Thursday, September 20, 2018

June 18 Supercells near Denver


We began today in Ogallala, NE, and our plan was to head west towards Denver.  Models were hinting that storms would go up later in the day near the airport, so we wanted to get closer to that area.  After the morning briefing, we headed west on I-76 into Brush, where we had a fast food lunch.  Martin wanted to keep moving, because there was a small tornado chance today.  After lunch, we continued west in Wiggins, CO, where we had a pit/fuel stop.  We continued south on CO 52 until we reached Hoyt, CO, where 52 turned west.  We did some zig-zagging until we reached the town of Bennett, CO.  Once we were in Bennett, we found an open wheat field for the Chinese film crew to do some camera work.  Martin also used his drone to get more aerial shots of the pop stars.  We hung around the open wheat fields for a while, and this was a good time to look at data.  Nothing much was happening due to the cap, but models were still showing development in our general vicinity.  From Bennett, we headed east on I-70 to investigate an area of interest near Deer Trail, CO.  We found Jolly Road to set up shop, and we waited for something to happen.  After what seemed like an eternity, good cells began popping up north of the airport.  We needed to be on these cells ASAP!!  As we zig-zagged towards them, they looked good both visually and on radar.  We intercepted the better looking storm near Hudson, CO, and it had a nice wall cloud with it.  After following this storm into Fort Lupton, CO, we let the storm pass over us so we could get a better view of the wall cloud from behind.  As we followed this storm north on I-76, other storms in the area began to lose their discrete nature and become linear.  This was a good time to call it a chase and head into Fort Morgan, CO for the night.  We were treated to a nice sunset along the way, and we drove 362 miles.

1 comment: