Tuesday, May 30, 2006 Gust Front Associated With A Non-Severe Thunderstorm Located South Of Girard, Kansas.

Departed Pittsburg, Kansas: 7:30 P.M.
Arrived Pittsburg, Kansas: 8:30 P.M.
Total Time On Road: 1 Hour

Tornadoes: 00
Wall Clouds: 00
Supercells: 00
Hail: None
Flooding: None

A Slight Risk of severe thunderstorms were forecasted for Southern Kansas today, but not much in the way of severe weather materialized. A non-severe thunderstorm rolled into Western Crawford County, Kansas in the late evening. Since there hasn't been much severe weather this Spring, I decided to head out to see if there was a gust front associated with these thunderstorms.
I setup a couple miles to the Southwest of Girard, Kansas. There was not a whole lot to see, but a weak gust front did roll through the area. I have been wanting to try out some new photograph editing software I obtained, so I thought I would take some photographs of the weak gust front.
The software makes a panoramic photograph out of several photographs taken of an object across the horizon. The software stitches the photos together to make a larger photo of the subject. In this case, I was able to use the software to get a wider view of the gust front that rolled into the area. I'm looking forward to using this type of software even more in the future.
I did not get to see much in the way of severe weather today, but I did get to test some new technology.

Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas

Thursday, May 25, 2006 Jasper And Lawrence County, Missouri Supercell Photographed From Central Jasper County, Missouri.

Departed Pittsburg, Kansas: 6:30 P.M.
Arrived Pittsburg, Kansas: 8:45 P.M.
Total Time On Road: 2 Hours 15 Minutes

Tornadoes: 00
Wall Clouds: 00
Supercells: 01
Hail: None
Flooding: None

Today just happened to be my day off from work, and with a Slight Risk of severe thunderstorms across Southeast Kansas and Southwest Missouri, I kept an eye to the sky and the weather radar.
Later in the evening, a couple of very large supercell thunderstorms developed over Eastern Jasper County and Southern Lawrence County, Missouri. Since these were the only two storms that had developed in the area, they made for some great photographs from a distance.
I have always wanted to take some photos of a supercell thunderstorm from a great distance, but until now I have never had that opportunity. I proceeded to drive to the Southeast of Pittsburg, Kansas through North Central Jasper County, Missouri. I took a few photographs of the storm, from near Alba and Purcell, Missouri. I drove further to the south and took some additional photos of the storm from east of Webb City, Missouri.
The best photographs of the supercell came at around sunset. I was just south of Asbury, Missouri, when the sun was low enough to shine on the west side of the supercell. The supercell also had an over-shooting top at this time, which added even more to it's beauty.
Even though I didn't get to see any severe weather first hand, I did get some great photographs of a very large, awesome supercell thunderstorm.

Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas

Wednesday, May 03, 2006 Tornado Warned Storm Moved Across Southern Bourbon County, Kansas And Vernon County, Missouri.

Departed Pittsburg, Kansas: 3:15 P.M.
Arrived Pittsburg, Kansas: 5:30 P.M.
Total Time On Road: 2 Hours 15 Minutes

Tornadoes: 00
Wall Clouds: 02
Supercells: 00
Hail: None
Flooding: 01


Today started with a Slight Risk of severe thunderstorm over the Southeastern Kansas area. Since the risk of storms was so close to home, I decided to sit at home and keep an eye on my weather radar computer.
A supercell thunderstorm finally developed to the east of Chanute, Kansas and it was moving slowly due East. I grabbed my chase gear and headed towards Southern Bourbon County, Kansas. This worked out pretty good, as I intercepted the supercell near the county road intersection of Birch Road and 200th Street in rural Southeastern Bourbon County. A couple miles north of that location is where I saw the rain free base and a small non rotating wall cloud. I grabbed a few photographs of this feature and moved on to the east.
I caught back up to the rain free base area, where a saw another small wall cloud, Southwest of Moundville, Missouri. The roads in this part of Vernon County, Missouri were few and far between, and I decided to call this chase off. I ran across quite a few flooded rural gravel roads, and I got some great photographs of the sheared anvil of this great looking supercell thunderstorm as it marched on to the east.
This was a great chase, especially since it was practically in my own backyard. I really enjoy these chases where I can sit at home and watch the storms develop on weather radar, and then drive to them. I got to do this type of chasing quite a bit last year, but this storm season is turning out to be a different story.

Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas