Today was a reposition day, and we made the long drive south from Cozad, NE, to Sweetwater, TX, in order to be positioned properly for events on May 7th. Here is my previously written blurb regarding May 5 and 6:
Tempest Tours Tour 2B began out of Oklahoma City on Sunday, May 5. The weather pattern had been slow for the 3 or 4 free days I had between T1 and T2B, so I relaxed in OKC and caught up on some web site stuff and did not chase. There was a decent tornado risk in eastern NE on May 5, and we raced with the new group of guests up to York and I-80 from OKC during the afternoon. It looked like Custer County would be a good area to target — not too far to our WNW. Some towers went up in that area, and then fizzled. Chase over — we got rooms in Cozad and watched strong elevated cells go up to our NW and N.
My birthday, May 6, was another non-tornado birthday for me. I am still waiting for my first b-day tornado. We blew off the severe chance near E KS/W MO for better chances in central or western TX the following day. So, we drove from I-80 to I-20 — over 600 miles, to position ourselves. The highlight was keeping tabs on the Kings SWEEP of St. Louis, and a pretty t-storm during the evening near Aspermont, with frequent lightning in the back of the storm tower and a near-full moon rising above it. We stayed in Sweetwater.
Yes, May 5 was quite disappointing. We drove a ton only to have the cap win out. Then, as we settled into our rooms in Cozad not too long after sunset, decent elevated convection teased us towards Logan County. Large hail reports started to come in along U.S. 83 north of Stapleton. Well, the reports were not large, but the hail was.
We could not logistically chase the Kansas City area on the 6th and then the San Angelo area on the 7th, so I decided to go for the southern play on the 7th. I managed to get some pleasing images at the Bridge of Doom, and the moonrise above the nighttime storm near Aspermont was spectacular! I “photoshopped” in some utility wires through the storm images so y’all would not be too jealous.
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