6/5/2009 - COD Trip 3, Day 8

On Friday, we targeted the area of northeast Colorado, southeast Wyoming, and Nebraska Panhandle. This was a classic upslope day, with the only fly in the ointment a thick cirrus canopy, which would hold down surface temperatures below the convective temp in the High Plains. After noting on radar that upslope along the Laramie Range had fired some t-storms, we headed northwest out of Ft. Morgan, CO toward the Pine Bluffs, WY area. As we neared Pine Bluffs, the storm just east of I-25, north of Cheyenne, began to take on supercellular characteristics on radar. We scrambled north out of Pine Bluffs to intercept this storm. We began to view the base and attendant wall cloud near Albin, WY – we immediately knew this storm meant businesses. We moved north of Albin into a questionable road network – stopping along a ridge overlooking a beautiful valley filled with this mammoth supercell. From this high vantage point, we watched the supercell ramp up, produce a clear slot, funnel, and then an absolutely stunning 25 minute tornado east of Meriden, WY, which slowly progressed eastward toward us. Wow! What a treat. As a big storm structure fan, I couldn’t have asked for more – beautiful rotating supercell, with long-lived hose underneath, from a hilltop perspective. We enjoyed the hell out of the tornado – then headed east as the storm cycled. We stayed with picturesque supercell – across rural Banner and Cheyenne Counties in the Nebraska Panhandle – as it cycled and swallowed nearby storms. We also enjoyed an LP supercell that formed on the flank of the primary supercell. Just an all-around textbook day for supercell structure!

Group gets an eyeful north of Albin, WY -- tornadic supercell fills the valley!

Now I know why I need to purchase a zoom lens one day -- as a structure freak I rarely need one.

Just a textbook supercell.

Begins a rope stage.

Zoomed view -- thanks to Clark.

Supercell wraps up again west of Harrisburg, NE -- farmers came out and watched along side us.

Group enjoys an amazing view -- classic supercell to northeast (right) and low precipitation supercell to the west (left).

One of the supercells develops a ground hugging shelf. Outflow dominant at this point, but it sure did have a lot of scud bombs up under it that made one scratch their head.

One of the scud bombs, which looked like a tornado ... but wasn't!

The group finally understands the value in driving those hundreds and hundreds of miles!

We eventually broke off from the primary supercell north of Sidney as it progressed into an unfavorable road network around sunset in northeast Cheyenne County. We planned to wrap around the storm on I-80 – trying to outflank it for some nighttime lightning/structure shots – but our plans were quickly squelched when Van 1 smacked a deer a mile or two west of Big Springs. The beheaded deer damaged our left front-end – smashing the bumper into the left front tire, breaking the headlight, and cracking the grill. Considering how quick it all happened and the huge impact with an 18-wheeler to our immediate right – it was quite remarkable that we didn’t sustain a blowout of the tire, which could’ve done a number on Van 1. We spent a good 30-40 minutes on the interstate in the dark, with lightning crashing around to our north, trying to figure out how to peel the bumper back away from the tire. We tried a pull from Van 2 – trying to “pull” the bumper away – no go! We went to plan B – smash the hell out of the bumper with tire iron. After about 200 whacks by the two drivers, Matt, and myself, we were able to pull the bumper away from the tire, providing a full turning radius. We finally got back on the road, but, at this point, it was simply too late to outflank the storms. We were now stuck behind some big hail cores, with strong (and really cold!) outflow, that were moving slowly eastward down the interstate ahead of us. We had to jump exit-to-exit down the interstate, staying behind the cells, all the way to Lexington where we had reserved rooms near midday. We arrived at the hotel after 2 am – with all the excitement of the day, we all crashed immediately.

What a day!

Time-lapse of the day. What a lot of fun to watch! A higher resolution video is available here.