{"id":27336,"date":"2020-05-21T00:00:45","date_gmt":"2020-05-21T08:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/?p=27336"},"modified":"2020-11-06T17:24:47","modified_gmt":"2020-11-07T01:24:47","slug":"may-21-2020-ulysses-and-satanta-kansas-supercells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/2020\/05\/21\/may-21-2020-ulysses-and-satanta-kansas-supercells\/","title":{"rendered":"May 21, 2020 Ulysses and Satanta, Kansas, supercells"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Start: \u00a0Sterling, CO<\/p>\n

Lunch: \u00a0Tribune, KS\/Karen’s Kitchen<\/p>\n

End: \u00a0Woodward, OK<\/p>\n

611 miles<\/p>\n

SPC Day One\/20Z<\/a><\/p>\n

SPC Mesoscale Discussion 657<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0SPC Mesoscale Discussion 659<\/a><\/p>\n

SPC Mesoscale Discussion 661<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0SPC Mesoscale Discussion 663<\/a><\/p>\n

Storm Reports<\/a><\/p>\n

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22Z Surface Map<\/p>\n

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Chase account by Bob C.<\/a><\/p>\n

Video and supercell time-lapse<\/a> by Bob Conzemius (via YouTube)<\/p>\n

May 22 was a down day, in-between tours, but Bob took a couple of guests to a nice storm between Vernon and Wichita Falls. \u00a0This is Bob’s account.<\/a><\/p>\n

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This was quite the chase day! \u00a0A FAST summary: \u00a0We were in great position on three supercells in SE CO and SW KS. \u00a0The KS storms had superlative structure. \u00a0The CO storm provided a weak landspout or two. \u00a0The KS storms teased us with a maybe tornado and an almost tornado.<\/p>\n

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And the Long-Winded Summary:<\/p>\n

The forecast target area was not difficult to determine. \u00a0We needed to get south from Sterling, Colorado, and into southwest Kansas. \u00a0SPC showed a slight risk and a 5 percent tornado risk centered around Liberal. \u00a0A surface low was near Springfield, CO, and decent upslope ESE to E winds were blowing through SW KS with dews close to 60F. \u00a0We stopped for lunch at Tribune, and around noon MDT, a weak landspout was observed nine miles northeast of Tribune. \u00a0We were observing our meals inside, instead.<\/p>\n

I HATE early convection. \u00a0We found out about the landspout well after it had dissipated, and we went a little bit north of town to make sure that it didn’t happen again. \u00a0This stuff that was going up on a convergence line or weak warm front nearby was not strong and was not impressive. \u00a0My focus shifted to the area a little farther to the south, where the sunshine was good, and the axis of moisture and theta-e air appeared to be maximized.<\/p>\n

Well, the early convection was not too much of a headache. \u00a0The prime area for severe weather remained undisturbed enough through mid-afternoon. \u00a0The first big storm of the day was in Colorado, SW of Holly. \u00a0This was pretty close to the triple point, and quite stout easterly winds were streaming towards it. \u00a0 We were near Syracuse, watching some other mediocre cells, if I recall correctly. \u00a0 I elected to blast west to the Holly storm, though it was farther west than preferred and anticipated. \u00a0We stopped several miles SSW of Holly, and a decent, high-based rotating storm was not too far to our west. \u00a0Shortly after stopping, a weak dusty spin-up or two (or three) developed beneath the mostly rain-free base of a flanking line (or something!) to our southwest. \u00a0These were intriguing, but they were not strong enough to warrant a closer inspection. \u00a0I suppose that these could be called landspouts, and they wound up on the SPC reports page. \u00a0 The images below show first the supercell and “action area” to the west, and then the flurry of spin-ups to the southwest. \u00a0A weird couple of curly-Qs twirled at the front of the updraft base, too.<\/p>\n

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