Day 3 in Review - 1st Chase Day!

Today was the 2018 SWIFT Team's first official chase day. After a morning weather briefing, we got on the road at about 1000 and enjoyed a nature walk in Chisholm Creek Park of Wichita, Kansas. Our original target city for severe weather this morning was Woodward, Oklahoma, but these plans shifted as we examined the HRRR models throughout the day. We wound up driving toward Coldwater, Kansas to observe convective initiation with a nostalgic stop along the way at a park for a picnic lunch. T.R. was the most adventurous of the bunch, trying raw cactus for the first time over lunch.

When we arrived at the target location, we were able to physically observe the frontal boundary that we have been visually looking out for on the models by noticing the wind shift across the line from northerly to southeasterly crossing from west to east. Additionally, the western side of the boundary was significantly less humid than the eastern side. Along that boundary, we saw cumulus clouds blossom which evolved into a series of storms that split off as the afternoon progressed. Most of the storms we experienced today pulsed and were not very long-lived because of limited bulk shear. The updrafts were choked off by the storms' own precipitation. LCL heights were also very high throughout the day.

Due to limited 0-3km storm relative helicity (SRH), the storms today were not supercellular. As a result, during the chase we felt comfortable driving through the outer periphery of a storm. During this escapade, we pulled off on the side of the road. Cameron was especially excited to zip up his rain jacket and hop out of the van to pick up quarter-sized hail for the rest of us to see. Apparently, up to 3.5" hail was reported during the storms today.

The last storm we observed near sunset was extremely interesting because we could see slight midlevel cyclonic rotation and entrainment of air parcels throughout the column. It was also aesthetically beautiful and peaceful to relax near the van and observe the development and weakening of the final few storms of our first chase day as the sun set behind the clouds.

One of the biggest lessons we learned as a group today is that "the plan is the plan to deviate from." Although we found a general target area to start the day, we constantly stayed up to date with the HRRR models each hour, and after lunch we started honing in on satellite and radar images. By 1400, we shifted from the models to complete dependence on satellite and radar imagery.

We're excited tomorrow to visit Osage County to teach STEM modules to younger students!