Frustrating day indeed 04/25/09 chase near Lawrence, KS

Title: Never wait for the storm to come you. Go to the storm should be the motto (but not too close!).

Account: The upside is the the weather looked promising but once it was "when to target and where to go?" I finally headed out on I-35 as I heard a fierce cell was heading out of Lawrence, KS and heading NE. It would be near Tognoxie. I headed on to I-70 but thought if I went down I-70 I would miss it. I was wrong.

There was a slight threat in this area and I thought I would shoot for that. The Medium threat watch was too far to the East and South.
















I was rushing to get in place.








I headed down I-70 and got off at the Bonner Springs, KS exit
I went straight East on highway 24/40 towards Tongonoxie, KS my target.
I thought I would have a good shot at intercepting it there.
I parked in the Sonic at watched the sky for visible signs. Unfortunetely the cell produced a tornado just over I-70 (where I would have been if I went due West), in the southern part of the cell then headed North and hit Reno, KS just South of me.
I could hear that had occurred on the radio but I was too focused on trying to videotape the hail (it was raining to hard and it was not possible to photograph.
I was now getting the brunt of that with the hailstones and the warm rain which was really coming down. It was coming down so hard and since the rain was so warm, the hailstones melted almost immediately so I could not scoop some up to show the size.
If the tornado was rain wrapped , it was impossible to see. If it went a little further it probably was just South of me.

Conclusions: I missed the tornado by supposing I could meet it East and North as I was heading this. Once again like with the tornado that hit west of Lawrence a few years ago, I sat further away waiting for it to come to me.
Next Time: Next time I need to be in place and go further and closer to the storms, but practicing caution still, not being fool hardy.