When I took my lunch break on Friday, June 25, I noticed right away how hot and muggy it was. I checked the models one last time after lunch, and made the “go” decision to chase. EXWX chaser Marcus Hicks and I left Sioux Falls at about 3pm, and set our initial target as Brookings, SD. En route to Brookings, we quickly learned that the dryline was moving eastward more quickly than we thought. We reset our target to Marshall, MN, and began trying to play catch up.

Chase Video

Chase Account

After a couple hours of trying to beat the storms east, we finally settled on a cell just east of Marshall. This cell was really getting its act together, or so it seemed:

When I left work to chase on June 17, I did not believe we were going to see much. I figured we would see a good wall cloud for 15 minutes, then everything would squall out. The conditions looked solid, but I knew there was a massive amount of energy in the atmosphere, which usually means things will turn into madness quickly. However, with only one chase in me for the year, I decided to go out anyway. Little did I know what I was in for: A more intense chase day than my Manchester intercept of 2003.

Chase Video

Chase Account

I met my chase partners for the day, Marcus Hicks and John Stone, in Sioux Falls. We grabbed burgers at McDonald’s (our unfortunate, yet frequent chasing food) and headed out of town. We picked Marshall, MN as our initial target, but found ourselves in Lake Benton because of a better road network. The day started out slow:

This chase day was full of two things: Uncertainty and structure. It appears there was insufficient low-level rotation to generate enough spin to create tornadoes, however there was plenty of energy in the atmosphere to create some incredible storm structure. What really made the day was the fact that we had isolated supercells with very little interference in the mid-levels. This creates an environment where storms can initiate and grow without turning into big messes. Although we didn’t bag a tornado, it was worth the chase.

I went out on this chase with Marcus Hicks, our team lead at EXWX.net. We always enjoy chasing together, and this day was no exception. The day started with a cell that was riding the SD/NE boarder along the Missouri river. Initiation was around 4pm. Since the cell was isolated, we decided to get on the cell and see what happened.

Today I helped my friend John Stone get to the base of a massive HP supercell near Marland, OK. It was a huge boost of confidence for me on forecasting and nowcasting. I’ve been watching chaser forums, atmospheric data, and the overall practice of forecasting/nowcasting, and my effort is paying off.

I had a great day to start with, the SPC issued a high risk for the day in a concentrated area, giving me a substantial advantage when positioning John. Also, the chaser forums (StormTrack) lit up with great ideas of where to target. I also watched storm motion, which was over 50mph. It wasn’t going to be easy to watch road networks to get John in the right spot.

Good decisions and solid conditions made for a successful day for EXWX chasers Marc Hicks and Derek Davis:

“We decided to just get out of town to get a better view and quickly decided to jump on that first cell that prompted us to get out of town. That turned out to be a great call as this cell produced multiple tornados and baseball sized hail which took out my windshield and beat up the stealth pretty good.”

Great work guys!

More at EXWX.net.

From EXWX.net:

“When I say disaster it is in a lighthearted manner.
But plain and simple we busted! Joe Miller and I headed out of Rock Valley, IA to make a play to the south and head to St. Joe, MO. Got into town about 3:30 grabbed a little fuel, watched the sky then checked data. The dew points looked a little better to the west, and that’s where we went. Stopped in Hiawatha, KS where we met up with other chasers and shot the breeze and looked at more data.”

Read more at EXWX.net

About The Team

Extreme Weather started out as a group of local chasers in 2008 based out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.  In the past three years, the team has grown to includechasers from across the country including Iowa, Washington, South Dakota, Colorado, and Oklahoma.  Individually our members have documented several types of severe weather events including tornadoes, blizzards, floods, and an ever increasing array of severe weather.

Our chasers all share a common passion for all types of weather, and each one contributes their own personal experiences as a collaborative commitment to the team. Through our chasing activities we have the opportunity to help educate the public about the dangers of all types of severe weather through our photos, video, and community involvement.