This was one of the greatest days of all time —- not because our group chased a great supercell —- but because my Los Angeles Kings won the Stanley Cup again!! Whoohoo!!
On June 12 the severe-weather risk was shunted well to the south of our wake-up town, Belleville, KS. Instead of killing ourselves by trying to get to central TX, we had an easy re-position day and drove to Ogallalla for the night, with a nice, relaxing lunch in Hastings.
On June 13 it appeared that we needed to be a bit north and west of Ogallala, towards the southern end of the Black Hills, SD, perhaps. Following a meal in Alliance, we killed a little time at the old abandoned schoolhouse west of Hemingford.
From there we headed north into extreme southwestern SD, and placed ourselves in front of some new storm towers west of Oelrichs. These were unable to get very strong, but they threw some nice mammatus overhead.
The chase day was looking a little bleak as we headed south-southeast towards Chadron for one last chance. A high-based cell was in some decent air, but was struggling some. We took a look at it west of Chadron, and then went back into Chadron for a pit stop. During this 15-minute time frame, the storm strengthened considerably, and was suddenly sporting a nice rounded and laminar base! The supercell moved to the east-northeast, which was problematic because the road out of Chadron heads to the southeast. I tried the unpaved road network for a while, and this helped to keep us somewhat close to the base for a bit. It would have been nice to get in front of the storm in the Pine Ridge vicinity, but again the road network was not helping much and it was near sunset, so we were content to watch the back-end of the storm from northeastern Dawes County.
I had reserved rooms in Thedford, NE, for the night, so we had a few more hours of driving to do. On the way from Rushville to Valentine I was able to listen to the Kings/Rangers playoff game on my iphone…some of the time…as service and signals allowed. The reception became intermittent and then non-existent as the game went into overtime —- GAD! The Kings led the series 3 games to 1, and this was Game 5 at Staples Center in Los Angeles. We could win it all with a win! As we drove through northern Cherry County towards Valentine, my iphone indicated “extended” service and not “Verizon” service, when there was a signal. My iHeart radio app would not work in the “extended” network. How awful is that?! As we approached Valentine, with the score still 2-2 in the 2nd overtime, I considered stopping in at a bar or someplace with the game airing. It was nearing midnight, and we still had another hour to go to get to Thedford. I wanted to watch the Kings put the Rangers out of their misery and to experience the thrill of victory! Two years ago, when the Kings won it all against the Devils, I listened to the deciding game while observing a severe storm near Wichita Falls, TX. It would be nice to actually SEE the end of the game, especially since I couldn’t even listen to it now! However, as we entered Valentine, a voice in the back of the van announced “The Kings won the Cup!” A smile came upon my face, I did a little fist pump, and we continued to Thedford.
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