{"id":27445,"date":"2020-05-23T00:00:29","date_gmt":"2020-05-23T08:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/?p=27445"},"modified":"2020-10-10T15:08:12","modified_gmt":"2020-10-10T23:08:12","slug":"may-23-2020-st-francis-kansas-junk-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/2020\/05\/23\/may-23-2020-st-francis-kansas-junk-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"May 23, 2020 St. Francis, Kansas Junk Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Start: \u00a0Oklahoma City<\/p>\n

Lunch: \u00a0Dodge City\/Billy Sims BBQ<\/p>\n

End: \u00a0Holyoke, CO<\/p>\n

627 miles<\/p>\n

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

SPC Mesoscale Discussion 682<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0SPC Mesoscale Discussion 683<\/a><\/p>\n

SPC Mesoscale Discussion 687<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0SPC Mesoscale Discussion 689<\/a><\/p>\n

SPC Mesoscale Discussion 691<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0SPC Mesoscale Discussion 693<\/a><\/p>\n

SPC Mesoscale Discussion 694<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0SPC Mesoscale Discussion 695<\/a><\/p>\n

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

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23Z Surface Map<\/p>\n

SPC Tornado Watch 212<\/a><\/p>\n

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Tour 4 started today in Oklahoma City. \u00a0We hit the road somewhat early in order to get up towards northwest Kansas. \u00a0SPC showed only a marginal risk of severe here, with slight risks north and south on the High Plains. \u00a0However, extreme northwest Kansas was just northeast of a surface low and triple point, with moist ESE winds piling up against the CO\/KS border. \u00a0Could we get a nice storm here? \u00a0It was worth a shot. \u00a0The models were waffling on the notion. \u00a0As we neared Cheyenne County and Saint Francis, SPC issued a tornado watch for this target area. \u00a0It was rather odd to have this smallish High Plains Tornado Watch sandwiched between the slight risk areas and between the 2% tornado risk outlines!<\/p>\n

And, right on cue, a tower or two went up on the triple point\/convergence area around 5 p.m. \u00a0We “homed in” on an updraft that was SSW of Saint Francis. \u00a0It looked kind of “okay” for, um, for about 5 minutes. \u00a0It remained skinny and weak and it struggled. \u00a0It did not move much, which gave us plenty of time to poke around an abandoned farmstead or two.<\/p>\n

The High Plains Tornado Watches this spring were few, and this rare one was a big dud. \u00a0The updrafts remained weak and eventually shriveled to nothing. \u00a0The cap was too strong, apparently. \u00a0A lot of high cloudiness during the afternoon was likely a big factor leading to sad storm chasers. \u00a0We wound up trying to salvage something up near Holyoke at sunset, but that stuff was weak, also.<\/p>\n

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