy rain made driving impossible. \u00a0Fortunately, I just had to wait ten minutes or so.<\/p>\n
My drive to the motel in Lamar was a rather slow and wet and windy affair, and it was nice to take a long and relaxing break after a long day on the road. \u00a0It had been a while since I had chased by myself on a very active day, and I got out alive! \u00a0(Martin and Kim had made it south of the supercell, south of Springfield, before the core moved through.) \u00a0The Baca County supercell weakened as it moved into Kansas, which was a fortunate thing for residents of Morton and Stanton counties. \u00a0The storm received special mention in the SPC mesoscale discussion issued at 8:48 p.m. MDT:<\/p>\n
SPC Mesoscale Discussion 982<\/a><\/p>\n
MESOSCALE DISCUSSION 0982\r\n   NWS STORM PREDICTION CENTER NORMAN OK\r\n   0948 PM CDT THU JUN 11 2015\r\n\r\n   AREAS AFFECTED...FAR SE CO...SW KS...NRN TX PANHANDLE...OK PANHANDLE\r\n\r\n   CONCERNING...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 286<\/a>...\r\n\r\n   VALID 120248Z - 120415Z\r\n\r\n   THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 286\r\n   CONTINUES.\r\n\r\n   SUMMARY...ISOLATED SVR THREAT CONTINUES ACROSS THE WATCH AREA WITH\r\n   UPSCALE GROWTH UNDERWAY ACROSS FAR SE CO. LARGE HAIL REMAINS THE\r\n   PRIMARY SVR THREAT.\r\n\r\n   DISCUSSION...RADAR IMAGERY OF THE SUPERCELL IN BACA COUNTY SUGGESTS\r\n   THAT A TRANSITION TO A MORE LINEAR MODE IS UNDERWAY. THIS IMAGERY\r\n   ALSO SHOWS A MESOSCALE VORT MAX JUST NW OF THE SUPERCELL. THE\r\n   SUPERCELL IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE EWD INTO WW 286 WITH A CONTINUED\r\n   SVR HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND THREAT. THE TRANSITION TO A LINEAR MCS\r\n   WOULD TYPICALLY FAVOR MORE OF A DAMAGING WIND THREAT BUT THE\r\n   DOWNSTREAM BOUNDARY LAYER STABILITY IS EXPECTED TO LIMIT MOMENTUM\r\n   TRANSFER TO THE SURFACE. SOME DAMAGING WINDS ARE STILL\r\n   POSSIBLE...PARTICULARLY WHENEVER THE MCS INTERACTS WITH ANY\r\n   ANTECEDENT DOWNSTREAM UPDRAFTS. TSTM CLUSTERS ALONG THE FRONT IN\r\n   OCHILTREE AND LIPSCOMB COUNTIES IN THE TX PANHANDLE WILL CONTINUE TO\r\n   POSE A SVR THREAT \/PRIMARILY HAIL\/. ACTIVITY IN CLARK COUNTY KS HAS\r\n   SHOWN A DOWNWARD TREND DURING THE PAST FEW SCANS.\r\n\r\n   ..MOSIER.. 06\/12\/2015<\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
  I was solo this day. \u00a0As the Tempest Tour 6 bunch tried their luck in extreme northwestern Missouri, I stayed on the High Plains… [Read More]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,11,9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12602","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-62","7":"category-supercells","8":"category-lenticular-clouds","9":"entry","10":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12602"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12644,"href":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12602\/revisions\/12644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}