{"id":27140,"date":"2020-06-29T00:00:46","date_gmt":"2020-06-29T08:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/?p=27140"},"modified":"2020-10-02T22:08:31","modified_gmt":"2020-10-03T06:08:31","slug":"june-29-2020-western-north-dakota-severe-storms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/2020\/06\/29\/june-29-2020-western-north-dakota-severe-storms\/","title":{"rendered":"June 29, 2020 Western North Dakota Severe Storms"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Start: \u00a0Belle Fourche, SD<\/p>\n

Lunch: \u00a0Belfield, ND<\/p>\n

End: \u00a0Garrison, ND<\/p>\n

about 550 miles<\/p>\n

SPC Day One\/20Z<\/a><\/p>\n

SPC Mesoscale Discussion 1052<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0SPC Mesoscale Discussion 1054<\/a><\/p>\n

SPC Mesoscale Discussion 1055<\/a><\/p>\n

Storm Reports<\/a><\/p>\n

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This chase day was challenging. \u00a0There were a couple of areas in western North Dakota to consider. \u00a0It appeared that, with better moisture (dews into the low 70s), the area near the Missouri River and along a warm front would have the better tornado chance, especially towards sunset. \u00a0This was approximately in the Watford City\/New Town area, where river crossings are very few, and the logistics of chasing and staying with a good storm are not easy. \u00a0Another prime area was farther SW, near Beach, ND. \u00a0This was close to the SD\/ND\/MT triple-point, and also close to the meteorological triple-point surface low. \u00a0This “SW play” looked great, except that dew points were closer to 60F. \u00a0Any storm base would be fairly high, and the tornado chance would not be very good. \u00a0So what should I do? \u00a0I did what I usually do — I played the middle ground and waffled a bit.<\/p>\n

U.S. 85 north of Belfield to Watford City was the middle ground. \u00a0There is a great swath of essentially roadless territory west of 85 to the Montana border, except for Highway 16, a N-S road close to Montana. \u00a0Unfortunately, there are no roads to 16 from 85 between I-94 and Watford City, a distance of about 50 miles. \u00a0It is worse than the Sandhills. \u00a0Almost. \u00a0And, I was not familiar with Route 16. \u00a0It was near the ND badlands, though. \u00a0Was it a reasonable highway to chase on?<\/p>\n

During the mid-late afternoon, it was becoming apparent that a good supercell was likely near I-94 and near the ND\/MT border. \u00a0If that occurred, it could (and probably would) be awesome. \u00a0But it also was likely to move into that void area with no roads. \u00a0If I committed to it and headed west out of Belfield to Beach, it would be an easy intercept. \u00a0But, it was a big risk. \u00a0We would likely have no chance of getting NNE in time later for what looked like the better tornado chance. \u00a0Storm movement today would be approximately NNE to NE at 25-35 mph.<\/p>\n

I could not blow off the Missouri River\/warm-front play. \u00a0With the Beach-area storm developing, I elected to head to Watford City and then west, and then south on 16, towards the now-very-impressive Beach supercell! \u00a0I was still waffling. \u00a0 We got a peak or two at this Beach storm along 16 (south of 68 a few miles). \u00a0But, it was still quite distant. \u00a0It looked very nice on radar, and reports of a rotating wall cloud popped up, I think. \u00a0This road was a big problem, though—it was pretty much down in a little narrow valley and I could not see what was happening to my south very well. \u00a0We drove maybe 8 miles south of 86 on 16, and by then there were a couple of storms down south and SSE, and it was looking wetter and messier. \u00a0Turn around! \u00a0We headed back north and east to Watford City and Plan A. \u00a0The Beach supercell was indeed a very impressive storm, with a lowering which looked quite close to producing a tornado at times, according to chaser Skip Talbot. \u00a0But, it was not able to pull it off.<\/p>\n

A little east of Watford City, we waited for a severe storm to approach from the SSW. \u00a0The earlier activity had thrown a tremendous anvil over the region. \u00a0And, with dew points into the 70s, the air was heavy and a bit murky. \u00a0Some lightning picked up nearby, but I couldn’t really see what this severe-warned storm (with a funnel cloud report) was doing. \u00a0We headed east on 23 and 73 all of the way to Highway 22. \u00a0To our south we finally had a look at a decent storm base, a lowering…hmmm…a wall cloud…but it wasn’t looking really well organized to me. \u00a0We were against the river now, and had to go north and east (to New Town) to get across and to stay ahead of this activity. \u00a0It looked rather poorly organized so far, both on radar and visually. \u00a0Here are some pics from this part along 23 from Schafer to Johnsons City (east of Watford City).<\/p>\n

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