I’m not even kidding… I ran into fellow chaser and friend, Vince while watching a struggling storm north of Sutherland, Nebraska yesterday… we chatted for the better part of an hour while watching this nearly stationary storm struggle, go through an impressive LP phase, then fizzle over our heads. Toward the end of its life as we were chatting away, we heard a small plunk on the ground next to my vehicle and Eagle-Eyed Vince spotted the source, a single, solitaire piece of hail, which when it fell, was about the size of a penny. But by the time all-thumbs me could get my phone out, unlocked, and switched to camera, it had melted to this size in his hand. That was the funny moment of this, despite some better-than-lousy structure when it aspired to be a little LP.
Which leads to today… good morning from North Platte, by the way… today looks messy, albeit a bit more promising for storms that should be more to play with. As per usual in this cycle of setups, the CAMs have been all over the place in terms of where and intensity, where last night had solid cells early on along and just south of I-80 in southwest Nebraska, current CAMs are showing weaker development further west. It seems to sway around from run-to-run.
Currently here, we have light rain and clouds with a band of showers pushing through. These aren’t terribly strong, and SHOULD clear out early enough where recovery won’t be an issue, even if it might delay the onset of storms. Once again, it’s a milk the checkout kinda morning, and i have already extended myself to noon here. It’s ALSO Pumpkin Spice Day! And how happy I am to say there is a Starbies right across the road, so upon my departure here, that may kill an hour.
The idea would be to get on the early isolated storms, then as they move southeast and congeal, let them chase me to I-70 where I would probably bunk down tonight, then chase my way back home tomorrow in an eastern Colorado setup. Thursday has a marginal risk in Colorado that MAY get consideration, but I should be home Wednesday evening assuming I don’t end up too far west too late, in which case if I do, I will likely chase Thursday just cause I am already out.
So that’s the scheme… another afternoon to kill here in North Platte and hopefully a little more to do than I did yesterday. See ya on the road!