tuesday, may 06, 2003
mid-morning elevated supercell approaching kansas city
ft. scott-nevada supercell
chase log:
| regardless of the subtleties, this day looked great on paper due to a rare combination of extreme cape and very strong deep shear. after taking a two-hour powernap following my graveyard shift, i set off toward a target of pittsburg, kansas. i shot some nice pictures of an intense, elevated supercell coming out of northeast kansas as i traveled south through the metro. however, unbeknownst to me, this was to be one of those i’m-going-to-tap-the-surface-later-on-and-become-a-tornado-making-machine storms. when initiation finally occurred in far southeast kansas/southwest missouri, it was not the way i anticipated it to be and the chase became a complete rat race. i actually passed through the town of nevada five times… three while i was actively chasing. long story short: i was way out of position for the most favorable storms that developed on the fringe of the ozarks, and raced northeast after them; then i gave up and drove west toward the ft. scott storm, which had a huge outflow shelf and did not produce any tornadoes despite public reports. i crossed significant damage paths from three of sunday’s tornadoes during the chase! perhaps the most intense tornado of the year would occur just after sunset in extreme southeast missouri/southern illinois. |