Final V2 Thoughts

Only saw one of these -- but one is better than none!

So, after having a few weeks at home to relax and recover from Vortex2, I have finally gotten around to posting my final pictures and thoughts on the great adventure/experiment. After the excitement of seeing our tornado and big hail in Wyoming, the mobile mesonet fleet escaped to Cheyenne and Omaha to repair windshields, which ended in a lost day for us. The fleet chased after two supercells in NC Nebraska, but neither produced anything tornadic. Our next big chase day was June 7th, which brought us along the Missouri River near NE Kansas and NW Missouri. This day brought yet another change to my mesonet team (it was getting a bit old by then admittedly), with Ben and Al as my new crew. The storm we were on was quite tough to set-up on, but once we did, it appeared to be close to forming something tornadic on a few occasions. Nothing did form out of it other than mushy hail and strongish winds though, providing a nice case for why tornadogenesis did not occur. However, it did have some nice structure to it, and we learned why that area is really not very ideal for chasing whatsoever.

Portions of the Updraft -- it had some nice spirals at one point in time

The wall cloud early in the storm

Same wall cloud, different time (a bit earlier than the last shot)

After this storm, we drove through quite a light show to get into Kansas, and we moved our way westward the next day, even making a stop at a winery. On the 9th, we intercepted storms near Dodge City, KS. The drive up to this intercept was a bit humbling in that we passed through the town of Greensburg on our way, a town which just two years ago was destroyed by an EF-5 tornado. Although they are recovering, there is still a lot to be done there, and you could certainly feel the power unleashed on that town by mother nature. Fortunately for the town, this storm did not produce a tornado, although it had some good circulation to it. This day was intriguing for driving, in that the fleet came across some of their worst roads yet. Despite our best efforts to destroy the undercarriage of the mesonet, everything held together, and we were treated to another beautiful storm, though it again lacked anything tornadic.

Entering Greensburg, KS

Our wall cloud -- I would have liked to drive under it, but it was out of our storm-relative mission :-(

The wall cloud losing it's punch -- you can see the clear slot chewing it up
The updraft had quite a look to it -- a real 'mother ship' kind of shape at points in time

After this storm, we proceeded to stay in Kansas for several days, and intercepted storms for 3 straight days. On the 10th, we intercepted storms near Sublette, one which did produce a tornado, but not where we were intercepting. In fact, the tornado occurred after operations were called off, and rain was blocking our view of the circulation. The storm did have some attempts at forming weak funnel clouds, but nothing all that impressive. However, it did have a nice shape to it, and twice formed 'trick' wall clouds -- wall clouds that looked very impressive and drew our attention away from the main circulation core. Regardless, it was another nice storm despite the missed tornado.

Our 'wall cloud' -- it was pretty disorganized

Weak attempts at a funnel -- but Al and I agreed that it counted

The trick wall cloud -- it looked better than what we had, although still outflow dominated (note the tilt)

This was as we raced out in front of the storm on the way to the hotel -- nice structure and CG lightning

After a bit, we stopped to take pictures of the storm -- somewhere in there is a tornado masked by rain :-(

On the 11th, we had the longest chase day of the V2 campaign -- 600 miles of driving. It was a bit of a frustrating day, as we dropped south toward Texas with an early start, only to turn around and head NW to Colorado (roughly 100ish miles from where we had started the day). However, we were rewarded with a very nice looking storm, though again lacking a tornado. The storm did allow for some nice hail though (nothing damaging, but some new dents), and some of our stronger winds that we've observed damage on (a few downed branches). It had a nice layered structure to it, although I wasn't able to get any pictures of that. However, after obs were called off, it was back-lit by the setting sun, giving a beautiful view.

The wall cloud as we approached -- not bad!

Not quite sure on this, but it looks like some horizontal rolls -- suggesting some circulation

The updraft -- we were almost directly under it, so scaling to get it all in was impossible

The storm near sunset -- very nice looking

A bit of CC lightning too -- always a nice treat

The 12th and 13th were kind of bust days for us, with nothing happening on the 12th, and a deployment on the 13th that kind of had the feel of 'why not?!?'. Our storm on the 13th, east of Amarillo, literally evaporated in front of our eyes, challenging the Childress storms from earlier in the project for fasted storm death. It had a bit of hope for a short period, but then the weak circulation occluded and it was like a derailed train -- it rapidly ended. An unfortunate end to the experiment, but fitting given the year.

Headed toward the last storm

The Anvil looked nice

And...poof there it goes!

When all was said and done (including the road trip back to State College from Amarillo, we covered ~12500 miles (keep in mind we weren't there for the first week). We passed through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. It was an experience I will never forget for sure, and one that I would love to do again if the opportunity presents itself. Thanks to everyone who made my trip so memorable, and be sure to continue checking in on my summer adventures, including trips to Bar Harbor! And of course, my journeys up to Montreal late in the summer to begin my grad school career!