June 11 and 12, 2021 Down Days in the Dakotas, featuring Trotters and Hoover

Following the great tornado day in western North Dakota on the 10th, we were treated to a couple of fair-weather days.  On the 11th, we ventured through part of Theodore Roosevelt NP in southwestern North Dakota (first five photos below).  We then headed north to the area near Squaw Gap where the tornado had occurred about 24 hours earlier, but we were unable to find any evidence of a tornado.  On the way back south to Belfield for the night, we stopped at the dinky abandoned site named “Trotters” and spent some time poking around.  Only a small church and gas station remain at Trotters.

A slight risk of severe weather existed from about Trinidad to Lubbock on June 12th, but that area was too far away for consideration.  We moseyed south from Belfield to Chadron in order to be positioned for the severe chance on the 13th.  The big and exciting stop for the day was at the little store in Hoover, in northwestern South Dakota.  I was drawn towards the official NWS weather instrumentation as Hoover is a long-term cooperative climate station (see pics below of the thermometer’s radiation shield and the rain gage).