"On the MOOve"
Early in the morning of Day 7, the weather team determined that northeast Colorado was the most favorable position to observe storms. We departed from Garden City, KS and made our way northwest. The team stopped to take a few quick pictures along the Colorado/Nebraska border, which was an exciting time for Jordan because those two states are allegedly "the greatest states in the Union." Because we were uncharacteristically ahead of schedule, we relaxed at a small grassy park west of Wray, CO in order to wait to observe convective initiation along the boundary.
Once storms began to initiate, we hopped back in the car and switched into chase mode. The team followed the same general storm throughout most of the evening. We were able to observe several cycles of inflow/outflow changes as winds shifted from warm/southeasterly to cold/northwesterly from our stationary viewpoints. T.R. had a chance to practice flying his drone, and he captured several overhead shots of the team during breaks in the chase. Later on in the evening, the team had a hilarious interaction with a group of cows, who ran from great distances and stopped near a fence to investigate us as we watched the storm's progress.
Overall, CAPE and bulk shear were favorable for the day, but LCLs were exceedingly high and there was unfortunately not a lot of moisture in the air. Although tornadoes still seem to be eluding us, we were lucky to observe a supercellular storm and a fantastic lightning show as the sun set over the landscape before eventually making our way back to the hotel.
- N.R.E.
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