It's that time of year again...

Good evening!  It has been a hot second since I last posted, but I will not keep you in suspense any longer.  I began my storm chasing vacation today, and the day's task was simple.  With Bill Reid and Kim George (Guest Relations Manager for Tempest Tours), we began driving the vans to Denver for the start of Tour 5, which begins Monday, June 5.  We left Oklahoma City around 2:30 p.m. after enjoying lunch, and we took the scenic route through Geary, Watonga, Seiling, Woodward, and Fort Supply (all in OK).  As we approached Liberal, KS, we noticed a nice storm base developing to the north.  This was unexpected, given the poor set up for severe weather.  As we approached the storm, the base started looking worse, so we continued on our merry way towards Hugoton, KS.  Luckily, another storm was showing signs that it wanted to do something, and the base had a nice lowering.  There was no visible rotation, and we were too far from the nearest radar to get a good look at the storm.  We pulled over to get a better look at the storm, and we decided to head south towards Hooker, OK, and get ahead of the storm.  It was moving to the SW at a blistering 15 mph.  Staying ahead of it was not a problem, and it continued to look better as we drove.  At one point, there was a clear slot, and we were getting atomized rain.  (Note:  atomized rain can be best described as going through the spot-free rinse cycle in a car wash.  When this type of rain is seen from a storm, it usually means that it is rotating hard.)  Sadly, the storm started weakening as we approached Hooker, because it was competing with other storms nearby for the available energy.  We turned around and found a spot to pull off, after escaping the torrential rain, and watched the storm move away.  The setting sun and double rainbow help bring out the mammatus clouds.  After driving 344 miles, Kim found rooms for us in Hugoton.