With moisture still in short supply on the High Plains, the prospects for a good storm seemed rather slim on May 6. But, there was enough instability and shear for an isolated supercell. SPC showed a “see text” for eastern WY and the NE Panhandle. Our group began the day in Rapid City, and I had to consider the option of heading to the Red River (OK/TX) area for a decent-looking severe-weather setup on May 7th. There was an “upslope” play, too, on the 7th, and the tornado risk looked a little better to me in CO versus OK/TX. So, I decided to stick with the High Plains on the 6th and 7th. During the afternoon we waited patiently around the Broadwater, NE, area, north of Sidney. We drifted west towards the NE/WY border as a cumulus field perked up a bit in extreme southeastern WY. Finally, a cell managed to get strong northeast of Cheyenne and north of Burns. It quickly began to spin and we were treated to sensational updraft structure along the dirt road network in Laramie County. No other chasers were around, and we had a front-row seat! We stayed close to the supercell as it moved east into the Nebraska Panhandle, north of Bushnell.
After dusk, we stuck around I-80 for additional storms west of Sidney.
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