Dodge City, KS –- “If it’s May, you chase.” That’s a line attributed to storm expert and chaser extraordinaire Tim Marshall. A day like Saturday helps explain why.
The beginning of an extended severe weather episode to close out May got underway this weekend across the Plains. And it did so in stunning fashion.
On Saturday, the storms were few, but the prize was a big one. What started as a somewhat messy cluster of storms eventually transformed into one of the most beautiful supercell thunderstorms I’ve seen in the Plains. A supercell is simply a thunderstorm that spins or rotates, and sometimes spawns tornadoes.
It was a fairly classic set up for storms in the region. Warm and moist air flooded into the region from the south as a dry line strengthened near the Colorado-Kansas border. The dry line is a boundary between dry and moist air, acting as a conduit for storm formation.
In addition, a warm front draped across the area. The warm front helped turn a mess of storms into a more focused zone of intense activity. From there, a magical scene was born.
“When it’s May, you chase” was in full effect, so I was of course not the only one to see this monster storm. It is prime “chasecation” season, when hundreds of storm chasers from far and wide converge on the Plains. They come now because it is the time of year when tornadoes are most abundant, on average.
Saturday’s storm not only boasted amazing structure, but the storm dropped several tornadoes – pleasing the many witnesses.
The view of the first tornado by my chase partner Quincy Vagell from our vehicle shows how breathtaking the combination was.
Many chasers in the region got great photos of the storm structure and tornadoes:
As the storm wound down after dark, it put on a beautiful lightning show. Dusk is a great time to watch these storms roll across the landscape.
With this event behind us, the search goes on for more.
BY:
Ian Livingston
Picture: Matt Koket
