Weather Memory: May 8th, 2016

The tornado warning for the thunderstorm northeast of Hays seemed dire as I close in from the west on Interstate 70. The storm showed strong rotation on the Hastings radar, nearly 80 miles to the northeast, too far away to tell whether the storm was tornadic or just had strong mid-level rotation. Either way, I figured I could be there in 35 minutes or so. After a long, quiet drive on a muddy road north of Quinter, it was time to get back in the storm chase game! 

If I could not get back to the Hays storm, then perhaps another storm would form to the south. I saw another impressive updraft developing to my east; I could catch that storm as it drifted northeast, too. I had a plan and I had a backup plan. I passed through WaKeeney and cruised east-southeast on Interstate 70. I loved chasing in places I seldom chased; I loved driving on roads I seldom drove. Interstate 70 in western Kansas is, as most people suspect, quiet and flat. A few trees lining the Big Creek dotted the southern view; I smiled when I crossed Highway 147 near Ogallah. It was that road, many years ago, where I had seen that golden sunset over the Cedar Bluff Reservoir that ranked at the very top of my storm chase memories. Western Kansas’s colors always thrilled and delighted me when I was able to get this far southwest.

I did not take 147 south on this day; I had storms to catch near Hays. I noticed that more updrafts were developing over and just south of the Interstate in front of me; how far away they were, I could not tell. I would keep driving until I could drive no further, I told myself. 

The little billows in the clouds were spectacular with the bright sunlight shining off them. Meteorologists call these updrafts a flanking line when they form, in a line, on the back edge of a main thunderstorm. I was starting to get lower on gas, I noticed, and Kansas was not really the place to goof around with “low gas,” even on the Interstate.

The sky was filling in as I pulled off the interstate in the town of Ellis. I needed gas. I filled up the tank, and then I pulled into an empty parking spot. AWK! My weather radio informed me of a severe thunderstorm warning; I was barely in it. But the warning was for this storm just to my east. 

I sighed. These storms were not a mere flanking line now. This line was a serious line of severe thunderstorms. I looked at the powerful updrafts to my east. They were dropping precipitation. It was not all rain. Some of it was hail, and I knew it was probably sizable. I did not have a specific hail size estimate on Radarscope, but the text of the warning said golf ball sized hail. I could not get through this storm.

The tornado warning to my northeast was going to go unseen by me.