5/30-31/2009 - COD Trip 3, Day 2-3

Saturday was a down day, so we spent the evening takin' in a ballgame featuring the Sioux Falls Canaries vs. the Lincoln Saltdogs. The Saltdogs won the game due to a lackluster outing by the Canary pitcher. South Dakota folks are not a very loud bunch -- but we did our best to pump up the Canaries to no avail. Unfortunately, there were two (full!) beer casualties during the game -- one due to my stupidity and another due to freakin' foul ball. Unbelievably bad luck -- enough to make a grown man cry.

After the game, part of the group headed over to a weekend Ribfest that adjoined the ballpark. We enjoyed some bad country music, a boat load of ugly people watching, and pulled pork and brisket. Overall, not a bad way to spend a down day.

A view of the game, with "Cagie" -- the Canaries mascot -- entertaining the crowd.

Trip 3 participants in front an (odd) mural at the ballpark.

Sunday was a "go" day; however, conditions remained marginal for organized convection. We initially targeted the area near Chamberlain, SD, but eventually shifted our target a bit south and west toward the SD-NE border. Sure enough -- and, as always -- storms fired in big ol' Cherry County, NE. We intercepted the extremely high-based multicells near Ainsworth, NE. After viewing them for a bit, we decided to venture south toward our eventual overnight location along I-80. As we traversed the Sandhills, the storms to our immediate west became a bit more organized, prompting severe t-storm warnings. Our grouped stopped for a belly gas up at Taylor, NE, which allowed us to examine the storms to the northwest. We decided to sit for a while just outside of Taylor and watch the storms try to coalesce and head south -- pushed by an outflow boundary. We were treated to a very picturesque storm as you can see below. Once again, Ma' Nature proved she can still please even though the conditions are marginal for severe storms. We ended the night in Kearney, where elevated convection rocked us to sleep as the low level jet got kickin'. Another rewarding day despite the marginal ingredients.

View just south of Taylor, NE -- along US-183, looking north.

Lucky capture of an evening bolt!

A few of the group enjoy the high-based convection featuring some very pretty laminar clouds.

Another view, looking north.

Another view, looking west.

Looking northeast.

A beautiful photo by NIU student Jimmy Silverstein.

Time lapse of Sunday's storms. A higher resolution video is available here.