May 6th, 2024 High Risk Day

May 6th, 2024 had teased a moderate risk until that morning when it went to high risk.  This happens maybe once or twice a year and usually is the harbinger of bad things.

Wichita was on the northern end, OKC on the southern. HRRR was showing lines of storms forming, but not going linear. I also was looking at Pratt, not wanting to go into Oklahoma because I had just returned the day before from the great OWFI Conference.  

We had the ingredients in place for a very severe weather day, but just like having a taco bar and opting for a burrito or taco salad. It just didn't come together.

There were tornado warnings just over the border in Oklahoma but the northern storms produced brief and EFO to EF1 tornadoes. 

A storm we followed did go to Manhattan, Kansas and produced a brief tornado SW of town but luckily didn't hit anything.

Didn't see any storms producing wall clouds but would see these odd funnels dip just below, spin for a moment, and disappear.

Nice clouds

The odd shaft of sunlight

Hey, got a rainbow.

The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men March 13th, 2024

Best laid plans of mice and men - Robert Burns repeated by Arthur Dent in Hitchhiker's Guide.

The day started off oddly. Like gasing up the car and having an elderly man possibly accost either you or someone near you from across the parking lot. I find omens in odd things.

Add to it, a couple people in mental crisis on Mass Street in Lawrence. It was a red flag day. Maybe I just needed one of them, in the middle of yelling the Jefferson's theme song to stare at me and lucidity tell me "YOU ARE ILL PREPARED AND WILL HAVE A BAD CHASE DAY!"

It wasn't a bad day though. Hit mass street in Lawrence, hadnsome great poke, and saw some old haunts. There were bonus points for the enhanced risk nearby.   My youngest isn't the daughter that likes storm chasing but tolerates her old man's occasional adventures. She's the one that likes concerts, fine arts, and food adventures. She tolerates me.

SPC had increased the outlook to an enhanced risk in the region from Salina through the Kansas City metro area into Missouri.

We shopped til around 5pm. There were lots of cumulus trying but nothing that looked to memorable. We drove out to Eudora and decided to go up to Tonganoxie.  I was getting updates and just trying to guess. We watched some towers build then fall over but nothing looked great. 

I decided to head toward Topeka and watched storms start to fire south of Salina. We ran down the interstate and tried to find a way west, unfortunately that doesn't always happen on the interstate. 

My daughter did take a great photo.

There is a beautiful wall cloud there and I wished we could have found a way to it. But as Robert Burns said . . .