Close but no tornado

We began the day in Alliance, NE, and we needed to blast south towards eastern CO.  When we made it to Sterling, CO, we enjoyed a fairly leisurely lunch at a small diner called J & L's Diner.  It would turn out to be our last real meal for the day, as a healthy storm was going up just east of Denver.  This storm was moving east at a very slow pace of 20 mph, so we knew we would be able to intercept it near Limon, CO.  After a

very quick fuel/pit stop in Limon, the chase was officially on.  The storm took its time getting organized, but that was good, because it gave all chasers a chance to make a game plan.  Bill's plan was simple: continue driving south and hope for more organization.  As the storm began to make a right turn, it was also moving into better air, so we knew it would become a beast.  Many times, the storm showed signs of rotation, but nothing really happened of it due to the fairly high base.  As we got closer to Haswell, CO, the storm began doing what Bill calls, "The Big Suck."  This term simply refers to the process of ingesting strong inflow and usually occurs before tornadogenesis.  In this case, it was incredibly dusty.  We drove through the inflow, and it was insane!!  Unfortunately, it did not produce, but we continued to track this storm, as it had a very nice wall cloud.  Later, it did "The Big Suck" again, but it could not produce.  As the sun went down, the wall cloud continued to persist well into the evening.  Close to Lamar, CO, we were hit with 1.5" hail stones on the drive, but we did not lose any windows.  After driving 415 miles, we ended up in Lamar for the night.

Near Limon, CO

First "Big Suck"

Wall cloud in the evening