MSU Storm Chase

Turn up the Heat

2011-05-30T07:00:00.003-05:00

Yesterday was a great day for the TIG Storm Chase group. With surface temps in the mid-upper 90s and dewpoints in the low 60s, we were expecting to see high based storms in an "inverted-V" environment and associated high wind threats. We got on a storm west of Great Bend, KS and immediately noticed the high-based nature of the storm with impressive virga streaks. As we approached the storm, a large cloud of dust formed to our SW from a dry microburst. As the microburst winds approached us, we experienced a 20 degree rise in temperatures in a minute or two from a heat burst. This was a first time experience for all of us and very neat to feel in person.

We saw two gustnadoes form along the leading edge of the wind and then moved north to continue chasing the storm. A new updraft formed to our east a few minutes later and followed that for a little while until another very impressive dry microburst occurred with winds estimated between 70 and 80 mph and two more gustnadoes - one of which was quite impressive.

Water Not Still

2011-05-25T04:50:00.002-05:00

The team left Ponca City for a high risk opportunity in central OK. The supercells became a bit messy as their cold pools began to merge. The team then jumped east and intercepted a tornadic supercell just south of Stillwater, OK. The circulation was wrapped in rain so we carefully positioned ourselves south hoping for a glance. We were rewarded with a couple of quick looks at the tornado. We then poked into the damage path to our north (mostly tree, billboard, power pole, and out-building (likely high end EF0 or low EF1 from what we could see)).
Picture taken by student chaser Nathan Owen

May 20 Storms

2011-05-21T08:42:00.004-05:00

It was a fun day for the MSU Chase Team as we departed McPherson, KS and headed west to Belpre, KS to intercept a multi-cell storm that eventually split and weakened. We chose to dive south to a developing storm near Greensburg, KS and followed that as it began taking on supercell characteristics including a weakly rotating wall cloud and nice structure. New storms formed on its southern flank and produced hail in Pratt, KS. We then began our trek south to Enid, OK and had the opportunity to view the storm from 50 miles away as the sun was setting. Overall, a great chase day.

Down Time

2011-05-17T17:27:00.000-05:00

When we don't have storms to chase, we always try to volunteer our time and help the locals. Yesterday, Matt (our NCAA kicker) put on a "clinic" for the young kickers of east Amarillo.

Playing the Waiting Game

2011-05-14T23:17:00.003-05:00

Day 2 of the chase featured storms forming in an unstable but weakly sheared environment. Our target was NE Texas and SE Oklahoma and storms began to form about 20 miles north of our location. We intercepted the storm right as it split and began a quick death. From there, we intercepted a second storm that produced dime sized hail near Atoka, OK.

Day 3 was a travel day from McAlester, OK to Amarillo, TX and featured dinner at chase favorite Green Chile Willy's.

Day 4 was spent at Palo Duro Canyon in the morning and about an hour and a half of forecasting as a group for next week's chase prospects.

We have a few more days of forecasting and positioning before chasing begins either Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on which model solution holds the most water.

MCS Bust

2011-05-12T09:52:00.000-05:00

While the early morning departure looked promising but a mystery MCS busted our party. We ended in Weatherford, OK. Today looking a bit south in hopes of decent storm. Then we will have some time off.

The 2011 Chase Starts Soon

2011-05-08T08:51:00.003-05:00

We are making preparations for this year's installment of the Great Plains Storm Chase. We will either be leaving Wednesday or Thursday (more likely Weds). Computer model guidance has been consistent on Wednesday being an active severe weather day followed by a few down days. Whatever the case, we'll be out there ready to go and this site will feature plenty of chase day and non-chase day recaps. Thanks for following along!

Up and Down the Plains

2010-06-04T08:31:00.006-05:00

This has been a chase of driving endurance. Early in the week we targeted SE Nebraska for the potential for supercells. During the journey we stopped at a couple of areas known for big things (balls and benches). While storms formed along the cold front the CAP held tight in SE NE. Nevertheless we were treated to some structure and experienced 65+ winds and some small hail. A quick 10.5 hour trip the next day put us in the panhandle of TX where we got to see a dying LP cell. Finally another 9 hour trip to south-central NE rewarded us with a beautiful supercell w/wall cloud and funnel. This cell evolved into a small bow and with terrific structure.

Big Ball

Big Bench

Nice Storm

A New Chase Begins

2010-05-30T21:27:00.003-05:00

The on-campus students departed OKC on Saturday morning and safely made it back to MSU. Saturday afternoon a new group of Teachers In Geosciences students made their way to OKC to begin an eight day field methods course. Today we had our morning weather briefing and positioned ourselves in north-central OK hoping severe storms would form along a cold front and dry line. We intercepted two storms both of which produced severe hail.

Students begin the waiting game with a geology exercise.

Enjoying watching scud being rapidly pulled into the updraft base.

Coming To An End

2010-05-27T07:57:00.003-05:00

The MSU Team spent a couple of nights in Hill City, SD visiting Mt. Rushmore, the Black Hills, and Custer State Park. We then began the journey south toward Oklahoma City where this trip will end. We have seen some incredible storms and great tornadoes. Most importantly we are leaving this trip with more knowledge about severe convective storms.

Today we are driving to Amarillo, TX to see if one of the students can eat 4.5 lbs. of bovine flesh. Check back tomorrow to see if they were successful.

You Just Gotta Have Faith.

2010-05-24T21:49:00.005-05:00

This morning the MSU chase team targeted Dupree, SD for the potential for fast moving supercell storms. As we approached Dupree we continued another 20 miles west to setup on the warm front. Storms quickly developed and became severe to our south with the approach of the mid-level trough. The team sat in Faith, SD for approx. 20 minutes watching a severe storm on radar which eventually latched onto the warm front. Within minutes the storm was warned for a tornado. We approached the storm from the north with a large tornado visible at approx. 20 miles away. Continuing south we stop approx. 3 miles from the storm and watched a mature tornado for about 15 minutes prior to the rear flack downdraft occlusion (see video below). The storm briefly weakened and moved north off of the warm front. More video and images will likely be posted. Tomorrow the team will be rewarded with a relaxing trip to Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park.

Pictures: May 22 Bowdle, SD Tornado

2010-05-23T17:13:00.002-05:00

Here are still images from the May 22nd Bowdle, SD tornado

SD Tornado Again

2010-05-23T08:00:00.001-05:00

Below is video from our student Will Simmons.

Bowdle, SD Tornado 05-22-10

2010-05-22T23:50:00.003-05:00

The MSU storm chase team targeted central SD for the potential for supercell storms. As the forcing moved into the region deep convection began to develop and quickly congealed into a single storm. As the storm matured the team positioned itself just ESE of the mesocyclone. The storm quickly produced a rapidly rotating wall cloud and soon a tornado (see video below). The team moved south and east in an attempt to stay with the storm. The tornado became rain wrapped quickly, but we were able to get a couple of more glimpses at it through the evening. More images and video will likely be posted once we have some down time.

Friday Flyover

2010-05-22T22:54:00.001-05:00

Friday the MSU team traveled from Garden City, KS to northeastern Colorado. The cap held tight through most of the area and the team did not see any storms. We did however encounter a flyby from a crop duster (video below).

May 19 Dover, OK Tornado

2010-05-19T22:37:00.002-05:00

The MSU team followed a large supercell for approx. 100 miles across northern Oklahoma. Near Dover OK, the team intercepted the multiple vortex tornado in the video below. The tornado quickly became rain wrapped and chased us out of the area. More images and video to come soon.

Tornado and Funnels

2010-05-19T07:44:00.002-05:00

The tornado was brief (just a couple of minutes) but we were able to catch a couple of good images (still image at the beginning of movie below). After the tornado we caught some small funnels which appear to be on the outflow of the storm as they are rotating anticyclonic.

One Storm Many Chasers

2010-05-19T06:53:00.002-05:00

Chasers converge on the only storm of the day in the northern TX panhandle. Shortly after this video was taken the MSU crew found their first tornado of the chase.

Day 6 Recap

2010-05-19T00:53:00.002-05:00

Today was a fun and successful day for the MSU Storm Chase. We chased a supercell from near Dumas, TX to Stinnett, TX and witnessed beautiful supercell structure including numerous wall clouds, funnels, hail, and the coveted tornado near Stinnett. The students had a chance to also witness an incredible amount of chaser convergence as Vortex 2 and every storm chase group under the moon found themselves on this beastly storm.

We were very fortunate to have a good road to stay just ahead of the storm and also a slow moving storm to give us ample opportunities to take photographs and video.

Below are a few of the shots from our different vantage points today.

The fun doesn't stop today as another outbreak of supercells and tornadoes is expected tomorrow across Oklahoma and far northern Texas. The Storm Prediction Center has placed this area in a Moderate Risk, so we'll be there and hope for another successful day.

Day 4 - 5 Recap and Photos

2010-05-18T07:18:00.002-05:00

Day 4 took us to Childress, TX where we intercepted multicell and supercell thunderstorms. The first storm of the day was just northwest of Childress and provided some picturesque views of developing updrafts. We left that storm and chased a dieing supercell in far western Oklahoma. After a dinner stop at Pizza Hut (with terrible service), we jumped on another storm that was just a few miles north and east of Childress and followed that for 3o miles and intercepted some hail east of Childress.

Day 5 started out with a journey to Palo Duro Canyon and then out west to Cuervo, NM where we intercepted multicell storms. Eventually, one storm became dominate and began showing signs of broad rotation. This storm was beautiful as we were able to view it from the top of a mesa roughly 5200 ft above sea level. The last two days have been fantastic and we hope you'll enjoy some of the photos below.

The next two days will be active in the Texas panhandle and western Oklahoma.

Day 2 and 3 Recap

2010-05-16T07:08:00.004-05:00

Day 2 featured an impressive drive from Fort Smith, Arkansas to Odessa, TX. We left early Friday morning and hauled down to I-20 and intercepted some storms east of the Midland/Odessa area. The storms fired too early for us to get there at the peak before it became a cluster of intense storms. We witnessed some impressive lightning and small hail, as well as some flash flooding in Midland.

Day 3 (Saturday) featured a marginal threat. The upper level low providing the kick for storms to develop stayed north into New Mexico and we were left hanging out in a park in Monahans, TX with no storms to chase. The night ended with a fabulous chinese buffet in Odessa which offered up some of the freshest sushi one could find.

Today may feature trying to get into a little hail near Childress, Tx and then more storms look possible Monday-Weds.

Day 1 - Travel Day

2010-05-13T22:10:00.004-05:00

Greetings from Fort Smith, Arkansas.

8 students and 2 instructors loaded up in a 15 passenger van this morning and headed north to Memphis and then west on I-40 to Fort Smith. After a fine dinner, we had our first briefing to discuss severe weather forecasting in general as well as a forecast discussion for tomorrow. We plan on heading out around 8 AM and cruising through Oklahoma City before going southwest to Wichita Falls. Along the way, we'll analyze the data and determine the best location to see storms tomorrow.

You can always check out the right side of the page for the current Day 1 SPC Convective Outlook as well as following our progress on the Spotter Network map.

MSU Storm Chase on Twitter!

2010-01-16T07:29:00.001-06:00

Be sure to follow the MSU Great Plains Storm Chase on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/msustormchasers

Back Home

2009-06-08T13:01:00.004-05:00

May 2009 will go into the books as a rather slow tornado year for the Great Plains. We are happy to have seen some good storms, some good geology, and we have enjoyed time with friends (new and old). Check back next spring for the 2010 version.......

Caves, Storms, and Skew-Ts

2009-05-28T23:35:00.002-05:00

* Quite an eventful day for the TIG group today. It started by visiting the Carlsbad Caverns just south of Carlsbad, NM. Most of us chose to take the natural entrance which is a nice workout down a steep slope into the cave. I highly recommend stopping here if you are ever in the area!

* After that, we messed around with a storm showing a little rotation. It was a gorgeous storm over the Guadalupe Mountains and brought some nickel sized hail with it. We followed those storms into extreme western Texas before heading back to Roswell

* Our night was finished with pizza and a wonderful exercise plotting a sounding on a Skew T diagram thanks to Dr. Brown. Hand plotting allows students to become a little more intimate with the data and helps to cement the information in their head when reading these charts on computers in the future. Pictures of the day below!

Mesoscale Mayhem - May 26

2009-05-26T22:49:00.002-05:00

* We left the comfort of Childress TX and made a nice drive along the Red River to Gainesville. After dropping off our bags and analyzing things, we headed south on I-35 to the western edge of Fort Worth to chase a couple of storms.

* Today's chasing was highly dependent on finding and focusing on mesoscale features such as outflow boundaries and a prefrontal trough. High Instability and Low Shear was the scenario today as less than adequate upper level support left us finding areas where surface convergence was maximized in the unstable environment to create storms. The first storm we found produced a ton of outflow and we intercepted, finding small hail, heavy rain, and gusty winds. That storm split and we decided to chase the left-moving anticyclonic storm as it tracked due north towards higher moisture and lower dewpoint depressions (you don't hear that often!). We moved through the core of that to find some 1.25" diameter hail and fairly strong winds before getting north of that and viewed a shelf cloud at sunset before calling it a night in Gainesville. Not bad for a synoptically poor pattern.

* The remainder of the trip will be classroom and geology based. We'll be spending the next two nights in Roswell, NM and Athena's early forecast is partly stalactite with a chance of stalagmites.

* Here are pictures from today...

Tough Pattern

2009-05-25T22:49:00.002-05:00

* Negligible flow aloft has made it hard to pinpoint where storms are going to fire. We targeted roughly the Childress, TX area today and storms tried to develop in an unstable environment. However, a shortwave that kicked off storms in western OK late this morning left our area under the influence of Negative Vorticity Advection and subsidence which squashed the storms in our area in a hurry - negating the decent set up in the low levels.

* After a dinner at the Bobcat Deli and a couple of presentations this evening, we called it a night in Childress before trying it again tomorrow. Early indications are showing the best chase area in the south OK/north TX area near roughly Gainesville TX, but we'll have a better handle on it in the morning.

Teachers in Geosciences Chase Begins

2009-05-24T22:13:00.003-05:00

* Greetings from Canyon, TX, one of the nicest towns in the panhandle of Texas. Today is Day 1 of the Teachers in Geosciences (TIG) field methods course which focuses mainly on storm chasing with a geology component mixed in. Tim Wallace and Athena Owen have joined us as instructors as well as 10 new students from different areas of the country. These students are comprised of middle and high school teachers, USAF meteorologists, and television broadcast meteorologists.

* Day Zero was arrival day for the new students. Once everyone arrived, we enjoyed a hearty meal at Rib Crib where they are celebrating Rib Fest this month...a storm chase tradition. Upon leaving the restaurant, we viewed a severe thunderstorm warned storm that had small hail and gusty winds. The night ended with group introductions and our first forecast discussion

* Day 1 brought us to Canyon, TX after a 3 1/2 hour drive west. We made a pit stop at the Palo Duro Canyon which is the second largest canyon in the United States. Athena taught us some valuable geological information about the canyon and it made for a good time for pictures. So, without further ado....... enjoy!

On-Campus Chase Wraps Up

2009-05-21T23:12:00.002-05:00

*It has been a great chase with the on-campus students. We are in Salina, KS and enjoyed some time this evening reminiscing the great storms and great activities we were able to partake in the last 2 weeks. Tomorrow we'll head to Oklahoma City and the students will head home to Starkville on Saturday.

* As for the instructors, we'll be joined by Tim Wallace and Athena Owen and will begin an 8 day chase with the Teachers in Geosciences group as they wrap up their masters degrees.

* Below is a slide show/video of the events and people over the last two weeks. It was a great group and we are honored that we were able to teach and learn with them this year.

Rocky Mountain High - Colorado

2009-05-18T21:52:00.005-05:00

The MSU crew rode into Estes Park, CO on the afternoon of the 17th. After a quick game of mini-golf the group dispersed throughout the town for some snacks and shopping. Upon reconvening we enjoyed a supper of Elk and Buffalo burgers. Today (Monday the 18th) the group packed a picnic lunch and headed into the Rocky Mountain National Park. Within a couple of hours we found ourselves at 11,800 feet above sea level with amazing views of the surrounding mountains. Following our lunch (at 10,000 feet) we descended to approx. 7000 feet where we climbed through an alluvial fan composed of boulders left behind from a 1982 Dam failure. The resulting waterfalls and rapids were spectacular.
The group returned to the park just before sunset where we were greeted by hundreds of Elk and a few Mule Deer. With a few mountain induced clouds still in the area we where treated to quite a sunset. I hope the pictures below can reflect what we where able to see. Not a bad couple of days considering there are no storms!

May 16th Travel Day

2009-05-17T09:04:00.002-05:00

The MSU crew left the comfort of McPherson, KS heading west toward the Rockies. Along the way we stopped and the Worlds largest ball of twine and the geographic center of the lower 48 states. We settled in Colby, KS (not named for the husband of one of our students). Colby is the Oasis On The Plains and home of the 2006 NJCAA Region VI Division I Women's basketball champions (I really thought Cloud County would do better that year).

May 15 Storms

2009-05-16T08:24:00.004-05:00

The team left Ponca City, OK heading north into Southeast Kansas in the hopes of getting lucky again on a high instability low shear day. The first storms initialized in Northeast, KS and more quickly grew down the cold front into north-central, OK. We jumped on a storm just north of a break in the line. As we approached the storm reports of tennis-ball sized hail began coming in. We intercepted the storm approx. 4 miles west of Andale, KS. The radar indicated moderate mid-level rotation but the ragged nature of the base of the rotating updraft precluded us from seeing any meaningful signs of an impeding tornado. While none of the storms in Kansas produced a tornado the structure was nice to see.

We are heading into an atmospheric lull so the team will make its way west toward the Rockies. Check back for some different type of nature pics in the coming days.....

Tornado Video - May 13, 2009

2009-05-15T12:56:00.002-05:00

Here is the video from Wednesday's tornado. This is courtesy of Ryan Aylward, an MSU graduate and currently a meteorologist at Weather Data in Wichita Kansas. Ryan joined us for the chase on Wednesday.

Tornado Survey

2009-05-15T06:40:00.002-05:00

Good news regarding the tornado we saw on Wednesday - it caused no damage! Because of that, it was rated an EF0 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, which takes damage as an indicator of strength. I am not sure what this would have been rated had it hit something, and quite honestly, I don't want to know... Below is the official results from the NWS - Norman office:

TORNADO - KAY COUNTY OK - 9S NARDIN
654PM-705PM
THIS TORNADO DEVELOPED OVER OPEN COUNTRY 9 MILES SOUTH OF NARDIN AND
REMAINED NEARLY STATIONARY. NO DAMAGE TO STRUCTURES HAS BEEN
REPORTED. THE PRELIMINARY RATING IS EF0.

Day 8 (I think)

2009-05-14T22:51:00.002-05:00

* It sure is easy to lose track of days out here but today was an off day as we drove an hour and a half south to visit the Oklahoma City Memorial and visit the National Weather Center. The memorial is unbelievable and something I'd highly recommend if you are ever in the area. And the NWC is amazing too. It hosts the OU School of Meteorology as well as the SPC and the NWS Norman office. Neat stuff. We'll try to get some more pictures or video up on the tornado we saw yesterday and will be chasing tomorrow somewhere in Kansas. We'll narrow that down after the morning briefing.

May 13 Magic

2009-05-13T22:34:00.004-05:00

* A great day for the storm chase team today. We set up in Ponca City and watched storms initiate about 30 miles west of us. We intercepted them early and watched them transition from a high based hailer to a surface based supercell and were fortunate enough to intercept a tornado for roughly 10 minutes. We followed the storm for another hour watching it try to produce tornadoes the whole time. Eventually we left the storm and headed back to Ponca City for the evening. Click through the first pictures below but be sure to check back tomorrow and Friday as we'll add many more to the blog...

Tough Day

2009-05-12T23:25:00.002-05:00

* Storms did fire today but the shortwave kicked off storms in an area of high spreads between Temperature and Dewpoint which made the storms very high based and mainly hail/wind producers. After hanging out along I 40 in far western Oklahoma, we decided to head back to our hotel in Enid to get some rest for a busy day on Wednesday.

There is hope!

2009-05-12T12:04:00.001-05:00

* The image below shows a nice shortwave over SE New Mexico that is heading northeast and should interact with a dryline/sfc front intersection during peak heating today. That will provide both shear and uplift to hopefully break the cap this afternoon and produce some gorgeous supercells in the TX Panhandle. We will be watching closely to see where the dryline and front intersect, as storms that form on the dryline and cross the surface front will have the best potential to produce tornadoes. Regardless, storms that do form will have the chance to produce hail up to the size of baseballs....something we don't really want to deal with :)

* See image below and box that highlights the target area for today...

Will the cap break?

2009-05-11T22:53:00.003-05:00

* Gorgeous Enid, OK is home for the evening as we have the pleasure of staying in the same hotel for two nights in the row. Tomorrow we'll be watching attentively whether or not the cap can break. Several parameters suggest that if a storm can form across western Oklahoma or Kansas, they'll quickly become severe supercells. However, there is very warm air near 700mb that will limit storm development for much of the day. If storms go, we'll be in luck. But there is just as good a chance that they atmosphere stays capped and we'll be left with a sunburn and hopes for a good day on Wednesday in Central/Eastern Oklahoma.

* Today we had a nice drive from McPherson to Enid including stops at a Target and Taco Bueno (Good Taco) in Hutchinson, a post office in a town in Kansas that apparently takes lunch until 1:15, a drive through Greensburg, KS (a somber reminder of the dangers of tornadoes), and a scenic drive down to Enid. See pic below!

Plans for Next Few Days

2009-05-11T09:58:00.002-05:00

* Good morning from sunny McPherson, KS. Just wrapped up the morning briefing and after analyzing things we've decided to stay on the Plains rather than head to the Midwest for Weds. This will allow us two days to chase (Tues and Weds) and be ready to possibly chase on Friday.

* A rare Day 3 Moderate Risk is in place over Illinois/Missouri, but after checking things out, I get the idea that things will quickly go linear and become a straight line wind event. So we'll hope for supercell storms on the south end in Oklahoma on Weds.

Below is the maps used in the morning discussion with some highlighted favorable things for tomorrow...

Travel Day

2009-05-10T20:27:00.002-05:00

* Day 4 is in the books. We left Sherman, TX, made a recovery mission for a lost ring in Calvin, OK, headed back down Hwy 75 and core punched another elevated hailer before getting on the road. After a phenomenal lunch at Johnny's Original Rib Shack in Guthrie, Oklahoma, we headed up I-35 into Kansas. We are calling McPherson, KS home this evening...a lovely town in the center of Kansas (for the record, it doesn't have a Target).

* Tomorrow will be a decision day for us. We'll be watching the models closely and deciding between heading west to Iowa/Illinois to chase on Weds or staying on the Plains and chasing a little more marginal event on Tuesday and hoping the cap breaks on Wednesday. Check back tomorrow for details on that decision!

Hail Yes

2009-05-09T16:53:00.003-05:00

* A less than favorable setup for severe weather put us north of the surface boundary today to observe some elevated hailers. These are not tornado producers but can produce marginally severe hail. We encountered this storm near the Red River (OK-TX) border just north of Bonham, TX and saw dime sized hail before heading to Sherman, TX, our home for the night.

Friday Storms

2009-05-09T06:51:00.005-05:00

* Yesterday was a game of "wait for the cap to break" as we sat in various parks across southern Oklahoma. Very warm and humid/unstable air built underneath a strong cap and eventually a few storms broke through the cap. We intercepted the first storm about 15 miles north of Ardmore OK to find some small hail and a couple of nice wall clouds including a few brief funnel clouds. The storms were "splitting" which made it a little messy and tough see much visibly, but we did have about 10 or 15 minutes to view the wall clouds below...

(Photo courtesy of Lynssey Myers)

Heading a little south

2009-05-08T10:41:00.002-05:00

* Just finished up the morning briefing (charts are below if you care to check it out)...we'll be heading south, somewhere around Ada, OK to set up and wait for the cold front and outflow boundary to kick off storms.

*Remember that you can check out the SPC products and satellite and radar on the right side of the blog!

Today's Charts...

BINGO

2009-05-07T20:09:00.004-05:00

* We made it to Muskogee, OK safe and sound and broke in the van with a nice 8 hour drive. The cap was ridiculously strong this afternoon despite very warm and humid air, so much that we were left with a pretty sunset and no storms.

* But...as is the case on a storm chase such as this, sometimes the off days can provide just as much fun. This year we introduced a game of "Storm Chase Bingo" which you can earn marks in a square for finding various interesting things on the Plains.

Unfortunately, there is no box that says "weird pirate guy holding a large stick in Walmart", but I think it should make for a free mark. Check out this Okie from Muskogee...

We are off!

2009-05-07T08:41:00.003-05:00

* Greetings from the road! After a short setback from tailights missing, we are on the road, approaching the bustling metropolis of Winona, MS.

* Today we'll be heading out to eastern OK with a very slim chance of seeing a storm. Anything today is a bonus!

* Tomorrow the SPC has placed a moderate risk of severe storms over south-central Oklahoma with a 45 pct hatched area of severe weather. Should be interesting!

Be sure to use the links on the right side of the page to check radar, tornado potential, satellite, storm reports and current watches!

Chase Begins Tomorrow!

2009-05-06T12:49:00.003-05:00

* We will be loading up at Hilbun Hall and heading for Oklahoma - departing around 7 AM tomorrow morning.

* Chasing appears possible in Oklahoma or SE Kansas tomorrow and then eastern Oklahoma on Friday before a day off on Saturday. Then we may be back into the action on Sunday as a nice severe weather-type trough sets up over the western US!

Preparing for The Chase

2009-04-27T23:42:00.007-05:00

* Thank you for checking out the official MSU Storm Chase Blog. We have begun preparations for the 2009 version which will begin either May 7th or May 8th, depending on the pattern. As part of our preparations, we'll be getting our van serviced, updating equipment, and outfitting the van with the equipment we'll need to have a successful chase.

* Our van will be outfitted with Baron Mobile ThreatNet radar which uses XM Radio satellites to bring in the data. Our main source of radar, however, will come using Sprint wireless internet cards to access radar data displayed on GR Level 3 software. We will also have a scanner/weather radio and CB Radio to communicate information.

* This years chase will be lead by Dr. Mike Brown and Renny Vandewege and will include 8 students.

* Once the chase begins, be sure to check back for forecast discussions, recaps, non-chase day information, and of course, pictures!

-Mike and Renny