Chase Date: June 4, 2015
Chase Partners:
Solo
Chasers Encountered:
James Gustina
Miles Logged: 641
States Chased: KS
Severe Risks: SPC Outlooks
Chase Recap:
I had high hopes for northern Kansas this day, as it appeared a significant chance of strong tornadoes was unfolding. Unfortunately the capping concerns I had would hold. Morning mesoanalysis and DDC and AMA soundings were showing 25C temps with SW winds at 850mb. It seems to me the warm/dry air intrusion throughout the day strengthened the cap and kept us from seeing storms.
Nonetheless, I hung out north of Russel most of the day in a very hot and humid environment. A storm eventually did try to fire near Phillipsburg, but evaporated into nothingness shortly after initiation.
The dryline way to the west lit up and I bailed 90 minutes west to view one of the most spectacular lightning shows I’ve ever seen south of Quinter, KS. Unfortunately I had a melt down of equipment. Already on my backup laptop, I had forgotten my tripods and my trigger release was having issues. So I got a bunch of lightning photos, but they could have been much better had my equipment been working correctly.
It also stung a bit to see Colorado light up with some prolific photogenic tornado producers.
