Thursday, July 22, 2010

What Does This Mean?

So I just found out last week about this double rainbow stuff! and by now it has become the comedy central for anyone who spot these pretty remarkable refractive phenomena. If you have yet to see this don't worry your not missing much other than a guy who realized a double rainbow exists on Earth. Youtube (double rainbow) if curiosity leads you to know what many are talking these days. Only 6 million people have seen this video! Tonight was a treat over Denver with a descent rain shower that dissipated to the east giving off an amazing rainbow/sunset show!





With monsoonal, yes monsoonal season underway....there will be numerous chances to just stay put in Colorado wherever you live to see some sort of action. Wind, a cloud or 2, evaporative hail, lightning, and quick spinnies caused by boundary action! Plenty to do for the rest of summer, go for a swim, eat lunch, go to Walmart than drive home to see a thunderstorm everyday brewing off the mountains. Not gonna waste gas, unless it's a nuclear bomb or it's just time to drive somewhere!

I've many stories to share once the fall season rolls around on another season of "Storms That Have Been Chased"

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Wishing everyone a Great 4th of July coming up.....

I hope everyone has an awesome Fourth of July! Get in the pool, chase, or launch fireworks at each other....oh and don't let the rain stop you, just find the lightning show!
Happy 4th,
Skinner

Father's Day Chase June 20th 2010


It was a Father's Day that I will never forget- Was it a grand Kansas monster LP supercell that grazed the plains...NO. In fact it was quite the opposite. It was a bust based on bad timing.
My target for chasing would be near the triple point of Colorado, Nebraska, and Kansas. This was the second day of chasing with my dad visiting me for the weekend.
Leaving Greeley around noon we got to Fort Morgan to wait low cloud cover break up. While waiting in (FoMo), my dad loves dollar stores so I figured it was his day and we had time to kill.
My dad was also kind of celebrating his 65th bday in this weekend as well since his birthday was just a week before Father's Day. After touching everything in the dollar store, we checked radar to find that a dominating supercell had merged off the Rockies up in Wyoming. This would be the cell of the day. There was a large threat for severe weather up in SE WY into western NE area, but I wanted chase the Palmer stuff. Cells began to fire near Limon moving NorthEast to our location just east of Last Chance, Colorado. This would only please us as it would dissipate into upper levels as the warm air aloft would choke up any development. The low level clouds (fog) in Northeastern Colorado would create a feeder inflow into the long lasting supercell moving through Southeastern Wyoming. At this point I was dissappointed but confused at the same time. Out east a long line of severe weather in Kansas would dry things out as it would take all the moisture available from the southeasterly flow giving us dry outflow into Eastern Colorado.

So we just sat enjoying the low dissipating clouds as they convected and
evaporated in the dying cells out of Limon. It was around 6PM and blue skies ruled eastern Colorado. Time to head home, we reached Yuma, CO and to the west were little pops trying to stay alive on what appeared to be a boundary over Fort Morgan into Sterling parallel I-76.

We began to follow this from Brush heading Northeast. This would leave us with a great ending to what could have easily been a bust. Beautiful outflow stritations with an amazing sunset and some CGs (Cloud to Ground) lightning worth noting.
All in all, my dad and I enjoyed the lightning like we were watching a fireworks showing. Great times. To conclude The boundary continued into late night hours causing a constant line of severe weather all the way to Wray, Colorado continuing into Nebraska and Kansas.