Montana June 11, 2016

A few shots from Baker Montana back on June 11 of this year. Very slow June for tornadoes in the plains but this next week looks to get things going again across the northern plains. Canada has been fairly active too the past few days.

Late May 2016 recap

This past week of May went out with a bang. Here's my past chases: Saturday May 21st - Leoti Kansas Tornadoes and Supercell Structure. 2 tornadoes. Sunday May 22nd - eastern TX panhandle storms. Didn't witness the tornadoes near Lakeview, TX due to flooding blocking my path. Monday May 23rd - eastern TX panhandle, rolling plains. Watch a large nighttime tornado east of Turkey, TX Tuesday May 24th - southwest Kansas Tornadoes. Witnessed 12-14 tornadoes near Dodge City, KS of all shapes and sizes. Thursday May 25th - southwest Kansas. Measured 4" hail near Sitka. Off for a while to catch up on sleep and normal life in general. Then attention turns to the northern plains hopefully.

May 24, 2016 Tornado-fest near Dodge City Kansas

Here are some video grabs and brief video from May 24, 2106 near Dodge City, KS. Watched more than 10 tornadoes in and around Dodge City.

A few pics from May 16, 2016 chase. A few tornadoes, 2" hail, and nice structure.

May 11, 2016

I missed some good tornadoes over the past few days. Was chasing in Colorado on the 7th but couldn't make the Wray storm. Here are some pics from that chase.

Then had a decent chase day on Sunday the 8th in Oklahoma. Left Sunday evening back to Houston and wasn't chasing Monday when there were multiple strong tornadoes in southern Oklahoma.

Early May Update

Not much going on this week but here's a quick recap of March and April. I've been on 3 chases since the April 15th tornadoes in the Oklahoma Panhandle. 4/24 was a bust in central Kansas, 4/26 was a bust in west central Oklahoma, and 4/29 led me to some rain wrapped supercells and tornadoes in SW-Central Oklahoma. Below is some video from that day where I tried to close in on a rain wrapped tornado near Ninnekah, OK.

April 29 2016 Ninnekah, OK from Sam Dienst on Vimeo.

The next system will move into the plains over the weekend and I will be out chasing then as well. Targeting northeast CO/northwest KS on Saturday 5/7 then KS/OK on Sunday 5/8. Some minor setups in the southern plains early next week may follow.

April 15, 2016 Oklahoma Panhandle Tornadoes

April 15, 2016 ended up being a very rewarding chase day. Our day started in Amarillo where my dad and I grabbed some lunch. Today was totally dependent on moisture quality and was the only real question mark regarding tornado potential. A large upper trough was located over Utah/Arizona with great upper level flow spreading over the southern high plains. Strong southeasterly low level winds were transporting marginal moisture into the northern panhandle in a last minute moisture return scenario. We knew the shear was supportive of supercells. Started off near Dalhart where storms began to organize and followed a nicely structure supercell northeast along HWY 54 through Stratford and eventually into Texhoma, OK. We turned north on some back county roads through the Oklahoma panhandle eventually making our way to HWY 412. I was just about ready to give up on the storm thinking the inflow was just too cold (it as probably 62-66 degrees around 7pm). Made the call to just head west to sample some hail since the core had just strengthened on radar. Arrived west of Eva, OK to notice a wall cloud forming. Quickly had a brief picturesque tornado drop down. It lifted and a new wall cloud formed and another nice tornado touched down over the open prairie. Video from that evening. Another larger tornado formed after the 2nd one lifted. It became rain wrapped and crossed HWY 412 behind me.

April 15 2016 OK Panhandle from Sam Dienst on Vimeo.

Here's a look back at the setup. Most maps are from around 7pm Friday evening. Tornadoes occured between 7-8pm.