COD Trip 3 2015 commenced at 8 am on Friday, the 29th. With a lack of severe threat---at least initially---we moseyed west, venturing to
Sioux Falls, the Badlands, Wall Drug, and Devil's Tower. Our first chase potential was on the
Sunday, the 31st, but nothing materialized until twilight. That evening, we watched a few storms along the Laramie Range from the area immediately west of Scotts Bluff National Monument as the swallows swarmed.
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| Group picture at the Badlands. |
On
Monday, the 1st, we woke in Scottsbluff and, after a morning discussion, targeted the far northwest part of South Dakota. We made the beautiful drive from Scottsbluff to Lusk to Newcastle to Spearfish, holding up in Belle Forche after lunch. Eventually, some towers went up to our west in the deeply mixed air and we went after them to take a look. The towers all suffered quick deaths as they were moisture starved. A persistent area of convection hugging the northern lip of the Black Hills seemed to be the only game in town to play as nothing was forming to our north or northwest. So, we took off after the cell east of Sturgis. We punched through it and experienced a bright rainbow, as well as nickel size hail. After a brief stop to snap pics of the rainbow, we pushed east, jumping ahead of the
maturing supercell. We pulled off the interstate between
Sturgis and Rapid City and were amazed at the supercell staring back at us. We sat in a field and watched the nearly stationary supercell for well over 30 minutes before shifting east as the FFD rain started to fall on us. We stair-stepped down the interstate, each time stopping to take in the beautiful supercell. Following the storm into the western edges of Rapid City, we finally called it a night as it started to lose organization in the waning light. We had to wait a bit to hit the road back to Spearfish as the interstate was shut due to flooding caused by the slow-moving cells. Overnighted at Spearfish Holiday Inn.
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| Double rainbow on backside of slowly maturing supercell near Sturgis, SD. |
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| Our initial view of the front side of the supercell. |
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| Takes on a sombrero appearance. |
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| Lightning as supercell begins to decay west of Rapid City. |
Series of still lapses, as well as gopro sequences.
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:)
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