Intense supercell in Southwest Kansas

Chase Recap:

This would easily be the windiest chase I’ve ever been on, I think. We were, at times, less than 3 miles away from a storm and could not see it because of the dust.

Forecast

A day west of I-35. First southern plains chase west of I-35 this year. A highly amplified trough crossing into some decently unstable and moist air in the Texas panhandle. My target was somewhere around Pampa for a storm.

Picking up Zack and hitting the road

I headed over and picked up Zack and his gf, and we headed out. We headed out I-40 westbound towards Amarillo. It was a very windy drive, with multiple times being pushed out of my lane.

Moisture continued to look good out west, with dewpoints in the 60s at Amarillo. We would end up stopping to top off my tank in Amarillo, and then head north on 287.

Trying to see the storms through the dust

Storms had fired to the north, but as we approached Stratford, we’d figure out that we couldn’t actually see the storms. The dust and then smoke from a fire would hinder visibility all day. Storm motions were screaming, so we spent a lot of time trying to get ahead of the storm. When we finally got a glimpse of the storm, it looked like this.

Storm near Garden City, KS

We’d end up making it as far north as Garden City before finally heading back home. I stopped off at the raceway near Garden City airport and snapped a few photos of the storms before heading back home. We’d make it home after a 5 hour drive. What a long day.