April 18-19th Chase Vid & Report

On April 18th, I was busy organizing my house as I had just moved into my new place. I was taking out the trash when I looked north and noticed the Cheyenne Ridge was taking in some action due to a boundary setting up. So I took a break and drove out next to the Greeley Airport and watched these towers mature until it created a monster cell moving very slowly but with some intense shear. I didn't see any hail accompanied with this cell. Lightning was a big factor as one reported a fire caused by the lightning as it moved just north of Wiggins after dark. It was a beautiful cell need I say close to home.

While sitting around looking at models another 'See Text' was looking to cover most of eastern CO up into NE south into NM. With the boundary setups looking prominent near ridges and divides. The moisture looked descent over Akron, CO with a SE component wind.

April 19th, I drove to get into position for anything. While out there I watched a cell trying to prompt out of Fort Collins and to my south cells were bubbling Cumulus Towers continuously. Once the boundary began to make its way to this area of bubbling towers, I knew that since I was sitting under a capped atmosphere for the moment, I ventured south on 71 from Brush to Last Chance. This was great to watch the exploding towers with immense shearing. A meso formed early on, but could not carry on due to the shearing happening therefore everything was falling apart due to not enough CAPE. It was incredible to watch the power though as it moved closer to Last Chance. This is when it fell apart just as it was about to cross 71. Hail fell like rocks. Usually cornsized hail doesn't hurt, but it did that day. Maybe I had sensitive skin that day or something?! lol
Meanwhile I was trying to get a hold of Dann Cianca to run into him, FAIL, we played around each other just to the fact how everything played out. I drove into Limon to get something to eat. Than turned back around to head back north since the boundary was firing off more cells near Deer Trail moving eastward. I got in front of these developing cells as they moved back into the area close to Last Chance.
The best part of the day was watching the dieing meso transfer. This was very unique. From the cell to the north looked to have moved east and the meso wrapped into higher altitude before finally dieing. To the far west where there still stood a large column of towering cu's surviving existed a meso. But back to the best part; seeing the bell shaped meso made the whole day that much better.