I and the Tempest guests were in chase mode for four of these five days, but the atmosphere was not in any mood to make us fat and happy chasers. \u00a0Apparently I did not even take any pictures during this period. \u00a0Now, that is pretty sad, but even sadder is that one of these days was a moderate risk day that wound up being a messy junk-fest. \u00a0Here are some of the details, so I can look back at this someday and say: \u00a0“Wow, why would I ever want to recall this? \u00a0What was I thinking when I posted this?”<\/p>\n
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April 23, start Ulysses, KS; end Woodward, OK; lunch Country Cafe in Syracuse, KS; miles 361 —- we thought we might have a chance at some decent storms in southeast Colorado (SPC showed a “marginal” risk). \u00a0We hung out in the vicinity of Granada and Lamar for much of the afternoon, but nothing developed at all, except for some pathetic cumulus. \u00a0Some severe reports came in from NW KS well after sunset, but we were on our way to Woodward for the night by then. \u00a0This was the last chase day for Tour A.<\/p>\n
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April 24, start Woodward; end OKC; 161 miles—return to base—missed the tornado activity from central KS north to the KS\/NE border.<\/p>\n
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April 25, start OKC; end Pratt, KS; 268 miles; lunch Enid, OK — position day for the first day of Tour 1 — no daytime storms. \u00a0Severe weather near the KS\/NE border north of Concordia around midnight.<\/p>\n
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April 26, start Pratt, KS; end Wichita; 422 miles; lunch Chipotle in Wichita — big-time hyped event, with a moderate risk and 10 percent hatched area by SPC from north TX northward into south-central NE. \u00a0 My target area was Emporia, KS, area. \u00a0A lot of storms seemed to go up at once, and were moving fairly quickly to the north and NNE. \u00a0We watched some of the earliest activity around Marion, KS. \u00a0The cells had some nice structure for a little while, but they became wet and messy. \u00a0We went back down the turnpike from Emporia to Wichita towards sunset with little to get excited about. \u00a0From a chaser’s standpoint, the day was quite a dud for just about the entire moderate risk area. \u00a0Though “strong tornadoes” were in the outlook for parts of TX and OK, the few which occurred were either weak, or brief, or after dark (i.e., after light).<\/p>\n
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April 27, start Wichita; end Pampa, TX; 321 miles; lunch at Phil’s BBQ in Enid — reposition day to the TX Panhandle. \u00a0We had to choose between the risk this day in northern Missouri and vicinity, and the risk the following day in the TX Panhandle and vicinity. \u00a0Since I much prefer the chase terrain of the TX PH, and since the severe weather risk was not much different, we did not venture into the trees and hills along the IA\/MO border on the 27th. \u00a0A handful of tornadoes occurred in extreme SW Iowa and the Omaha area on the 27th.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"