{"id":1071,"date":"2011-05-08T23:30:00","date_gmt":"2011-05-08T23:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/ceruleanarc\/?p=1071"},"modified":"2026-01-13T04:53:41","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T04:53:41","slug":"8-may-2011-mitchell-south-dakota-storm-chase","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/ceruleanarc\/2011\/05\/08\/8-may-2011-mitchell-south-dakota-storm-chase\/","title":{"rendered":"8 May 2011 | Mitchell, South Dakota | Storm Chase"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I got on the road Saturday afternoon, left Flagstaff, drove most of the night, and made it to eastern Nebraska by Sunday late afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll try to do a more detailed summary later with more photos. (I’m extremely worn out.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After checking models and spc discussion each time I stopped to fuel up, I decided I would head to the warm front. Unfortunately, eastern Nebraska turned out to be a wasteland of uncooperative cloud streets. The cap wasn’t budging there at all. I figured I was going to have a complete bust on my first day out. But then inhibition started to part in South Dakota, a few storms started to blossom. Most were too far to consider, but a small, fresh one was within reach, so I raced north. As I got closer, I realized the cap had clamped down and nothing was left but an orphan anvil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I kept going north, just in case, and was suprised by a view of a new tower going up on the other side of the Missouri river, half-lit by the coppery light of the setting sun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Satellite view showing my target storm as a bright blip in the far south-southeast corner of South Dakota. (Note the only tornado-producing cell in the south-central part of the state–too far out of reach.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new tower was farther north than I thought, and was moving north at about 25 knots. I decided not to keep chasing it in the dark, so I broke off, satisfied to see it sputter with lightning as it drifted away. At least I got a distant storm and some lightning for day 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I fueled up again and did some supply shopping. Afterward, as I drove to a section of gravel roads south of Mitchell, SD to park for the night, I was overwhelmed by nonstop lightning behind me. I pulled over to figure out where it was coming from. Sprawled out to my west was a huge, sculpted shelf cloud, gaping with rain, wind and lightning–and it was visibly expanding in my direction. I didn’t want to get the car golf-balled, so I raced down the dirt roads, going after a good north-south paved road. Along the way, I made some brief stops to photograph this majestic thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At one stop alongside a small lake, the sound of katydids, frogs and other nocturnal creatures blended in with the non-stop thunder of the approaching storm. It was wonderful. As I continued south and east, I realized the entire gust front was going to chase me into Missouri if I let it. So I hunkered down in a farm field access and embraced the drenching rain and unceasing lightning. It was an amazing way to end the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Radar showing my position with the approaching gust front.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Lessons Learned<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • Argh. Just play closer to the triple point–don’t get creative with points further out along the warm front.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • The cap likes to be stronger further south.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • A shorter focal length lens would be nice for capturing massive gust fronts and shelf clouds.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • After night fall, shut off the car, get outside and enjoy the sights and sounds of lightning, thunder, and wildlife.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I got on the road Saturday afternoon, left Flagstaff, drove most of the night, and made it to eastern Nebraska by Sunday late afternoon. I’ll try to do a more detailed summary later with more photos. (I’m extremely worn out.) After checking models and spc discussion each time I stopped to fuel up, I decided […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[45,50,40],"class_list":["post-1071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-storm-chase","tag-south-dakota","tag-storm-chasing","tag-storms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/ceruleanarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/ceruleanarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/ceruleanarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/ceruleanarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/ceruleanarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1071"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/ceruleanarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1081,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/ceruleanarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1071\/revisions\/1081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/ceruleanarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/ceruleanarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/ceruleanarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perezmedia.net\/ceruleanarc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}