Scott F. Blair
2008 Chase Days

3/30, 3/31, 4/7, 4/9, 4/23, 5/1, 5/6

March 30, 2008. Rocky, OK
Additional Photos Here I departed Lawrence, KS by mid-morning with an initial target of Fairview, OK. Meeting up with Magliocco, Fritchie, Currens, and Pietrycha, we adjusted south towards Weatherford, OK as the surface cold front sagged southward, winds backed with time across SW OK, and aggravated cu developed within the better instability and convergence. Two storms developed and visually the storm SW of Cordell appeared more mature with lowered scud under the updraft base and thick/crisp anvil edge. We meandered east of Rocky on a few back roads and observed a significant improvement in the storm structure just before sunset. Perhaps the most memorable moment of the day came as the sun set directly behind the striated updraft complete with very pleasing vault structure and a well separated precipitation core. The storm occasionally managed to ingest blocky scud into the base with slow rotation. Continuing on back roads, we stopped east of Lake Valley, OK (5 N Mountain View, OK) and watched the rotating updraft approach. A spectacular sight came as the circular updraft passed overhead with the glow of twilight. It was possible to acquire a 360 degree view by looking upward with peripheral vision, which was an unusual and memorable treat. On the way back to the hotel in Weatherford, we spent an hour observing a third storm near the Corn/Colony, OK area. Heading north on Hwy58, we encountered hazardous driving conditions in the wake of the aforementioned supercell. Several areas of flash flooding and 2-4” deep of quarter-sized hail were common in a ~3 mile stretch. Overall, my expectations for the day were easily exceeded and happy to have the 2008 season underway.
March 31, 2008. Lindsay, OK
 I started the day in Weatherford, OK with Amos M as we awoke to ongoing severe convection just east of our location. This activity was along and ahead of a cold front in a weakly capped atmosphere. Vertical directional turning within the first 5K ft close to the surface boundary wasn't good, but the speed shear was decent, providing hope of a few photogenic supercells by early afternoon. I observed two supercells, neither being very photogenic. The first one near Lindsay, OK quickly became undercut by outflow and remained persistent but elevated. Dropping south to a new storm west of Davis, the storm continued to fight new convection within its inflow region. The day ended south of Davis watching 1" hail stones.
April 7, 2008. Electra, TX Tornado
Additional Photos Here I departed northeast Kansas by early morning with an initial target of Lawton, OK. Meeting up with Fritchie/Rachael in OUN, we had the lunch of champions at Raisin' Canes. While in Lawton, enhanced cu persisted across far NW TX and we drove southeastward to acquire an improved view. Shortly after our arrival, three cells merged into one large updraft and rapidly formed a large wall cloud. We met up with Magliocco and watched the rotating wall cloud near Electra, TX with golfball sized hail. Sliding just south of the forward-flank precipitation, we watched a spectacular evolution of visual tornadogenesis. The storm structure was amazing and a tornado was noted in the form of two well-formed laminar funnels (5:01pm and 5:07pm), one complete with a debris whirl. I'm still unsure how the storm failed to produce a longer lived tornado as visually everything seemed in balance and mobile mesonet observations suggested the thermodynamic profile was very supportive. After the tornado, the supercell took on a painfully slow decay and we dropped south to a new storm near Mankins, TX. The third supercell had breathtaking structure near Windthorst, TX at twilight. The storm evolved into more of a LP supercell as it slowly decayed.
April 9, 2008. Breckenridge, TX Tornado
Departing Denton, TX by mid-morning with Magliocco and Hall, we made an initial target of Abilene, TX. We waited around the Sweetwater to Abilene area to monitor the warm front and dryline potential targets. Fritcie made it to our location just before convective initiation, and we took off after a storm approaching the Abilene area that looked to remain in a favorable trajectory to remain in the warm sector, riding along the warm front. The storm was rain-happy with an overload of precipitation masking storm structure and limiting anything photogenic. Fritcie and I flanked the supercell on I-20 to Hwy 183. As the storm neared Breckenridge, we turned east on Road 576 (4 S Breckenridge) and then north on Road 207. We managed to place ourselves on the western periphery of the new region of rotation (the tornado region near Breckenridge was occluding). A thin band of precipitation rapidly wrapped around us and the rotation. The cloud base motion quickly increased and a well-focused region of rotation materialized near Hwy 180. Around 5:33 pm, a tornado developed 12 E Breckenridge with periodic condensation from the cloud base to the surface, although no fully condensed vortex was observed. A modest debris whirl persisted underneath the lowering just north of Hwy 180. We managed to observe the tornado for no more than 3 minutes before the entire region was obscured by precipitation. We attempted to view the storm several times within the notch but failed each time. We ended the day with friends at Luigi's in Denton, TX.
April 23, 2008. Idalia, CO
Overall, played a risky target across far eastern Colorado versus western Texas. Nice dry slot provided ample surface heating and moisture recovery at the surface sent middle 50 dewpoints into the high plains. The vertical wind profile was very conducive to supercell storms and the low-level shear was modest. I stopped in Wray, CO and met up with Pietrycha, McGuire, and Foltz from WFO GLD. We watched several high-based turkey towers develop just west of the deeper moisture. The KGLD radar showed an impressive fine line differentiating deeper moisture (upper 50s / lower 60s Td) and strong easterly winds (40 mph+). Unfortunately, this was generated from morning convection and characteristic a very stable layer. Supercells developed as the boundary interacted with this feature, resulting in explosive development above the stable layer. As they evolved, the convection consistently became even higher-based and slowly decayed. We ended the day dodging tumbleweeds, eating a steak, and watching a left-split storm near the CO/KS border at sunset.
May 1, 2008. Moran, KS
Additional Photos Here I departed late in the afternoon from WFO Topeka after a busy shift forecasting for severe weather. Several small storms quickly evolved from an effective dryline across portions of eastern Kansas. I managed to observe two severe storms near Pleasant Grove and Ottawa, experiencing severe hail of 1.25" and 1.50" respectively. Eventually, several smaller storms developed within the vicinity along the dryline and seeded downstream convection, so I dropped southward towards the southern end of convection in southeast Kansas. While approaching the main area of convection near Chanute, a beautiful sky of mammatus littered the underside of the anvil. I stopped 11 E Chanute, KS around 7:40 pm and waited for the tor-warned supercell to move closer to my location. The structure was very pleasing and the setting sun added to the mixture of colors. I drove eastward on Hwy 54 and stopped near Uniontown, KS. A newly tor-warned storm was approaching from the southwest. Through the semi-frequent lightning, a well-defined wall cloud was observed underneath the rain-free base. The feature was persistent for nearly 15 minutes and appeared to have decent potential for a tornado. I observed one final supercell near Mound City, but this also met a rapid demise after ingesting a worked-over environment. A robust squall line developed just west of Topeka, and I stopped just west of Lawrence for a few stills. After a few wind gusts around 60 mph, I called it a night.
May 6, 2008. Great Bend, KS
Additional Photos Here I departed Lawrence around 12:45pm for an initial target of WaKeeney to Ness City, KS. Expectations for the chase were relatively low, although I hoped there would be sufficient shear to sustain organized convection. High-based storms initially developed west of the dryline in southeast Colorado near Lamar. I arrived in Ness City around 4:30 pm with a view of convection to the west. Shifting east on Hwy 96 towards Rush Center, a cluster of storms had organized nicely and the first signs of decent outflow structure were visible. Storm structure drastically improved by 7pm as the storm evolved into a well-organized bow echo west of Great Bend, KS. With the visual apex of the bow targeted just south of GRB, I dropped 5 miles south and eastbound to Raymond, KS. At this point, the shelf was making serious ground on my location, so I made intermittent stops to snap a few photos. The most impressive storm structure was viewed from 7:45pm to 8:15pm in the vicinity of Lyon. The shelf cloud featured a multi-layered appearence across the western horizon. Severe wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph were reported within the bowing segment. I allowed the leading edge of outflow overtake me east of Lyons, with the structure featuring a classic 'whales mouth'. I took a few more photos and called it a day as darkness set in.


Direct questions and comments to: scottfblair@yahoo.com

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