5/12 - 5/22 CoD Trip 2

From 5/12 - 5/22 I assisted teaching the College of Dupage's experiential learning thunderstorm laboratory course with colleague Paul Sirvatka. Every year there are 5 trips that each take 14 lucky participants into the beautiful, vast emptiness that is the U.S. Great Plains. The trip is open to anyone and differs from most storm chasing tour experiences in that it is relatively cheaper, and allows one to earn college credit! We do our best to allow students to learn the intricacies of severe weather forecasting while enjoying severe storms and awesome local food (typically BBQ!). Below are some pictures of my account on trip 2. Also, a big kudos to Jeff and Jim for safely driving us on our 3500+ mi. journey!

All smiles as we leave CoD!

First stop! Lunch @ Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon. Near Iowa City, IA. 5/15/2011

Thumbs up for Wildwood!

Paul happy to be back at Jess & Jim's (S side of KS city). 5/15/2011

Nothing left on the table after leaving...yum!

Lunch @ Hog Wild BBQ Pit. 5/16/2011

Dinner @ BJ's in Norman, OK. 5/16/2011

Dinner in Guymon, OK 5/17/2011

Clarke very excited to get some real brisket.

Dinner in Oklahoma City, OK. 5/18/2011

Lunch in Guthrie, OK. 5/20/2011

Dinner in Wichita, KS. 5/20/2011
Trip 2 participants
My attempt at comically describing a high-based supercell
HDR shot of the "storm of the trip." Near Emporia, KS. 5/21/2011
More pictures from this day can be found here.
My my...Is that a clear slot I see?
Tornado moving northeast out of Emporia, KS. 5/21/2011
Video capture of a tornado moving toward Reading, KS. 5/21/2011
Watch video here.
Paul frustrated trying to find an semi-inverted glaciated non-rotating wall cloud. 5/22/2011

Interested in chasing with the College of DuPage? I recommend visiting this link first.

6/2/2011 The Little Cell That Couldn't: Part 2

Thursday featured a rather lengthy drive north to Mobridge, SD with hopes for an isolated supercell near sunset. Trends during the late morning/early afternoon began to suggest that the best convergence was occurring a bit further west across western SD. Knowing that the cap was atomic and nothing was going to materialize till late evening, we sat in a park in Mobridge with CoD trip 3 and talked through potential convective scenarios. The main issue was that our new western target would put us on the west side of the Missouri River with only a couple road options for crossing on our inevitable route back towards the east (this turned out to be trivial as the storms died before crossing...). In short, storms began to fire in our new target in an area of enhanced convergence along a dryline. These storms were, well, disappointing. I think they were struggling with the cap, but like yesterday, a dominant updraft was absent. We followed the multicell mess back to the Mobridge area, and shot a few lightning photos on the way back to our overnight location in Fort Pierre, SD. Tomorrow doesn't look to great, but we may chase in southern Nebraska/nw KS. More than anything, it will be a repositioning day for better storms in CO on Saturday.

Ryan takes in the best view of the day...

HDR attempt at the multicell mess

6/1/2011 The Little Cell That Couldn't

After staying in Omaha, NE on Wednesday, Thursday exhibited a slight risk of severe storms across our target area of sw NE. While driving to the McCook, NE area, a nice towering cumulus field was beginning to develop on the nose of a rather impressive theta-e axis. We played some frisbee in Barnett Park while watching cumulus batter each other, trying to figure out which "pulse" was going to become the big show. A rather persistent area of moderately strong battering was occurring just to our east near Cambridge, NE, so we headed that way to check things out. The first initial updraft/downdraft was maturing visually and through its radar appearance. I had really hoped that this storm would set the stage for the rest of the day, but that turned out not to be the case. The storm presented a nice updraft base and vault region, with a rugged scud-sucking wall cloud. We were on our own road with nobody in site...definitely a highlight of the day! What occurred for the next several hours was rather frustrating. The storm became very "pulsy" in nature and could not decide on a dominant updraft. We stuck with this Little Cell That Couldn't until it became very laminar and shelfy in nature near the Elm Creek, NE area, then broke it off and headed back northwest to our overnight location in North Platte, NE, where we ran into CoD trip 3 at the local Applebees. Today looks rather interesting, albeit a pretty lengthy drive. We will be departing for central Dakota shortly...

Looking good to start!

Panny view of the laminar appearance

5/24-5/25 2011 "High Risk" of Busting

Tuesday and Wednesday featured "high risks" of tornadoes from the Storm Prediction Center (SPC). I have a poor history of chasing high risk events, mainly because there is just too much going on dynamically to make for an easy chase. Both setups appeared favorable for long-track, violent tornadoes, but the morphologies of the storms (especially on Wednesday) made for a convective mess that made for very difficult visibility. As an example of why these type of days are so frustrating, I have included a radar image depicting all of the messy storm interactions and hundreds of chasers all searching for the same prize.

These big days typically offer plenty o' CAPE and Shear leading to a large convective overturning QLCS later in the evolution. On Tuesday, we were caught too far north (we drove from IL earlier in the morning), despite high risks for tornadoes in south-central KS. We ended up staying in Springfield, MO that night in preparation for and IL play on Wednesday. The IL setup proved just as "messy." Thus, despite two high risks, I only took my camera out of the bag one time! This occurred near St. Louis on Wednesday as a clear slot began to cut into a wallcloud. After making a quick report to the NWS, the storm produced a funnel cloud that lasted for about 30 seconds. I thought this storm may produce a tornado, but quickly dissipated and became outflow dominant. In all, two high risk days proved to be two relatively expensive car washes. Sorry for the poor quality of the funnel picture, but it was a frame capture from Ryan's video camera. I will be down from chasing for Memorial Day weekend, but plan on chasing the following week.

Weakly rotating lowering near St. Louis, MO

Rapidly rotating funnel just minutes later

5/22/2011 Another Iowa Letdown

Paul Sirvatka and I were excited in the morning with our target area being just E of DSM. I'll offer a few thoughts as to why I think the supercell potential was limited through the afternoon in this area (feel free to debate this with me, as I may be incorrect). Without going back and doing a substantial reanalysis, it appeared to me that the gravity wave that induced an MCS in east/central WI created a meso-high in its wake, causing pressures to rise creating a small surface ridge in eastern IA. This location was then characterized by largely unidirectional hodographs with little 'focus' for convergence and plenty of large-scale ascent ahead of the approaching shortwave. Thus, especially after the very beginning of the event, many storms were multicellular in nature. I'm sure there was more going on, but those are just some of my initial thoughts. The environment of the Joplin, MO tornado was comparable to the environment eastern IA (via 00z 23 May upper air observations), but IA and IL were lucky this time.

5/21/2011 Emporia/Reading, KS Tornado

Woke up in the Oldtown district of Wichita with a tough forecast on our plate. Go north to Emporia, KS with a better probability of storms, or wait in Witchita, KS and points east with potential for more isolated supercells moving into higher θ_e later in the evening. Decided to stop and hang out at El Derado Lake State Park while watching towering cumulus to our NE (initial Emporia cells). Filled up with gas in Cassoday, KS ($4.06/gal!; very high for the plains) after leaving the park while watching towers immediately to our W. Main tower was relatively mushy and orphaned several times. At this point, we had a sinking feeling inside, with several reports of a beautiful supercell and attendant tornado just outside of Topeka, KS. We decided to cut our losses and begin to head northeast on the KS turnpike. Just as we pull onto the turnpike, we began to notice signals of rapid strengthening (anvil knuckles/ radar echo tops). Unfortunately, we were now on the turnpike with no exits until emporia (figures). After backtracking to the storm, we were treated to a picturesque high-based supercell near El Derado. We then got back on the turnpike and paralleled the now looking multicelluar mess. Morphology of the storm through this next stage was rather interesting. Radar evolution suggests a split occurred, with two separate updraft echo tops. However, visually it almost appeared as if the "left split" was now beginning to slow and deviate to the right of the mean flow. This cell pulled a Pacman on the updraft to its southeast and merged into a beautiful bell-shaped monster. While it did not initially appear tornadic, Paul Sirvatka (CoD) noticed a small clear slot begin to cut from the west towards the location of the updraft (no great wall cloud or rotation was present at this time). We reported this via Spotter Network, and about 10 min. later a well-defined funnel began to form. We checked back in with the National Weather Service office in Topeka to let them know that a tornado appeared imminent. Tornado began to impact the outskirts of northeast Emporia and moved off into the countryside. We followed the storm to Reading, KS where we witnessed several power flashes and a new lightning illuminated elephant trunk tornado (we later found out that EF3 damage and 1 fatality occurred in Reading). The supercell had a beautiful bell-shaped appearance and was easy to see with some of the best lightning (anvil zits & CGs) I've ever seen. After this tornado occluded, Paul and I called off the "tornado" chase and hurried north on I-35 to get ahead of the storm (we had a hotel in KC in preparation for 5/22/11) to photograph lightning. A quick lightning pitstop near Wellsville, KS offered a "cherry on top" to a rollercoaster day. Met up with former adviser Walker Ashley and shared stories before calling it a night.

Initial high-based supercell

Supercell near Emporia, KS

Clear slot beginning to cut...

Tornado!

Wide shot of tornado as it moves northeast out of Emporia

Cherry on top!

5/20/2011 Cold Pools & Cutoffs

Yesterday was the first 'good' chase day for the students enrolled in College of Dupage's ESAS 1800 experiential learning lab course as a vertically stacked 'cutoff' low has been creating unfavorable supercell environments across the Great Plains. We started the day in Norman, OK, with eyes on two potential targets (S central KS & N central TX). We opted for the northern target, which was characterized by marginal CAPE and less than ideal hodographs (backing in the upper-levels). While storms never exhibited any rotation and were surely not to be imminently tornadic, the bubbling CU up and over the cold pool along Hwy 61 between Pratt and Turon KS offered for a pretty view in the early evening hours. We finished the day off in Wichita's Oldtown district with steaks and beverages from Whiskey Creek Wood Fire Grill. Today (Saturday) looks like a play near the Flinthills in KS with tomorrow shaping up to be interesting in IA/IL. More pics later as we are about to leave for lunch...

Jeff and Paul discuss the importance of nanometers per fortnight
CU's bubbling up over the cold pool near Pratt, KS

5-13-2011 Gentelman's Chase

Didn't really expect much out of today as I am killing a few days in DeKalb, IL with my former roommate Ryan Coomer before heading out on another chasing expedition this weekend. We got on a multicell early that was interacting with a cold front and the lake breeze from Lake Michigan. The storm produced a brief wall cloud and made for a little excitement. A few good chase days in the southern Plains look possible in the offing...

Rugged wall cloud feature near Sycamore, IL

Almost had me excited...

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.

Sluggish Start to May

After Ma' Nature's vorticity frenzy in April, a slow start to May led to a day spent at Starved Rock State Park in Utica, IL. I highly recommend visiting this park for hiking and sightseeing if you are ever in the area. We will be leaving in the morning for the first day of a mini chase vacation while making a last minute decision on the typical north vs. south play. Better dynamics, low-level shear, and precipitation probabilities to the north, while better instabilities along the dryline to the south, albeit with a stronger cap. However, the southern play may lend to better positioning for storm prospects on Mon. and Tues. I'll likely make a last minute decision in the morning after looking at data.

Lovers Leap (looking NW)

Starved Rock Point (looking E)

Radar, Winds, and Tornado Warnings

Okay, this is my last animation for this incredible tornado outbreak. Amazing to see how the surface winds remain southerly, contributing to substantial clockwise turning hodographs.

April 27 Tornado Reports and Warnings

Quite a remarkable job by the National Weather Service local offices throughout this event.

WSR-88D View of the Historic Supercell

Weather Surveillance Radar WSR 88-D (88 is for 1988, the year it began being implemented; D is for Doppler) is the primary nowcasting tool used to issue severe thunderstorm and tornado warnings for meteorologists working at local National Weather service offices. It is a vital infrastructure that has saved countless lives. Below I have provided an animation of a moving-window radar view of a very long-track supercell that originated in Mississippi before finally decaying in North Carolina. While it is not clear yet if the storm was producing a tornado throughout its entire life, it will certainly go down in history as one of the longest track supercells ever! Base reflectivity is shown on the left, and storm-relative velocity on the right. It is important to keep in mind that as the storm is moving, the altitude at which the radar beam is sampling is constantly changing. This is especially important when the storm gets far away from the radar site. Enjoy, and please respect copyrights.

Warning Frenzy

Unbelievable number of tornado warnings in the past 24-hours. Hats off to local WFOs and the SPC for what I consider to be a very well-forecasted event. More maps to come as the details become clearer...

Mid-April Madness Animation

http://vgensini.myweb.uga.edu/animations/April2011.mp4

Mid-April Madness

Today marks the finale of a 3-day severe weather episode across the Central and Eastern U.S. As memorizing as tornadoes can be sometimes, they can become particularly dangerous in densely populated areas as we saw today. The damage pictures are sad and amazing at the same time. My thoughts are with those who have been impacted by the events of the previous days...

Meteorologically speaking, this system was amazing. I don't have time to go into further detail at the moment, but I have annotated a surface weather map of significant surface features and severe reports from the three-day event.

OK Wildfires

What a busy day of natural disasters! While the tsunami triggered by a record-breaking earthquake early this morning has caused grim pictures and videos from coastal areas of Japan and Hawaii, closer to home, an outbreak of wildfires across east-central Oklahoma has forced many residents to evacuate their homes. Below I have included a visible satellite animation of the central great plains from late this afternoon. I like to tell my students that a visible satellite image is like a digital camera on steroids in geostationary orbit above the Earth's surface. Therefore, if a fire is large enough, one can typically see the smoke plumes caused by the fires.

The first frame of the .gif animation has surface winds overlaid to illustrate the resulting direction of the smoke plumes.

(Click to animate)

Sometimes, It's Good to Nerd Out

A cold and rainy Friday-Saturday in AHN led to a rather 'nerdy' 36 hour marathon of learning the ropes of the WRF and RIP software (RIP is a post-processing package). I've found that grad-school (especially when you are living by yourself), can lead to these moments of 'in depth,' 'in the zone' thinking that are better left blossoming. I'm sure that many other students that have been here before can attest to this. While not necessarily useful right at the moment, I am sure that these tools will come into use during my dissertation.

Anyone who is familiar with my current research knows that I love to look at historical atmospheric states (or simply, weather history). Specifically, I like to examine those states that are favorable for the development of severe storms. One way researchers can examine this history is through the use of reanalysis data. Reanalysis is an assimilation of all data available for a particular time, then a modeled "best guess" of the atmosphere is produced. Obviously, as one goes back further in time, these approximations of the atmosphere become difficult due to the lack of observations (i.e., the National Weather Service didn't start launching weather balloons until the late 1930's).

While nerding out with WRF, I decided to pull some data from 3 May 1999, one of the most well known tornado days in history. I won't go into much detail regarding the environment, as it has already been published on extensively. Rather, I'll offer some eye candy of the 2100 UTC environment as diagnosed by reanalysis.

2100 UTC SLP (contours), 0-6km Shear(blue), surface wind (red), SBCAPE (fill)

The black "+" in the above image is roughly where the sounding below was calculated. The exact lat/lon is printed on the sounding graphic, but it is roughly near Chickasha, OK.

2100 UTC 3 May 1999 sounding for Chickasha, OK via reanalysis