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2001 Tour Summary
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- March 11, 2001: Supercell thunderstorm with funnel near Brownwood, TX. (video clip and stills by David Gold.)
- April 29, 2001: Tour 1 intercepts a High-Precipitation supercell near Stapleton, Nebreska
- April 30, 2001: Tour 1 intercepts an Low-Precipitation supercell near Memphis, NE.
- May 1, 2001: Tour 1 intercepts three tornadoes in the Glenville to Austin, MN area.
- May 3, 2001: Tour 1 intercepts an High Precipitation supercell that spawned a brief tornado near Morton, TX.
- May 6, 2001: Tour Guides Dave Gold, Roger Hill, Alister Chapman and Bill Gargan intercepts two tornadic supercells in Southern OK. This was an off day between tours 1 and 2.
- May 9, 2001: Tour 2 intercepts severe storms over southern Minnesota and northern Iowa; southern Minnesota storms produce copious lightning and large hail; by early evening, one storm begins to rotate strongly and a wall cloud passes nearby!
- May 10, 2001: Tour 2 intercepts several severe thunderstorms across central Iowa. The first produces copious one-inch diameter hail near Carroll and Denison. A different storm goes berserk near Ames, Iowa. We chase this outflow-dominant supercell thunderstorm all the way past Baxter, Iowa as it produces numerous rapidly rotating wall clouds directly in front of us!
- May 16, 2001: Tour 2 intercepts a photogenic supercell thunderstorm over southern Nebraska.
- May 24, 2001: Tour 3 intercepts a beautiful supercell thunderstorm near Rocksprings, TX.
- May 27, 2001: Tour 3 intercepts HP supercells along with a brief tornado in southern KS and northern OK.
- May 29, 2001: Tour 3 intercepts a large supercell thunderstorm with a brief tornado over the Southeast Texas Panhandle.
- May 30, 2001: Tour 3 intercepts supercell thunderstorms in Southeast Oklahoma.
- June 1, 2001: Tour 3 intercepts supercell thunderstorms in southern KS and northern OK.
- June 4, 2001: Tour 4 intercepts Supercell Thunderstorms in central and southern KS.
- June 5, 2001: Tour 4, the most active tour we've ever operated, witnesses a jaw-dropping display of anvil crawler lightning.
- June 7, 2001: Tour 4 intercepts a supercell Thunderstorm over northeast CO which produced a brief tornado.
- June 9, 2001: Tour 4 intercepts a monster supercell that wreaks havoc with some of the worst hail we've ever seen. The state capital city of Bismarck is completely shut down by this storm! Enjoy tour guide Roger Hill's account and pictures of this storm!
- June 11, 2001: Tour 4 intercepts a supercell which spawned a large tornado near Benson, MN.
- June 12, 2001: Tour 4 intercepts a very significant supercell over southeastern South Dakota. It produces numerous tornadic-like vorticies in close proximity! Click here to read tour guide Roger Hill's account and pictures of this storm!
- June 13, 2001: Tour 4 intercepts a nice supercell storm producing numerous funnel clouds over southwestern Minnesota. Read tour guide Roger Hill's account and pictures of this storm.
- June 16, 2001: Tour 5 intercepts a series of severe thunderstorms over central and eastern Kansas.
- June 20, 2001: Tour 5 intercepts a series of supercell storms over central Colorado including a monster hailstorm that hits Watkins, CO and does tremendous damage to Denver International Airport.
- June 20, 2001: Watkins, CO hail storm intercepts by Silver Lining Tour guide Roger Hill.
- June 22, 2001: Tour 5 intercepts a supercell thunderstorm that spawned a funnel over southeast Saskatewan, Canada.
- June 27, 2001: Silver Lining Tour guide Roger Hill intercepts a supercell thunderstorm near Baker, MT.
- June 30, 2001: Silver Lining Tour guide Roger Hill intercepts a supercell thunderstorm over eastern WY and western NE that produced several funnels.
- July 1, 2001: Northeast Colorado Supercell thunderstorms, one of which produced a weak tornado. Silver Lining Tour guide Roger Hill intercepts these storms.
- July 9, 2001: Silver Lining Tour guide Roger Hill intercepts a supercell thunderstorm near Brush, CO.
- July 22, 2001: Silver Lining Tour guide Roger Hill intercepts a tornadic supercell near Faith, SD.
- July 23, 2001: Silver Lining Tour guide Roger Hill intercepts a supercell thunderstorm near Lusk, WY.
- July 26, 2001: Arapahoe County, CO torndic supercell intercepted by Silver Lining Tour guide Roger Hill.
- August 1, 2001: Lincoln County, CO tornadic supercell intercepted by Silver Lining Tour guide Roger Hill.
- August 23, 2001: Russel / Lincoln County, KS tornadic supercell intercepted by Silver Lining Tour guide Roger Hill.
- September 7 and 8, 2001: Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas supercells and tornadoes intercepted by Silver Lining tour guide Roger Hill.
- September 13, 2001: Northeast, Colorado supercell intercepted by Silver Lining tour guide Roger Hill.
- September 14, 2001: Colorado Hialstorm intercepted by Silver Lining tour guide Roger Hill.
- September 15, 2001: El Paso County, Colorado Hailstorm intercepted by Silver Lining tour guide Roger Hill.
- September 20, 2001: Woods county, Oklahoma tornadic supercell intercepted by Silver Lining tour guide Roger Hill.
- September 22, 2001: Clay County, Nebraska tornadic supercell intercepted by Silver Lining tour guide Roger Hill.
- October 9, 2001: Southwest Oklahoma tornadic supercells interecepted by Silver Lining Tour guide Sean Lyon.
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May 16, 2001 Southern Nebraska supercell
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This day was marked by a degree of uncertainty regarding how "organized" the day's thunderstorms would be. The weather map below is a "composite map", so called because it combines onto one chart information from various altitudes within the troposphere. This particular map is somewhat limited in scope, intending to point out the key factor expected to limit the severity of the day's storms: weak mid-tropospheric winds (the large blue wind barbs at North Platte, Nebraska and Dodge City, Kansas). Note the northwestern edge of deep low-level moisture (here, denoted as the 65 degree dewpoint isoline), another key variable necessary for significant severe weather, present across southern Nebraska. This moist airmass is poised to move north underneath the stronger mid-level winds present generally along and north of the I-80 corridor. Also, note the "convergence boundary" present from northwestern Kansas northeastward across Nebraska. Not liking the anemic mid-level windspeeds farther south in Kansas (note the 5 kt northeasterly wind present at Dodge City, Kansas) we decided to target the boundary farther north across southern Nebraska, thinking that the deeper moisture would continue to become established along the boundary there during the day. This happened, and the storm shown below (and marked on the map as a red dot) was the result.
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Video Stills
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The Beautiful May 24, 2001 Rocksprings, TX HP supercell
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Starting the day with a tour of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas we got a late start heading to our target area west of Junction. This was due to the fact that one of our vehicles blew its oil pump (which we changed the next day). No problem! Packing ourselves into two 15-passenger vans, we got westbound on I-10, dealing with horrific traffic on the way out of town. Eventually, we got to our target area just in time to watch strong severe storms mature southwest of Junction. The day's convective activity would culminate in a gorgeous melding of cloud features, colors and landscape that would not soon be forgotten!
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Video Stills
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The May 27, 2001 Kansas/Oklahoma Outflow Extravaganza
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 This day featured storms forming en masse quite early along an old front in western Kansas. Given the mode of initiation, only modest vertical wind shear and relatively high surface dewpoint depressions, we were absolutely certain that these early storms would become outflow dominant beasts with little or no threat of tornado formation. Thus, we hung around Meade, Kansas waiting for new storms to initiate in southwest Kansas or northwestern Oklahoma. After a while, we decided to blow off the Kansas storms altogether and head for northern Oklahoma where we felt sure an isolated supercell or two would form later in the evening. En route to this new target area, we were distracted by first a nice-looking shelf cloud to our north associated with the leading edge of the northern storms' outflow and then new severe thunderstorm formation right overhead. We would follow this latter severe thunderstorm into northwestern Oklahoma, being blasted by severe outflow winds, enjoying a view of fantastic storm structure and later seeing an incredible shelf cloud.
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Video Stills
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The May 29, 2001 Texas Panhandle Supercell
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On this day, several long-lived supercell thunderstorms erupted over the central Texas panhandle. The most persistent of these storms was one that we intercepted near Kress, Texas and followed for several hours to northeast of Chillicothe, TX. This storm was one of my very best for pure structure, as the pictures below illustrate.
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Video Stills
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May 30, 2001 Ada to McAlester Tornadic Supercells
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Storm chasers generally prefer to avoid the forests of eastern Oklahoma at all costs, and this with good reason: poor visibility and limited roads. You are very lucky, indeed, if you manage to reel off a shot of a tornado rampaging through a heavily forested area. Our luck this day was not good enough to do so but we were able to film at least one good funnel cloud and get close enough to a tornado on the outskirts of McAlester, Oklahoma to see debris raining out of the sky.
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Video Stills
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June 1, 2001 Southern Kansas/Northern Oklahoma Supercells
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Tour 3, 2001 concluded with a nice little display of supercells over southern Kansas and northern Oklahoma. We intercepted two non-tornadic supercells (most supercells are non-tornadic) this day: one northeast of Newton, Kansas early in the day and another pretty LP supercell near Manchester, Oklahoma at dusk. We began the day in Oklahoma City and determined that the best chance for significant severe thunderstorms would occur to our north. We headed immediately for Wichita, Kansas and had to choose from several storms developing and in progress. We chose a storm developing rather strongly to the north of Wichita.
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Video Stills
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June 4 & June 7
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June 4, 2001 southern Kansas storm
This day offered much promise of significant tornadic storms in central Kansas. However, things went terribly wrong (or right, depending on your perspective) and none formed. Instead, we drove in circles until we stumbled upon a decent looking, if somewhat shabby, looking storm in southern Marion County, KS by evening. We began the day targeting a well-defined surface low-pressure system centered near McPherson. High instability, strong wind shear and the presence of a warm front extending eastward from the surface cyclone all pointed towards significant tornado potential this day. The first storm attempts of the day for us occurred just east of Salina, Kansas. This was about as close as I've seen to a storm almost developing but then fizzling.
June 7, 2001 Northeastern Colorado tornadic supercell
This was a typical severe weather day in Northeastern Colorado, a region that is no stranger to significant severe thunderstorms. Over the years, a few souls have been very fortunate to photograph several large, dramatic tornadoes over this region, making it a favorite target for storm chasers. In fact, the peak of the tornado season here is typically the first week of June and we don't hesitate to chase here when conditions warrant. Beginning the chase at Sterling, Colorado we ended up being surrounded by many storm chasers at a gas station on the outskirts of town while we sat inside downloading data for several hours. Eventually, a storm developed to our south near Akron and we moved to intercept. Heading south on Highway 63 we moved back and forth on various unpaved county roads to get close to the storm as it moved south through rural Washington County.
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Video Stills
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