{"id":33119,"date":"2021-05-26T00:00:22","date_gmt":"2021-05-26T08:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/?p=33119"},"modified":"2021-11-11T16:08:29","modified_gmt":"2021-11-12T00:08:29","slug":"may-26-2021-liebenthal-kansas-tornadic-supercell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stormbruiser.com\/chase\/2021\/05\/26\/may-26-2021-liebenthal-kansas-tornadic-supercell\/","title":{"rendered":"May 26, 2021 Liebenthal, Kansas Tornadic Supercell"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Start: \u00a0Perryton, TX\/no lunch\/End: \u00a0Hays, KS\/643 miles<\/p>\n

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

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

SPC Mesoscale Discussion 744<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0SPC Mesoscale Discussion 747<\/a><\/p>\n

SPC Mesoscale Discussion 749<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0SPC Mesoscale Discussion 755<\/a><\/p>\n

SPC Mesoscale Discussion 758<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0SPC Mesoscale Discussion 759<\/a><\/p>\n

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20Z\/3 p.m. CDT surface map<\/p>\n

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WHOA — a 15 percent\/hatched tornado risk is splattered over northwestern Kansas and vicinity today! \u00a0I hope I don’t mess up this chase. \u00a0Moisture was very good to excellent (low-mid 60s) as southeast winds surged into extreme northwest Kansas. \u00a0Instability and shear were great, and a boundary was draped WNW-ESE through the region, from about Goodland to south of Hays. \u00a0One thing was for sure: \u00a0we had to get ourselves up to about I-70 near Colby. \u00a0I could determine what to do next once we got there. \u00a0As we neared Oakley along 83 from the south, it was looking like the best target area was along a dry line to the west (Sharon Springs area) or perhaps north of there, between about St. Francis and Benkelman, where winds were backed a bit better, a tad north of the boundary. \u00a0The CAM (models) were fairly insistent that a beast of a supercell would eventuate on the dry line in that Sharon Springs area. \u00a0A lot of chasers were clustered in that area. \u00a0I wasn’t so sure. \u00a0I was leaning towards that area closer to Nebraska, though the models seemed to be less supportive there (as far as supercell swaths). \u00a0The plan was to get a quick stop\/lunch in Oakley and then to head west on I-70 to…to…to wherever we wound up going.<\/p>\n

However, some very strong convection had just initiated to our east, near Hays. \u00a0It was early, maybe 1:30 p.m. CDT. \u00a0I checked current and forecast parameters for that area, and they were looking really good — really good for a tornadic supercell. \u00a0Shoot — now WHAT!? \u00a0We were an easy one-hour drive east on I-70 to this new storm. \u00a0Going after this one to the east would probably negate much chance of chasing storms back to the west later. \u00a0I was really wavering. \u00a0I decided to give this Hays storm a chance. \u00a0We could drive towards it for 15-30 minutes and see if it remained worthwhile, see what it looked like, and see if we should keep going or not. \u00a0The storm gradually became quite the beast of an isolated supercell, and I could not turn around.<\/p>\n

Of course, we were on the wrong side of it as we approached the back end from the west. \u00a0As we neared Ellis, reports of large hail around Hays came in. \u00a0The fastest way to get into position would have been via I-70, and then drop south on the east side of the storm (east of the precipitation core). \u00a0But, that very nasty core was in the way. \u00a0Instead, we dropped south out of Ellis about 15 miles and headed east, right up to the back end. \u00a0The VERY turbulent and wild back end! \u00a0I think that we were a bit west of Schoenchen when we stopped to watch the RFD interact with inflow just to our east. \u00a0The cloud motions were off-the-charts chaotic and unreal! \u00a0RFD wind was howling through the nearby utility wires. \u00a0I was expecting a tornado to touch down within a mile of our location (first three pics below). \u00a0I was also thinking of trying to get a few miles farther east, but it was just too dangerous. \u00a0After another few minutes, the chaos subsided, and it looked like the action area had shifted quickly to the east. \u00a0We dropped south to Liebenthal and then stopped to observe the new and BIG RFD cut to the north (pics 4-7 below). \u00a0 Yikes — it appeared that this supercell was going into tornado mode fast. \u00a0The wall cloud to our north was big and beefy, and we waited for the big moment.<\/p>\n

Hmmm…big moment, please!<\/p>\n

The RFD was gigantic, but no tornado was apparent as the storm moved more to our northeast. \u00a0We repositioned east several miles to the Pfeifer area. \u00a0Now, with the storm to our north a few miles, the action area was filled with precipitation. \u00a0UGH. \u00a0A few images (with contrast enhanced) strongly suggested that a fairly large tornado was in progress, but we just did not know for sure at the time. \u00a0Several minutes later, the rain cleared a bit from the base and a tornado showed itself! \u00a0It was in rope-out stage. \u00a0This storm had just produced a very significant and long-lived tornado, but it was pretty much obscured from our vantage point (looking north at it) for 98 percent of its lifespan. \u00a0Chasers on the east side of the tornado had better luck viewing this one.<\/p>\n

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