5/8/2011 Consolation Prize

Capping inversion held most of the day across our initial target of E central Nebraska. A few cumulus started to exhibit vertical development near Oneil, NE, but quickly morphed into orphan anvils with a lack of focused convergence. Storms began to fire in a post-frontal airmass in S central South Dakota, so we drifted towards the border and our overnight location of Winner, SD. A stationary supercell north of Winner proved to be in reach (this storm was nearly stationary for over an hour), so we jogged north to investigate. This proved to be a consolation prize for a relatively frustrating day. Lightning was impressive, along with some great sunlit mammatus.