Wyoming to North Dakota via a Nebraska/South Dakota Dryline
Filed under: Summary
Cheyenne WY to Bowman ND
8 Jun 12
SHORT: Observed dryline towers, sometimes with smoke, near the NE-SD-WY state-line junction. Nice sunset over the SW corner of ND.
LONG:
Three main target areas presented themselves to us as we pulled out of CYS on a sunny morning:
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1. The closest but probably lamest: a high-based, deeply-mixed prospect for short-lvied, late-afternoon convection along the dryline, near the S rim of the Black Hills;
2. A middle play along the NW rim of a narrow plume of relatively righ boundary-layer moisture, collcated witha confluence belt, in the SE MT/NW SD/SW ND area. This had been apparent for a few days–distant but reachable, given the likelihood of a stout cap holding off storm potential until late afternoon.
3. More certain risk for a photogenic supercell or two in central MT, more removed from the richer moisture but in favorable deep-layer wind profiles. his was barely reachable with some long, hard driving and only brief stops, followed by a short night’s sleep and another day of long, hard driving to get all the way over to NE ND. That’s hardly the recipe to be able to stop occasionally and get out to appreciate the Great Plains!
Given the low likelihood of tremendous tornado action in the middle of Montana, we nixed option 3 early and decided to make a conditional play on the first two. We would head NNE to the CDR-CUT area for the dryline, then if it looked unpromising by around 21Z, be ready to zoom up through RAP toward 2WX where at least one high-resolution model (HRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR) forecast a distinct supercell to develop.
Lunch in Lusk was good–Deacon’s Restaurant is one we can recommend! Appetites satiated, we took a back road–sometimes paved, sometimes not–to Van Tassell, stopping here and there to appreciate geologic formations as well as photograph abandoned structures from up close, in the middle and back a little.
The whole way from Torrington to Van Tassel, we kept an eye on the high-based cumuli accumulating in a persistent area of lift that passed overhead, then shifted E to the Nebraska border in step with the mixing-driven movement of the dryline. This photograph depicts the deepening convection from near Van Tassell WY, gazing ESE toward the dryline. A horizontally narrow but vertically thick ribbon of smoke from the Cow Camp fire in Wyoming (the inferno whose pyro-convection started the Wheatland supercell the day before) also was streaming steadily northeastward toward us, several thousand feet above ground level.
Van Tassell in the review mirror, we headed through Fort Robinson on the Nebraska side, passed through the dryline near Harrison, gathered some rocks on the escarpment E of Harrison, stopped briefly for supplies in Chadron, then headed NW toward the South Dakota border and one skiny but persistently deep tower. When we got to it, the tower obviously was suffering from dry entrainment, but presented a peculiar picture of light and shadow, as seen from underneath the ribbon of smoke and very near the state line.
Unconvinced of its future, we proceeded N beneath the ENE-moving tower’s base, encountering a few raindrops. A small Cb actually did develop briefly as we passed just to its N, and weak reflectivity appeared with it as seen from RAP radar. Still, given the degree of entrainment, and the presence of a few more hours of daylight, we headed up past RAP, Spearfish and Belle Fourche toward 2WX. We were worried that a traffic jam, in an I-90 roadwork zone NW of RAP, would make us miss any storms that formed to our NNW; that turned out to be a moot concern.
We waited for a spell in 2WX, calling Bowman to reserve a room, the threw in the towel on any model-phantom storm formation nearby and headed N to our lodging. Along the way, we stopped on a hilltop just N of the Dakota divider for a photogenic Northern Plains sunset. OF Crowther’s supercell is the Montana storm silhouetted on the horizon, about 190 miles away. Ain’t it amazing to be able to see that far?
Even though the chase day didn’t amount to a whole lot convectively, we enjoyed each other’s company, had a few unusual and welcomed photo opportunities, and positioned ourselves to get a good night’s sleep before the diagonal crossing of North Dakota the following day. In Bowman, we even saw a long, bright, overhead flyover of the International Space Station before turning in.
Gorgeous Skyscapes: Wind Cave National Park
Filed under: Summary
Splendid Storm and Sunset near Hot Springs SD
14 June 11
SHORT: Began in Kimball. High-based storms and shallow convection along way N to Hot Springs SD. Beautiful storm before sunset over Wind Cave NP followed by equally amazing sunset scenes there.
LONG:
This wasn’t intended to be a “chase day”, per se, but we nonetheless encountered some beautiful shallow-convective scenery enroute that make it well worth sharing here, capped off by a wonderful little storm and color-splashed sunset where the Black Hills meet the Great Plains. On this day, the convection came to us!
After a decent brunch in IBM, we took off N for a couple of nights in a familiar set of cabins at Hot Springs. Along the way, we photographed an abandoned performance hall against a backdrop of brilliant, post-frontal blue sky and deep cumuli. The old place, structurally sound but superficially rickety, had a stage, piano, ticket booth, and separate outdoor latrine. Imagine having to leave the performance because of a terrible need to take a big dump…everyone there would know!
Sufficient residual moisture and relatively cold air aloft supported convectively textured, yet very clean, post-frontal skies that made fine backdrops for photographing other abandoned structures, such as this one near Crawford and this one near the NEb/SD border. The sky also added richness to scenes of rock formations, patterns, flowers and landscapes in the Toadstool Geologic Park within Oglala National Grassland. Toadstool is a wondrous little favorite place for us on the Great Plains–an outpost of the Badlands without all the tourist crowds–where we spent a few hours hiking and exploring for the first time in several years.
We got dinner in Hot Springs, whereupon my son David called to inform me he was caught driving in a tremendous hailstorm in Norman and needed advice on what to do. I directed him to a parking area; but his vehicle later got damaged by a flying tree limb in the second downburst. Facebook soon sprang to life with frantic posts of the fury of the hail-filled downbursts upon Norman. Ultimately, we would need to replace a good deal of roofing and guttering on our house from this event; and I knew even then that I would have many limbs to saw up and drag to the curb upon return. The dread of that chore made me enjoy this vacation even more, far away from still another Norman maelstrom that struck in our absence.
After dinner, we secured our cabin overlooking town, then headed up the road toward the rolling grasslands of Wind Cave National Park in hopes of some buffalo, wildflowers and sunset. Elke and I long have wanted to photograph a beautiful storm in the uniquely beautiful setting of this place…lo and behold! There it was! As we approached, we saw a growing Cb, cruising ESE across the undulating green carpet. One of our favorite overlooks happened to offer an outstanding view of the brilliantly lit storm. There we stayed, intermittent rumbles of thunder competing with the western meadowlarks for our ear, warm inflow at our backs, and before our eyes, among the most astounding non-severe stormscapes I’ve witnessed. The storm receded to the NE then E, letting the deep blue post-frontal sky into our wide-angle view, offering a source of reflected eastern light. We had begun full-sensory bathing in yet another transcendent experience best described by what Gretel Ehrlich once declared “the solace of open spaces”.
Just when we thought things couldn’t get more beautiful, they did, in a three-act production set across the theater of the sky. First, our storm gained a dense little core festooned with a bright rainbow that, after swapping on a zoom lens, made a postcard-pretty landscape scene for the national park. Right as that storm receded across the distant Badlands and weakened, the southwestern sky lit up with golden fractus basking in the sunset glow. As soon as those clouds began to dissipate, a couple of small virga showers formed to the S, dropping their wispy mists into the deepening red-orange hues. As they moved east, the moonrise beneath made for one of my favorite sunset and twilight shots of the year: flaming red virga beneath a golden crowned convective cloud top and blue sky. Finally, even as those colors faded, the western sky briefly blazed with a red-gilded cloud edge.
So concluded an unexpectedly stunning and soul-soothing display of atmospheric artistry! Before leaving the hilly meadow, however, there was one more piece of business to attend. On this evening, even a turd could spawn beauty, in this case a buffalo cookie supporting a mushroom! We would return the next day for some wildlife and flower photography and a visit to Crazy Horse, before resuming what would become the most active storm-observing vacation of our lives to date…