On a day where conditions were in place for tornadoes across Central Kansas, one big important question remained. Could storms manage to break the cap? Or would this be another prime example of a day where good dynamics go to waste. With all of these questions left for chasers to ponder, I did not decide to chase the setup until ~11am on the morning of the 25th. Like 19 May, I would not be able to depart from ICT until ~3pm due to work responsibilities. Therefore, I chose Great Bend, KS as an initial target. However, I boxed an area stretching from Great Bend northwestward to Lacrosse and Hays, and back eastward to Russell, KS as the area for convective initiation and eventually tornadoes due to slow storm motions that were the result of less shear aloft. With most of the HailSTONE team targeting the same area, the PI's decided to have limited operations for the day.
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| Initial wall cloud and associated "Beavers Tail" (left) feeding moisture into the storm. |
With all of this in mind, I quickly departed ICT by 3pm. Coincidentally, I ran into Cooper and Bosco upon arriving in Great Bend shortly before 5pm. Prior to continuing into the forecasted box for the day, I assisted them with an inverter issue. Once resolved, we quickly departed Great Bend shortly after 5:30pm and began heading north toward initial convection southeast of Hays, Kansas. Once we got well north of Otis, KS on dirt roads, we gained visual of the cloud base and other intricate storm details. Collection 2 and I managed to stay just to the south of the wallcloud for well over an hour, managing to document dust and dirt being picked up into the updraft of the storm. We then elected to sit in between the northernmost cell and the cell to the south an monitor the progress of both cells before getting into contact with Impact 1 and going into collection mode northeast of Russell.
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| Dust and dirt being lifted into the updraft as the storm strengthened. |
After surviving a barrage of uncomfortably close CG strikes while collecting hail, Collection 2 and I headed back south of I-70 to get in a better position to observe the rapidly organizing storm south of our initial storm. Once south of I-70, we blasted west on dirt roads once again to get closer to the rapidly organizing wall cloud associated with the storm. Finally, the storm produced a tornado around 8:50pm in an open field near Gorham, KS. After aborting any extended documentation due to lightning, I decided to blast west after Collection 2 once again to get closer to the tornado since it was barely moving. As we got closer, we were treated to a spectacular back-lit ropeout, as the cone tornado took the shape of an elephant trunk and stretched across the sky before completely dissipating about 7 minutes after forming.
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| Close CG strike during HailSTONE collection. |
After observing the updraft base and the recycling wallcloud, Collection 2 decided to head south to the next storm, while I decided to quickly blast north back to I-70, and then east back through the hook before the storm reproduced another tornado. I was able to punch through the hook and get far enough east as the storm produced a second tornado to my southwest. An increase in wind speed and a wind shift to the northeast was experienced during this time. That particular tornado went on to produce EF-2 damage in the town of Russell, KS. Once I cleared this storm, I made a stop in Salina, KS to fuel up and review the event before proceeding back to ICT for work the next morning.
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| Cooper and Bosco observing the recycling wallcloud that was in the process of producing funnel clouds as a CG strike occurs nearby. |
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Distance: 250 Miles
Wx: 1 Tornado, Hail, many CG Strikes & Gustnadoes
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