Stormchasing around Kansas City area 6/3/08

Date: 6/3/08

Time: 6:03 - 10:00 CDT
Target/ Chase: Johnson County, KS (JCKS)
Chase travels : Johnson County, KS (JCKS)
Weather specifics: hail, stormcells, lightning, wallcloudfunnelwannabees
chasing: Eric Flescher
chase rating: 8/10

(1) Finally a day in 2008 to remember that showed some of the beauty and the might of stormy weather.


(2) The day opened to a medium threat via the Storm Center. Stretching from around Olathe, KS to Kansas City and out east into Missouri, things looked promising today. But would the day bring some stormy (stormsatori- aha weather) and stop my draught through several chases so far in 2008?



(3) I waited until later on the day to see whether storms would start to "pop" and where? Then a tornado watch was issued for the same area. I heard a dangerous storm cell was moving in from Desoto, Kansas just west on highway 10. It had hail and more.

(4)I heading out on I-35 North at 119th street, I could see wallcloudfunnelwannabees in the darkening skies. I did not see rotation but things looked promising. I headed North looking for a good overlook towards the West. I found what I was looking for at 95th street, just north of a gasoline station area next to the Holiday Inn. As I watched, the brewing, swirling clouds and scud moving south and north, continued to produce a BTMS (Booming, Thunder and lightning show).

(5) While videotaping and photographing the storm to the west, a van with a couple and their two kids pulled up besides me. They asked what i was doing and we compared notes as the mother/wife was videotaping with her nice Sony HSD camcorder. The father got out and showed me his Blackberry which was fast and Internet ready. A nice visual with The Weather Channel Doppler showed this stormcell and another dangerous one down south (which I made sure to note for later). My treo 650 and the Sprint is not fast enough so I was a little jealous. I did not want to see if my g4 book with wifi could see it as i was too busy marveling and videotaping the storm. Some rain, no hail but tons of ground to lightning (CGs).

The little girl got of the van and said "look there's a tornado" as she looked west. It was "Virga" so I told her it wasn't and what it was in not too complicated language. She seemed to understand while we continued to watch the clouds swirling all around. They then took off while I contented to take some more photos as well.,

There were reports that what we were seeing were wallclouds and funnels. A trainer stormspotter said there was a definite wallcloud and rotation in a wallcloud near Lee Summit, MO as sirens were going off briefly.This was dismissed on air though as I sat just North this time further down north of I-435 on Quivira. I decided not to try to make a run to Lee Summit but engage the incoming storms from the south.



(6) There was hail and possible hook 
(7) I headed back on I-35 but then headed south to intercept the strengthening stormcells heading into Olathe. I  found a good stop to look just of of 119th street looking west. Not bad. But then I found a better lookout next to the new shopping center SW of 119th and I-35 so I could shoot the real dark ominous storms and lightningfest looking east and west. I continued to shoot the video and photos but my camera card maxed out . (next time before a storm, I need to format the card or have two ). So I just worked on videotaping the sky show.

Beautiful yellow streaks through the sky, grey clouds and even azure blue sky peaking through made for a great contrast of colors. The southern and east storms were producing CGs (Cloud to Ground) and CC (cloud to cloud) as the show continued. A couple came out from the sports shop just to the west and asked what I was doing . They liked looking at the booming skies and we talked a bit. They left and I kept videotaping this lightningandboomfest.





9:55 CDT

 (8) Heading south on I-35 and I was approaching Spring Hill and Paola. At the Spring Hill line, 1 mile line before SH,9:55 CDT, big hailstones and rain started to increase and started to pelt my car. Sounded big as they "bonked" the hood of my car (small golf ball). I got off at the SH exit and looking west, I videotaped the hail through my windshield. It was raining too hard to get out and try to pick up some of the hail for souvenir and photos. By the time I could they had already melted.

I then went east turned around and headed back north as small pea hail rained down. This time it was just raining a bit but I did not see any hail that I could pick up.

10:00 CDT(8) I got back home in Olathe at 10:00 CDT. As I got something to eat I started to upload my photos using iPhoto and using my Panasonic camcorder. I also watched the news which showed the oil tank near Kansas City which exploded possibly due to a lightning strike earlier (7:30pm) started earlier in the day when the storms were moving in.

(9) Definitely a Storm Satori Day the best since Hays in 2007. While there was no tornado today for me and no really defined good rotations, the lightning displays and the storm was gorgeous and menacing. While I heard hail I did not see.

I would rate his chase 8/10.; Hopefully even better chases to come.

5/1/08 driveway irony and mayhem/ mini chase: Olathe/Kansas City

5/1/08 driveway irony/ mayhem and mini chase: Olathe, KS/Kansas City
4:30- 6:34 pm
self
66 miles
using Canon Rebel XT
While watching the impending stormweather on doppler, on 5/1/08, I saw that pre mammatus clouds were boiling into the skies.

I headed out 4:30, pm 151 Street in Olathe, KS at 4:30 and stopped off to take photos of the imposing looming super
cell and anvil (wide angle) with my canon rebel XT.

Storm warnings indicated possible wallclouds and dangerous storms near Edwardsville, off of I-70 and I-435. Instead of going North on I-435 to be closer to that town I decided to head on to I-35 to get in front of it and anything else that was coming East. Before I got infront it, the network said the storm had subsided. But the sky still had some nice scenes to photograph.
sunrays and the cloud shadows (called corpuscular rays). These shadows were piercing the clouds and the sun going down in the West. But another dangerous storm was moving into Olathe, so I headed back up south on I-35.

There was blinding rain all over. I was amazed to see the sun in the West still showing through the clouds and the blinding rain. I wanted to take a good picture of but I could not drive and take a pic at the same time. I should have instead had the camcorder ready and at least manuver it to get some video to at least take some screen snaps. It seemed an eternity as the traffic was going really slow in this heavy rain. I got off at College Blvd on the west side of I-35 (Olathe) to try to get a good photo of this nice sight. But trying to work off the exit first and then battling the rain, I just missed being able to photograph this sight.Instead I had to settlefor corpuscular ray show again (which was not all that bad). I headed back home.

Monitoring the weather, I had an inkling that another round of storms were moving in later in the morning but we went to sleep anyway. At 1:30am we got another surprise as we could hear hurricane force 1 winds blowing through the area. We stopped to now look out the window. Our fragile Bradford pare tree had, for the 3rd time, snapped and blew down in our driveway. I should have had a cut down after the 2nd time a few years ago.

But this time, a small piece of wood from the tree had hit the bottom of my Green Saturn's (now backed out for the insurance guy) windshield and cracked it. If I had parked in the driveway just about 1 inch away the wind shield would not have cracked as the piece of wood would have missed it. Insurance kicked in but still had to pay $200 for deductible. What was nice is that the company brought a van and the windshield was replaced right in the driveway. I did not have to go for bids, take time out by taking it somewhere etc etc.

It's ironic that instead of stormchasing somewhere , my car gets hit right in our driveway! Forces of nature can occur in your driveway too!

Frutrating search and storm poops out over Olathe, KS

I left teaching in Olathe at around 5:00. While there were possibility of more potential severe weather farther away, my immediate target was a meeting place (that I never found) around Nall Avenue in Overland Park. I heard the reports of severe thunderstorms over the line in some counties in Missouri and some severe thunderstorms were south near Paola. I headed North on I-35.

Frustrated at not finding this Country Club off of Tomhawk ( serves me right for using Mapquest and not using GoogleMaps or Yahoo Maps- no GPS yet sorry), I abandoned my search. Watched the skies and listening to the radio reports at the same time, I headed back to Olathe.

Several vehicles had crashed slightly into each other right ahead of me during the rain downpour. Near Olathe after 6:00, I could see a nice storm to the West, heading towards Olathe and I-35. Getting on to Sante Fe in Olathe (off of I-35), the promising cell pooped out and got quite ragged. I had my camera but I decided it was not worth taking a picture of.

A teacher the next morning said there was a report of small tornado near St. Joseph. I quickly looked up the SPC report and yup, he was right.
Then I found that news report of what happened
http://www.stjoenews.net/news/2008/apr/11/possible-tornado-hits-south-side/

Severe Weather Symposium Lawrence, KS (2/23/08) was great!

The Symposium was well attended and the presentations and the panel were superb.

The line up included



Jennifer Stark (Storm based warning system)
Jon Davies (Greensburg tornado photos and setup of the day)- nice booklet he has authored called Storm Chasers ! on the trail of Twisters - very visual and comprehensive = congrats Jon (see pic with Shawna)
Chris Novy (multifaceted presentation on "careful when you chase" with lots of multimedia)
Mike Umscheid ( great information about Greensburg tornado etc)
Round table (Bryan Busby, rest of people above etc)- see pic

Great visuals, great information, informative, insightful

the word " satori" -what is means why I use it

"Satori " is the Japanese word for "the sudden enlightenment" the "aha" you get. This word relates to the "serendipitous" feeling you get in your mind when you come up with a creative idea, invent something, discover something that you have been pondering, see something neat etc.

It is said that an old Greek guy Archimedes is most famous for this feeling. He was trying to figure out whether a cup of supposed gold was really gold instead of tin or some other metal because well it would not be worth as much if it was not gold. A scientist at heart, he pondered and incubated about this idea. When he sat in a tub, he saw the water "rise" and got the idea (related to specific gravity of water) and solving the problem. He supposedly ran through the streets (naked?) saying "Eureka!" (I have discovered found it.)

When I was coming up with name for my first storm website, the blog and my astronomy website, part of title "Satori " was a word I had to include. I have done a lot of work with creativity and teaching and this word was a natural for me. I am always looking for ideas, creating new things, activities, websites and blog stuff and more.

Most importantly "satori " relates to (what I feel ) , the discovery of something new and insightful that I or others visually, see and/or hear even smell or a whole range of sensations when you see a beautiful storm, tornado, astronomical object (naked eye or binocular or telescope) or event (like total solar eclipses that are just amazing).

__________________
Dr. Eric Flescher(kcstormguy@aol.com),Olathe, KS
Storm Satori Bloghttp://stormsatori.blogspot.com/
E.O.A.S.(Earth,Oceans, Atmosphere & Space)Blog
http://eoas-dreric1kansas.blogspot.com/

४/२७/२००७ unexpected mini-chase

४/२७/२००७ "can't be- can it?"
unexpected mini-चेस
Well this was a क्रेज्य
endedin Paola, KS। There was rain, a couple of thunder claps but nothing out of the ordinary. Weather kept changing between sunny and light rain. As I headed south to Olathe weather was partly cloudy. I stopped at 135th and Blackbob at the supermarket to get some food and then headed home. Normal chatter on the Oreilly show and then the talk show on KMBZ but nothing else. At home, I began charging my pda. As I opended the back glass door, I thought what I heard was warning sirens but they were not loud. I though "can't be- can it?". Quickly turned on KMBC TV and lo and behold there were alerts for Miami County near Paola where I just came from . It seemed that the radio stations were trying to catch up for the "ball they had dropped." Also storm cells dropping hail and possible funnel to the south

I got in my car as my wife came in her car and said her friend had a lot of hail north of us. I headed down 151st towards I-35. The radio said there was a possible dangerous cell near Garnder- Edgerton off of I-35 but there were also a funnel and heavy hail off of 119th street as well as a funnel near Ottawa. Reports of wall clouds too. This is amazing. There was nothing on the radio a few minutes before.
I headed North towards 119th street after changing my mind andturning around to go south not to check out the storm cell. By the time I got there I did not see anything significant. But there was beautiful raindow arching from the south over the stores. I stopped and took some rainbowpictures .
There was a possibler dangerous cell heading into Missouri from South of Miami county in Kansas. A reported funnel or rotation. I decided to head south and then got off to go home. No way I could catch the storm. However I could see that stormcell with its gleaming cumulus clouds to the SW. I noticed the moon above the cell which would make a nice picture. I snapped a few and the results are below.
This was an unexpected mini-chase close to home. Did not hear anything more about these storms in the newspaper (we were out later that night so I could not check the news).

Storm Satori blog starts for 2007 season

Storm Satori

This will link to my E.O.A.S. blog , Storm Satori stormchasing website and more. This will inlcude

* photos
* video clips
* weather news of tornadoes, storms etc
* links to other stormchasers and what they saw. observerved, photographed and videotaped
* Youtube links
* storm and tornado trivia etc
* and more

If you see interesting video or pics that you have taken let me know and I will link to your sites.
More to come

Dr. Eric Flescher (kcstormguy@aol.com