Departed Pittsburg, Kansas: 12:55 P.M.
Arrived Pittsburg, Kansas: 6:50 P.M.Total Hours On Road: 5 Hours 55 Minutes
Total Miles Traveled: 267 Miles2008 Pontiac G6 Yellow 2 Door Passenger Car
Tornadoes: 00
Funnel Clouds: 00Wall Clouds: 02Hail: No
Flooding: No
Today was an unplanned chase day. I planned to just hang out at home and rest up after spending the last three days on the road chasing storms. The forecast for today showed that thunderstorms were possible over Southwest Missouri, but that area is not my favorite place to chase storms. The hilly terrain and trees makes it difficult to see the storms after they develop.
I decided to just drive around in Southwest Missouri and see what popped up. Storms started firing up, and all I hoped for was a few storms that I could photograph.
The first storm I intercepted produced a wall cloud over northeastern sections of Springfield, Missouri. I photographed the wall cloud, as it started dissipating northeast of Springfield.
I decided to head towards home, since storms were developing between Springfield and Joplin.
The next storm I intercepted was southwest of Golden City, Missouri. I witnessed a very large wall cloud within the updraft area of this mini supercell thunderstorm. The wall cloud itself did not appear to be rotating, but there was evidence of rotation just above the wall cloud, with a collar cloud visible. At times, the wall cloud appeared to be just mere feet above the ground.
I contacted the Springfield Missouri National Weather Service office to report what I was seeing with this storm. The individual with whom I spoke told me that he saw on radar the area where I was seeing the wall cloud. This wall cloud dissipated before the updraft area of the storm moved south of Golden City.
I decided to stop chasing this storm, since it was moving into an area of less desireable terrain. This storm reportedly dropped a tornado later on in the evening, but I'm not sure if this report was validated. I headed towards home, to get some rest and return the rental car.
Later on in the evening, I became the hunted. Another mini-supercell thunderstorm developed in Southern Cherokee County, Kansas, and a few funnel clouds and tornadoes were reported with this storm. I stayed home in Pittsburg, Kansas, and one of the updraft portions of the storm ended up moving over the eastern part of Pittsburg. No damage occurred in Pittsburg with this storm, but with the sirens sounding for almost 45 minutes, it made for a very tense evening. So much for just kicking back and just resting.
Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas
Departed Salina, Kansas: 11:21 A.M.
Arrived Pittsburg, Kansas: 12:30 A.M. (Next Day)
Total Hours On Road: 13 Hours 11 MinutesTotal Miles Traveled: 525 Miles2008 Pontiac G6 Yellow 2 Door Passenger Car
Tornadoes: 00
Funnel Clouds: 00
Wall Clouds: 01Hail: NoFlooding: No
The Storm Prediction Center and many local National Weather Service offices really played today up as being a huge day for large long tracked tornadoes. This was mainly due to the fact that the shear with these storms was going to be outrageous. I woke up in Salina, Kansas with a High Risk of severe thunderstorms over most of Northern and Eastern Kansas. A greater than 10% chance hatched area for tornadoes was also outlined in this same area.
After getting up and around, and checking data I noticed that things were going to start gearing up sooner than expected. At about 11:00 AM, storms started developing northeast of Dodge City, Kansas, and they were screaming northeast at about 50-60 MPH. I packed up my gear, and I proceeded to plot a route where I could intercept these storms northeast of Great Bend, Kansas.
I intercepted my first storm of the day northeast of Bushton, Kansas, location in southern Ellsworth County. The storm moved by so quickly that I didn't get to watch the updraft portion of the storm for very long. I sat east of Bushton for quite awhile, and I witnessed a wall cloud with one of the storms that moved through.
I did not see any lower level rotation, but I didn't even attempt to keep up with these fast moving storms. I would drop to the south and east of the storm that passed me, and I waited for the next storm in the line to move towards me.
I let at least three different storms come to me, as I knew that I did not stand a chance in keeping up with them. Most of the storms showed to be more outflow dominant. I intercepted a very photogenic shelf cloud north of the lake in Kanopolis State Park. The area west of the Smoky Hills Bombing Range made for a few good photographs of the shelf cloud as it rolled through the area.
I experienced 60-70 MPH winds with this gust front passage. I did see a few medium sized tree limbs and other debris blow by while sitting near the north entrance to the Kanopolis State Park lake. I reported this to the Wichita National Weather Service via the Spotter Network. As I crossed the dam on the lake, I did see a small non-rotating wall cloud to my east. Just like with the rest of today's storms, this would be the only time I would see the updraft portion of the storm, as it was flying by at high speeds.
The next storm I let come to me was between Lehigh and Hillsboro, Kansas. This storm had really tall tops as it moved towards me at 70-80 MPH. I got a couple of photographs of this storm's tower, as it passed me.
It produced a brief wall cloud as it zipped off to the northeast. This storm would later produce a tornado near Manhattan, Kansas. I attempted to keep up with the storm, but I finally decided there was just no way that I could. The network of roads in this area were just horrible, and the storm's speed was just too fast.
I decided to head towards home, as I knew that any additional storm development would likely result in a squall line. I was right, and I was treated to a small shelf cloud south of Cottonwood Falls, Kansas, near Bazaar.
I was traveling south on scenic highway 177 in the Flint Hills of Eastern Kansas. This has been one of my favorite places to chase in Kansas, since there is nothing like the beautiful rolling Flint Hills. If you ever get the chance to travel highway 177, it will definately be worth your trip.
I let the shelf cloud and squall line pass over me near Bazaar, Kansas, and there wasn't much wind its passage. I kept hearing of many high wind reports southeast of my location, as this line of storms kept developing into Northern Oklahoma. I got ahead of the squall line again to the east of Eureka, Kansas. I didn't experience any high winds as I drove through the storm and out the east side of it. I kept driving east until I decided to set southwest of Erie, Kansas in order to sample the winds with the gust front again. The winds with the gust front were about 45-50 MPH as it passed overhead.
I met up with Joey Ketchum west of Girard, Kansas. Joey was out weather spotting. The only other thing to report out of this storm was that I experienced an estimated 60 MPH winds just north of Frontenac, Kansas on Highway 69. The wind was strong enough to rock my vehicle around and blow one of my magnetic mounted antennas off the roof of my vehicle. I called this report in to the Springfield, Missouri National Weather Service Office. I got back in front of the gust front again along Highway 43 in Western Barton County, Missouri, but the winds with the storm was not as strong as just a few minutes before.
I learned a lot from my chase today. The first thing I learned was forecasting severe weather is not always perfect. Another thing I learned was to stay away from severe storm days where the storms are forecasted to be moving over 50 MPH. There were no strong, long-tracked tornadoes that occurred today in the high risk area of Kansas. With the very, very fast storm movements today, we are really lucky there were no long-tracked tornadoes, as many people would have been injured or killed before they knew what was going on.
Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas
Departed Pittsburg, Kansas: 11:30 A.M.
Arrived Salina, Kansas: 12:10 A.M. (Next Day)Total Hours On Road: 12 Hours 40 Minutes
Total Miles Traveled: 668 Miles2008 Pontiac G6 Yellow 2 Door Passenger Car
Tornadoes: 00Funnel Clouds: 00
Wall Clouds: 02
Hail: No
Flooding: No
Today started with the Storm Prediction Center putting out a Moderate Risk of severe thunderstorms over North Central Kansas and South Central Nebraska. This area also had a 10% chance of tornadoes painted over it by the SPC. My original target area was going to be North Central Kansas, since I've chased in that area before.
As the day progressed, I saw that thunderstorms developing over Northern Kansas was not going to happen. I kept traveling north, and storms started developing along the Interstate 80 corridor to the west of Lincoln, Nebraska. I adjusted my target area, since I didn't want today to be a busted chase (blue sky and no storms).
I caught my first glimpse of the tornado warned cells that I was after, when I arrived in the area to the northeast of York, Nebraska, located in York County. I already knew that today was not going to be a great storm chasing day, when I saw my first severe storm of the day. The storm was practically linear in some aspects, with breaks in the line of storms. Each break in the line of storms had a updraft region, which would rotate. Several tornado warnings were issued for the area I was in, but trying to view these storms was not easy. The updraft areas of the storms were hard to pick out, since the skies were overcast. This was due to more storms trying to develop back down the line to my southwest. To put it simple, it was hard to tell what part of the storm I was looking at, since all the main storm features seemed to run together.
I did see a couple of wall clouds within the areas of rotation on two different areas of the line of storms. I was northeast of York, Nebraska, near Waco when I saw both of these wall clouds. 
There may have been more to these wall clouds, but visibility was horrible where I was located. I kept hearing about possible tornado damage to my northwest, but if a tornado was there, I did not see it. Visibility was so bad, I did not want to put myself in danger of large hail or driving into a tornado. The storms were moving east towards the Lincoln, Nebraska area, and I did not want to deal with having to drive in a lot of traffic in a bigger city to keep up with this storm.
I headed back south, where I had plans to stay overnight somewhere in Northern Kansas for tomorrow's much hyped-up tornado outbreak day. I did see some of the most amazing lightning in some newer storms to my south, as I drove. The lightning bolts mostly stayed in the upper anvil areas of these storms, and it was pretty much one bolt right after another. I stopped near Fairmont, Nebraska, and I got a few photographs of these storms to my south.
I stopped and took cover in Bruning, Nebraska from the large hail that was being reported with these storms. I didn't see any hail, but boy did it rain very hard. It's really nice having almost live radar beside me, as I'm driving through a storm like this one.
I was going to get a motel room in Belleville, Kansas, but they were all full. I also tried to find a room in Concordia, Kansas but once again No Vacany. I spent a little more time on the road than I wanted, and I finally found a room at the Holiday Day Inn Convention Center in Salina, Kansas. This marked the first time that I stayed overnight on a storm chase. The forecasters have really talked up how big of a tornado day tomorrow will be, and Salina would put me in a prime starting point for the big show.
Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas
Departed Pittsburg, Kansas: 11:00 A.M.Arrived Pittsburg, Kansas: 2:00 A.M. (Next Day)
Total Hours On Road: 15 Hours 00 MinutesTotal Miles Traveled: 535 Miles2008 Pontiac G6 Yellow 2 Door Passenger Car
Tornadoes: 00Funnel Clouds: 01Wall Clouds: 02
Hail: NoFlooding: No
Today started with a Moderate Risk of severe thunderstorms over north central Missouri, with a 15% chance of tornadoes over this same area. I decided to take my chances and chase in Northern Missouri today. I had chased in this area many years ago, and I remembered that the terrain had a lot of hills and trees. I figured it would not be as bad as my chases this year in Southeast Oklahoma.
I proceeded to drive north in Missouri until a storm developed near Plattsburg, Missouri, located southeast of St. Joseph. I watched this storm as it became organized and it developed a nice looking wall cloud south of Polo, Missouri, located in Southwest Caldwell County, Missouri. 
This wall cloud persisted for quite some time, as I followed this storm east across Southern Caldwell County, Northern Ray County, and Central Carroll County.
The wall cloud consisted of anywhere from your classic looking wall cloud to being a blocky wall cloud. 
I took several photographs of this feature as I traveled mainly rural back roads throughout this area. I followed this tornado warned storm until I got to Highway 65 east of Bogard, Missouri. 
At this time, the wall cloud was very large, and it produced at least one very small needle shaped funnel cloud.
I could not tell if this brief funnel was touching the ground, as a hill obstructed my view.
I attempted to continue following the storm east, but I had a hard time finding my way across a creek/river in the area, so I had to do a lot of back tracking. The sun set, and I was left with hardly any light at all. I decided to call it a day, so I headed back home. On my way home, I drove some very heavy rainfall most of the time on the road. It made for some slow driving. Also on my way home, I was keeping tabs on the 80-90 MPH winds in the storms that roared through the city in which I live. The storms caused some major damage to trees and some buildings throughout the Pittsburg, Kansas area.
I'm glad I decided to chase in Northwest Missouri today. I got to see some great supercell thunderstorm structure. Needless to say, I was also satisfied with the photographs I took of the various wall clouds I witnessed throughout the day. If the need ever arises again I will definately chase in the Northwest Missouri area in the future.
Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas
Departed Pittsburg, Kansas: 9:42 A.M.
Arrived Pittsburg, Kansas: 12:35 A.M. (Next Day)
Total Hours On Road: 14 Hours 53 Minutes
Total Miles Traveled: 632Miles
Tornadoes: 00
Funnel Clouds: 00Wall Clouds: 01
Hail: NoFlooding: No
A Moderate Risk of severe thunderstorms and a 10% hatched area for tornadoes over Central and Eastern Oklahoma caught my attention for today. My original target for today was Drumright, Oklahoma, or just west of Tulsa, Oklahoma. My plans changed with the future severe storm outlooks put out by the Storm Prediction Center.
The Storm Prediction Center kept pushing the best chances for tornadic storms to the South Central Oklahoma area along the dryline. The Storm Prediction Center had also issued a tornado watch over this area in the early afternoon. I met up with Joey Ketchum, Tyler Costantini, Chris Wilburn and Bart Comstock to the east of Oklahoma City along I-40 highway. They decided they were going to travel farther south of Oklahoma City to play the dryline. I decided to stay to the southeast of Oklahoma City where the dryline intersected a cold front.
This was one decision I'm glad I made. My fellow chasers farther south along the dryline came up empty with no storms firing in their area. Storms refused to form along the dryline, with the only storms in the area developing along the cold front to my north. These storms never really got there act together, with hail and wind being the main threat with them.
I did witness some lower level rotation with one of these storms near Cromwell, Oklahoma.
I received a cellphone call from the Tulsa National Weather Service office who saw that I was watching this storm via the Spotter Network. I advised them that there were signs of lower level rotation, but it did not last very long. The storm kept cycling quickly and never had time to stay organized. This storm became outflow dominant, and I didn't even get any decent photographs of a shelf cloud this time around.
I learned a few lessons from this storm chase. I learned that I'm ususally better off not changing my original target area midway through my chase. Funnel clouds and a tornado warned supercell storm developed about fifty miles northeast of my original target area. This storm moved within five miles of my home in Pittsburg, Kansas, with funnel clouds being its main threat. It still would have been better than what I saw after traveling over six hundred miles. Oh well, you live and learn. I did get to chase in a different area of Oklahoma, and I got to see some different Oklahoma terrain.
Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas
Departed Pittsburg, Kansas: 9:00 A.M.
Arrived Pittsburg, Kansas: 12::01 P.M. (Next Day)
Total Hours On Road: 13 Hours 1 MinutesTotal Miles Traveled: 775 Miles2007 Mazda 6Tornadoes: 00
Funnel Clouds: 00
Wall Clouds: 01Hail: No
Flooding: No
The Storm Prediction Center predicted a Slight Risk of severe thunderstorms over Eastern Oklahoma, with a 10% chance of tornadoes over the Southeastern Oklahoma area. I figured this would be a good enough chance to make the trek to Southeast Oklahoma once again.
I decided to make the trip with hope that I would see some severe weather. I'm not all about seeing tornadoes when I storm chase. I'm just as happy to see any type of severe weather. It's just the power within a severe thunderstorm that keeps drawing me to them. I ended up in Sherman, Texas, just a few miles south of the Texas and Oklahoma border. I knew that the Red River would be rough to chase around, since there are only a select few ways to cross the river. I decided to go after a severe storm that fired up near Ardmore, Oklahoma, and it seemed to be moving east.
I finally caught up with the updraft portion of this thunderstorm east of Marietta, Oklahoma on Highway 32. I stopped and took some photographs of a non-rotating wall cloud. 
The severe thunderstorm became outflow dominant shortly after I took my photographs of the wall cloud. I decided this storm would be my only chance at severe weather today, so I decided to stay to the east of it and attempt to photograph any shelf clouds it may produce.I was treated to a spectacular sight when I stopped on Highway 70, where the highway crosses Lake Texoma. I was able to photograph the thunderstorm's shelf cloud as it passed over the lake, which made for some decent photographs. 
I was between the towns of Kingston and Mead, Oklahoma when I caught my first glimpse of what this severe storm was all about. The shelf cloud/gust front of this large storm produced cool winds of about 40-45 MPH as it passed over head.
I proceeded eastbound on Highway 70, and once again got in front of this storm. The storm sirens were sounding in Bokchito, Oklahoma as I passed through. The only reason for this would have been the high winds that were expected with the leading edge of this severe storm. I proceeded to travel south when I arrived at Bennington, Oklahoma, for another chance at photographing the shelf cloud. I got lucky. I stopped on Highway 70E to the east of Wade, Oklahoma where I was treated to a very menacing shelf cloud. I took several photographs of this awesome looking storm structure. 
The storm was no longer severe in this area, as I did not receive very much wind at all and the storm produced very little rainfall.
After being to treated to a photogenic storm, I decided I had better head for home. The trip ahead of me I had already made a few weeks ago, and I knew it was a long one. I didn't see any tornodoes today, but I was still satisfied with what I saw. As a storm chaser, I'm not all about tornadoes. Any type of severe storms will please me, especially when I can get some good photographs.
Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas
Departed Pittsburg, Kansas: 1:42 P.M.
Arrived Pittsburg, Kansas: 8:15 P.M. (Next Day)
Total Hours On Road: 6 Hours 33 Minutes
Total Miles Traveled: 240 Miles
2007 Mazda 3 Red 4 Door Passenger Car
Tornadoes: 00
Funnel Clouds: 00
Wall Clouds: 01
Hail: No
Flooding: No
Today started with the Storm Prediction Center putting out a "Slight Risk" of severe thunderstorms for Southeast Kansas and quite a bit of the Central Plains. I decided that I was going to stay close to home today, and it paid off.
After I hung out in the area of the Parsons Tri-City Airport, storms started firing in the early afternoon. I was treated with a severe thunderstorm west of Buffalo, Kansas that had a short-live wall cloud and some upper level rotation with it.
The wall cloud did not last very long though, as I stayed with this storm until it started being outflow dominant to the south of Yates Center, Kansas.
I drove back south on Highway 75, and I waited for the next storm to move my direction. By this time, storms were developing all around me. Radar was showing that quite a few storms over Southeast Kansas were producing large hail. I sat two miles north of Buffalo, Kansas, where I experienced some nickel sized hail from my second severe storm of the day. Later on in the afternoon, I experienced more nickel sized hail south of La Harpe, Kansas, in another severe thunderstorm.
This local chase was fun for the simple fact that I was in my own chase territory, and I was familiar with the area. I also enjoyed playing more of a storm spotter role, and letting the National Weather Service know what was occurring with these mainly large hail producing severe thunderstorms. It was great getting out and experiencing some of the "power" generated by severe thunderstorms like these.
Russel Parsons
Pittsburg, Kansas
The first storm I intercepted produced a wall cloud over northeastern sections of Springfield, Missouri. I photographed the wall cloud, as it started dissipating northeast of Springfield.
I decided to head towards home, since storms were developing between Springfield and Joplin.
I contacted the Springfield Missouri National Weather Service office to report what I was seeing with this storm. The individual with whom I spoke told me that he saw on radar the area where I was seeing the wall cloud. This wall cloud dissipated before the updraft area of the storm moved south of Golden City.
