I woke in Sioux City and quickly glanced at the radar -- oh boy, ongoing elevated storms west of Sioux Falls! Naturally, I was checked out of the hotel in a flash, screaming up I-29 to intercept some hail and perhaps some backside storm structure. As I neared Sioux Falls, the fog reduced visibility to about a 1/2 mile, which is typical of these post-frontal, elevated storm situations. I made it just north of Sioux Falls, where I let one of the hailers roll over me. I only measured up to about nickels, but it was fascinating nevertheless to watch the fog dissipate as the outflow neared from the storm.
As I re-positioned west and then south for the afternoon potential, I was awed by the altostratus deck, which is one of my favorite features to lapse. I was able to grab some pics of what appears to be Kelvin-Helmoholtz instability waves embedded within the deck, which was cool to watch evolve. The lighting under stratus deck often makes photography difficult due to a lack of contrast, but I think you'll find the lapse below interesting. A few minutes later, I was able to catch gravity waves either moving through or atop the stratus. That lapse is available here.
As for the afternoon "sure bet"; well, I lost, as did a lot of others. Essentially, the surface boundary was forced further south than initially progged thanks to those early SD/MN storms, which shifted the focus equatorward into an area with increasing cap strength and somewhat further away from the lift associated with the approaching trough. Cumuliform quickly dissipated around 6 pm, which had me scrambling east for another overnight stay in Sioux City.
Small hail just north of Sioux Falls, SD
K-H (?) waves along the central horizon, with a ground-hugging outflow boundary and laminar plume to the right associated with a narrow line of storms. Higher-res loop available here.
Abandoned farmhouse along U.S. 20 in northeast NE.
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