Day 6 - Northern Plains!

MON 01 JUNE 2015

Had a little play with some non-severe storms in eastern Colorado yesterday (Sunday), they were very outflow dominant (temp dropped from 27C to 13C) with a nice gust front kicking up dust, and a lot of rain but not much hail. We chased the line of storms down to Limon (CO), parked up and let it come over us - if nothing else, it cleaned the numerous bug smears on our windscreen!

Outflow-dominant thunderstorm approaching Limon (CO) [Photo courtesy of Nick Parnell]

Sunset by the Rockies [Photo courtesy of Nick Parnell]

Given the storms were moving into a more favourable area for tornadic development, albeit very small, we were torn as to whether to continue chasing them, or start heading back north to get into better position for Monday's risk. Looking at how outflow dominant they were, we eventually decided to ditch the storms and head north back past Denver (CO) to spend the night in Cheyenne (WY).

So here we are Monday morning up earlier than any of the days so far, to drive 4 hours northwards to Gillette (WY) where we plan to have lunch and assess how things are shaping up. Chance for supercells with large hail and gusty winds, and perhaps a tornado, across the far NE of Wyoming and across into the Dakotas during this afternoon and evening.

Tuesday and Wednesday looking even more promising at the moment, so here's hoping for a few active days coming up! So far we've witnessed a thunderstorm every single day of the trip....

31 May 2015 GPS Tracker Route Map

2015 STORM CHASE stats thus far:
McDonald's tally: 6
Applebee's tally: 5
Distance driven: 1,991 miles
States visited: 5