June 26th ended up being my favorite chase day in June. Good moisture, a boundary and strong shortwave energy would set the stage for supercells across North and South Dakota. I started the day in Rapid City and ended up near Mobridge as two tornadic storms formed not far from the North and South Dakota border west of the river. It was absolutely stunning scenery watching this storm interact with the surroundings! It produced at least two tornadoes, possibly more as it wrapped in rain. It also produced tons of hail to tennisball sized. The structure later in the evening was stunning!
June 21st, 2007 South Dakota and Nebraska Supercells
It is a rare occasion that you get woken up at 6 AM with a TORNADO WARNED supercell out your window! June 21st was one of those days! A cluster of supercells developed overnight and moved southeast across south central South Dakota. We intercepted one near Kimball, SD that produced 4.25 diameter hail! Later that day, an old boundary would provide the lift and convergence to develop the best storm of the day, that also produced hail to 3.5″ in diameter!
June 12th, 2007 South Dakota Supercells
June 12th was the worst of nightmares weatherwise. Great shear was all the was present this day, as too many overnight thunderstorms would not allow much instability to form. Storms formed along a boundary, with no cap, and became outflow dominated quickly. Too many storms would form from Nebraska, northward through North Dakota. Despite several tornado watch boxes, no decent tornadoes developed this day. The images here were taken within 50 miles of Murdo, SD.
June 6th, 2007 South Dakota Badlands Tornadic Supercell
June 6th had all the ingredients for significant severe storms, including tornadoes. Good shear, a strong wave, good instability and respectable moisture would set the stage for supercell storms. SPC issued a MODERATE RISK and associated tornado watch box for western South Dakota. By 1 PM we had arrived in Wall and stopped for lunch. A couple of small towers were going up south of us. After 45 minutes of our lunch break, a supercell rapidly developed south of town. As we gathered the clients and headed out, it didn’t take long for a tornado to form. This tornado, although not terribly strong, stayed on the ground for 25 minutes. We could never get any closer than 15 miles from it. Later, the storm turned into a monster HP supercell before lining out.
August 24th, 2006 South Dakota Tornado Outbreak
What an event!! After watching model run after model run I couldn’t resist the 1700 mile round trip to eastern South Dakota from Denver to chase this one!!! I arrived in Sioux Falls, SD around 3 PM. I couldn’t decide whether to sit tight, head to southern Minnesota or head west towards the advancing front. Each situation had its positives and negatives. After much analysis and some very quick driving, I decided to head west towards the front, which now was firing a string of supercells along it. I targeted the southern supercell coming across the Missouri river north of Pierre. I caught up with it east of Oneida and what a sight it was!!! It took about 10 minutes for it to drop its first of 7 tornadoes that I saw. The structure was second to none as this beautiful striated updraft produced one tornado after another. The largest and strongest tornado developed southwest of Wessington and tracked southeast near Wolsey to southwest of Huron before dissipating. It stayed on the ground over 40 minutes and resembled the Manchester, SD tornado from June 24, 2003 (which I saw from the south side). Finally, the storm produced one last tornado southeast of Huron as it weakened moving towards I-29.
June 13th, 2006 South Dakota Badlands Supercell
I wasn’t expecting much this day, but couldn’t resist a play off the Black Hills of South Dakota. By mid afternoon a VERY high based supercell formed near Hot Springs. As it moved off the hills, it weakened and almost died. Then, not far from the western edge of the Pine Ridge Reservation, it intensified and became a wonderful high based hailer. The structure was as textbook of an LP as one could get. The most beautiful part was right at sunset as the sun lit the updraft and anvil, complete with reflected convection in the anvil.
May 28, 2006 South Dakota Supercells
May 28 took us to northwest Nebraska and southwest South Dakota to play an advancing trough out of the Rockies. It became apparent again that moisture would be the issue as has been the case for most of the season. Storms formed along a boundary in western Nebraska and raced into South Dakota. Two supercells formed that we chased, both producing high winds and hail, but little else. We encountered intense winds with a bow echo east of Rapid City late in the evening that was quite spectacular.
June 26th, 2005 Dakotas Tornadic Supercells
Being the first day of the tour, we drove QUICKLY to South Dakota where we caught a decent supercell. Conditions looked good with high instability, decent shear and an outlfow boundary from previous night convection to focus intense convection on. It produced a couple of weak tornadoes before lining out. We then blew it off and drove towards the Bismarck, ND area where we caught a nice sculpted supercell that produced a couple of weak circulations.
June 8th, 2005 Oskaloosa, Kansas Tornadic Supercell
I must admit, this day caught me by surprise. We started in eastern South Dakota. After morning analysis and looking at model data, it appeared to be a respectable chance for large supercells in eastern Kansas with extreme instability and decent shear. As we arrived in Jefferson county, Kansas a supercell exploded from a small cumulus tower. Within 20 minutes the top was at 60,000 feet. Within another 30 minutes a tornado formed. This tornado narrowly missed the town of Oskaloosa.
June 7th, 2005 South Dakota Badlands Supercell & Tornado
June 7 looked like a big tornado day in South Dakota. By the end of the day, it would be disappointing from the aspect, but the supercell I caught that day was special. The structure was phenomenal!!! This storm formed on the western end of the Badlands, and slowly tracked east/northeast towards I-90. This storm produced at least 1 tornado, and hail to 3″ in diameter. The prettiest part about this supercell was the structure.
