Start: Wall, SD
Brunch: Wall Drug Cafe
End: Spearfish, SD
435 miles
23Z surface map
Wow — this day was a real Debbie Downer. SPC was not enthused AT ALL with severe weather prospects, with only a marginal risk on the High Plains along and north of I-90 in northeastern Wyoming. Models hinted at a decent storm or two in northeastern Wyoming towards sunset. But, it was not entirely clear to me if the better play was along I-90; or farther south, around Lusk. From our starting point in the Badlands, I had to decide which way to go around the Black Hills. We toured a little ghost town called “Scenic,” on the western fringe of the Badlands, and I decided to take a route south in order to get to Hot Springs and the SOUTH end of the Black Hills. About 10 miles later, we were turned around as the Indians had closed the road due to Covid restrictions on the reservation. We went back north and northwest, and I elected to go around the NORTH side of the Black Hills via I-90. I still didn’t see an obvious advantage north or south meteorologically, but I did know that we needed to be farther west. The next critical decision of the day was at Sundance, Wyoming, around 6 p.m. Not too much was happening yet, but a new storm was getting going to our WSW, near Moorcroft. We went for that one. As we neared, we saw that it was a high-based/left-mover that was gagging. UGH. And, a spectacular supercell was just getting going in vicinity of the WY/NE/SD triple-point, down south. It was too late for that one for us, and we had to settle for another high-based junky storm north of Gillette.
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