Structure & Gustnadoes of glory = only a halfbust. Still half a bust because we didn't technically get any tornadoes, but we saw some really awesome things, so I can't actually say we busted. So! Here we go.
Day can't begin without dome setup. Obvi.
And right off the bat, got my Locals Portrait #9. "Mr. Cool," telling us some of his storm chasing adventures - he asked where the dry line was, so he definitely had a bit of weather knowledge.
I managed somehow to break my toe in the middle of the night by stepping on some shoes or a bag or something. I kept it elevated on a gorgeous day - not too bad of a deal, really.
We initially were planning to follow a little cell as it developed and headed northeasternly. But, it was hauling major ass and we just couldn't seem to catch up to it. And, of course, we hit yet another flooded road. So, we turned around and headed south instead.
The cell down south was developing quite a nice structure, and we got the opportunity to take some really nice photographs of it.
Lots of gustnadoes happening this day, too. Love me some wild storm motion.
At some point we were outside of the van taking photos, and suddenly there were crazy strong gusts of wind and lots of dirt flying at us. Skip said, 'Get in the van!" - Wind and dirt was swirling around us, and apparently we got run over by a mild gustnado. We're still waiting to see if there is any dome footage from that episode. And, needless to say, I had a crap load of dirt pretty much embedded in my scalp.
The cell developed a nice signature, and we were in a good position to watch as the inflow notch was coming right toward us (but don't worry, from a comfortable position.) Not too soon after, the cell was tornado warned.
It was moving very quickly (around 60mph,) so it reached us in a matter of minutes.
Hint of some gustnadoes down there... this is what I'm used to seeing in terms of gustnadoes.
Then it got kind of nasty and developed into a huge, huge gustnado. Though it was not a tornado, it sure reminded me (size wise,) of the wedge in Mapleton.
And, video of the gustnado! It was beautiful.
And, a tiny bit of hail driving video, just for fun. :)
We did some driving to get out ahead of it, but due to the speed of the storm we weren't able to catch back up. Overall, still a great chase day. :)
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