We began today in Avoca, IA after yesterday's very long chase day. Our plan was to blast west towards Sidney, as storms were forecasted to go up in Wyoming and move to the southeast towards us. We stopped for lunch in Kearney, NE, and we continued our trek westward. Soon, a storm initiated where the models predicted, and it held together long enough for us to get closer to it. We jumped off I-80 at Roscoe, NE, and found a nice viewing area to watch the storm get closer. At this point, it was becoming outflow dominant, which meant tornado chances would be very slim. Kim booked rooms for us in Kimball, NE, and we followed this storm for a while.
We found what appeared to be a random driveway to stop and view the storm. A fenced-off area adjacent to it had signs that basically stated deadly force will be used on unauthorized persons. We did not think much of this, so we continued to watch the skies. Eventually, a military hummer pulled up, and two uniformed soldiers with automatic rifles approached the group. One of them asked me what we were doing, and I stated that we are storm chasers watching these storms. He stated that we need permission to be here and that we need to leave immediately. Apparently, we were on top of an active missile silo!! Of course, anyone with common sense knows you do not argue with someone who has a gun, so we left without argument. We found a spot about a mile down the road to view the storms, and the military soldiers waved and honked at us as we were going about our business.
Anyway, the storms were looking rather uninteresting, so we started heading to Kimball. Along the way, we stopped along US 30 to take pictures of the variety of colors in the sky. A storm began going up about 60 miles to the west, so we bolted off after it, only to find that it was quickly dying. We found a dirt road to stop and watch the storm pass and the sun set. All in all, today was a pretty good day, and we drove 559 miles.
We began today in Avoca, IA after yesterday's very long chase day. Our plan was to blast west towards Sidney, as storms were forecasted to go up in Wyoming and move to the southeast towards us. We stopped for lunch in Kearney, NE, and we continued our trek westward. Soon, a storm initiated where the models predicted, and it held together long enough for us to get closer to it. We jumped off I-80 at Roscoe, NE, and found a nice viewing area to watch the storm get closer. At this point, it was becoming outflow dominant, which meant tornado chances would be very slim. Kim booked rooms for us in Kimball, NE, and we followed this storm for a while.
We found what appeared to be a random driveway to stop and view the storm. A fenced-off area adjacent to it had signs that basically stated deadly force will be used on unauthorized persons. We did not think much of this, so we continued to watch the skies. Eventually, a military hummer pulled up, and two uniformed soldiers with automatic rifles approached the group. One of them asked me what we were doing, and I stated that we are storm chasers watching these storms. He stated that we need permission to be here and that we need to leave immediately. Apparently, we were on top of an active missile silo!! Of course, anyone with common sense knows you do not argue with someone who has a gun, so we left without argument. We found a spot about a mile down the road to view the storms, and the military soldiers waved and honked at us as we were going about our business.
Anyway, the storms were looking rather uninteresting, so we started heading to Kimball. Along the way, we stopped along US 30 to take pictures of the variety of colors in the sky. A storm began going up about 60 miles to the west, so we bolted off after it, only to find that it was quickly dying. We found a dirt road to stop and watch the storm pass and the sun set. All in all, today was a pretty good day, and we drove 559 miles.
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