June 18, 2023:  Sun - Travel Day:  Left Home at Noon. Other than almost continuous smoke issues from the wild fires in Canada, an uneventful drive to my first nights stay at a HIE in Springfield, Ohio.   The models have been confident in predicting a pattern change with the upper flow switching to the southwest across the plains for the upcoming week. Southerly surface flow should be advecting moisture all the way to the northern plains.  I was hoping for some severe storms anywhere from western NE to central ND by Tuesday, Day 3.  SPC Day 3 is currently showing a marginal risk for severe over central ND, with possible capping issues farther south.  I need to decide in the morning to head west towards NE or northwest to ND.   HIE -Springfield, OH 470 miles

June 19. 2023:  Mon-Travel Day:  A long drive made worse by the horrid traffic and crazed drivers in the vicinity of Chicago and it took at least 3 hours to get through the mess until conditions greatly improved with far less traffic.  Weather was again uneventful except for the continuous smoke filled sky conditions.   Some improvement in western MN.  Tomorrow still looks like multi cell severe storms in a line from central ND south through central SD. I was hoping more for isolated supercells farther north in ND.  There may be some late day organized cells in the far western Dakotas, but this is uncertain and may not occur until after dark.  Positioned now along I90. I will need to decide in the morning whether to continue west in SD or head north into ND.  Cobblestone INN - Austin, MN 706 miles for the day.

June 20, 2023:  Tue -  Day 1 - Travel/Chase Day:  Two plays today, one being the CF boundary that stretched N/S thru central ND/SD into NE where severe storms would initiate by late day. The other more enticing play in northeastern WY for a couple of discrete supercells. The second play would be even later and would be too far to attempt before sunset.  Linear forcing at the CF had the initial storms moving almost due north.  I got on one of the initial storms just north of Murdo SD, and although entertaining it never real put on a good show (1st photo below).  A second storm formed in the same area soon thereafter and again I went north of town several miles, but the results were basically the same (2nd photo below).  Decided to head south out of Murdo on highway 83 towards Mission for storms coming up from NE.  I was about to give up and started heading east toward Winner SD where I would be staying for the night.  A decent cell went up behind me and to my south, so I turned around and managed to get on the backside of this storm about 30 miles west of Mission (3rd photo below).  I took a few photos of the updrafts, then drove back through wind driven rain through Mission and then east to Winner where I took my last photo of some weakening updrafts near sunset.  Not exactly the day I was hoping for, but storms never the less---just nothing really special.  HIE - Winner SD with 610 travel and chase miles logged for the day.

June 21, 2023:  Wed - Day 2 - Chase Day:  But not the day I was hoping for.  There was an enhanced risk for severe storms and tornadoes across southeast WY and northeast CO with earlier calls focused on Wyoming.  I targeted the LaGrange to Chugwater area in hopes that a long tracked supercell would occur to the north as forecast by the Cam's. I got to Gering Nebraska by noon just as a large cell exploded to my southeast and east of Kimball which was way too early.  More storms soon followed to its south in northeast Colorado and these did produce some tornadoes.  I stuck to my original plan and wound up getting on a very large but messy cell west of Wheatland.  This one was nearly stationary over the high terrain to my west and simply was not photogenic.  I quickly reposition south and east of Chugwater hoping this cell would eventually move east and pick up some speed.  It did, but never became the large isolated supercell I was hoping for.  There were too many obstructing clouds and the inflow was quite cool. I did manage to take a few photos from time to time of some semi-interesting cloud structure from this storm.  A somewhat disappointing day given the high hopes forecasted by the the models.  509 miles driven. Cobblestone Inn, Gering, NE.

June 22, 2023:  Thu Day 3 - Supercell - Denver, Colorado:  Another slight risk for severe storms in northeast CO with initiation starting by mid afternoon near DEN.  Drove down from Gering to Fort Morgan for lunch and a gas stop before heading west on I-70 to the I-470 loop towards Parker to get close to a big supercell approaching the DEN area.  Traffic was fast and brutal on I-470 going south and of course this is when some of the very best structure was occurring!  No way to stop and had to keep going to the Parker exit, and traffic was even worse with slow moving cars in 3 or 4 lanes along with numerous lights. Rush hour was in full swing!  Again fantastic structure off to the west, but no way to stop for photos.  I did manage one photo through the side window while stopped at a light with a good view west.  Stopped again at a small pull off near Parker but the structure was not quite as interesting.  Then headed east on 86 towards Limon, a road I was very familiar with that includes some good high points looking back west.  Stopped a few times for structure shots including one from Elizabeth (2nd and 3rd photo), but by now the storm had lost a lot of its structure.  I then took time-lapse photos of the approaching shelf cloud structure from a high point east of Kiowa before giving up on this storm and heading east towards Limon.

Another storm flared up back to my southwest near Simla, and this one looked good on radar.  Headed east to I-70, then south at Limon to 24 and then southwest to Ramah.  At Ramah I took a dirt road north of town to a high spot where I found Chris G. and the Tempest gang taking photos.  There were some nice views of the storm just off to the north as it drifted east.  I stuck with this storm back east on 24 towards Limon, but the storm was going downhill fast.  Stopped at Limon for gas and then north to my nights stay in Brush since I needed to be back in SE Wyoming for an enhanced risk of severe storms tomorrow. Sunset photo was taken near Last Chance, Colorado.  Cobblestone INN, Brush Colorado 495 miles  (2730 total trip miles thus far)

June 23, 2023:  Fri Day 4 - Big Supercell and Tornadoes - Chugwater, Wyoming:  A rather easy forecast today for the same area I chased two days ago along highway313 between LaGrange and Chugwater.  Dew points were maximized in this area where southeast surface winds were converging against a boundary with southwest winds aloft. This would most certainly guarantee a rotating storm.  HRRR was also consistently signaling a lone supercell tracking just to the north of highway 313.  Initiation occurred a little west of Chugwater and we set up to watch at a high point with a nice open view to the west and north.  The storm looked great on radar and visually with a very stout updraft tower and lowered base. I photographed and attempted time-lapse segments over the next 45 minutes or so until the storm got better organized and started heading east. Just as I was turning around someone pointed to look and there it was, a brief tornado (came out of the structure looking east in the last photo below) but was gone before I could stop and get back out of the car.

I then got back on 313 and could see a nice RFD cut up to my north and then got slammed with RFD winds.  Soon after a white cone tornado could be seen dropping to the ground.  I filmed with the GO Pro while driving, and pulled over for a couple quick shots with my camera (first photo below), but the view was a little murky and the cone only extended about half way to the ground.  I then continued east with great base structure just off to my north, but soon ran into heavy chaser traffic.  This only got worse the farther east I drove.  I wanted to pull over several times when I saw something I wanted to photograph (including brief tornadoes), but it was way too dangerous to safely stop.  I later pulled over at my favorite look out spot above LaGrange and it appears there was a large tornado imbedded in the rain off to my northwest (photos 2, 3, and 4 below).  The second to last photo was from a brief pullover stop to look back to my northwest at a very well defined clear slot, but no tornado was occurring at that time. 

I was really tired of dealing with the massive chaser crowd (last photo above) and decided to call it quits. I knew full well this storm would be going for awhile and I would likely miss a lot including more tornadoes.  I attempted to book rooms to my east in the direction the storm was headed, but as expected at this late hour everything was booked solid given the large influx of chasers that converged on the storm of the day.  I knew better and waited too long to book rooms, this should have been done before the action started since I was almost certain where the storm would be by sunset.  Headed west instead and stayed at the expensive Holiday Inn Express, Cheyenne Wyoming with only 277 miles driven on this day.

June 24, 2023:  Sat Day 5 - A Nothing Day:  With no storms to chase and a hotel already booked in Bridgeport, Nebraska there really was not much to do except take a slow drive from Cheyenne back to Nebraska on the same roads I had driven over the last few days.  Skies were clear with patchy flat cumulus, but a high wind warning was in effect for the entire area for wind gusting to 50mph! No way did I want to take a hike, or even a short walk anywhere.  I did take a slight detour around Courthouse and Jailhouse Rock then up to Gering for lunch at Runza before checking into my hotel at 3:30pm MDT.  The only good news is that the SPC 1730 Day 2 outlook was now painting a small marginal risk for severe storms in the Cheyenne Ridge area for tomorrow, where before there was nothing but general thunder anywhere in the high plains.  So I may be chasing some of the same areas once again that I traversed during the previous two days.  Cobblestone Inn, Bridgeport Nebraska with 227 miles driven including a round trip to Sharis Restaurant in Scotts Bluff (a 64 mile round trip).  

June 25, 2023:  Sun Day 6 - Chase Day Bust - Cheyenne Wyoming Area:  I was encouraged yesterday when SPC upgraded the general thunder area to a marginal risk for a small area in southeast Wyoming for the chance of an isolated severe storm or two.  After lunch in Pine Bluffs I hung out at the Antelope Truck stop in Burns watching model updates and radar while keeping my eye on cloud towers forming well to my west over the higher terrain.  I decided to get closer and hang out a little east of Cheyenne where I would have more road options IF a storm were to suddenly develop. A few interesting towers went up, but each attempt was short-lived and was soon replaced by new promising towers farther west.  Sadly, each valiant attempt ended the same way, a promising updraft followed by a cloud collapse as seen in the photos below.  By 6:30pm or so it became obvious no storms would happen as advertised by the HRRR model. I called it quits and headed north to my hotel in Torrington, Wyoming.  Holiday Inn Express for night with just 197 miles total for the day.

June 26, 2023:   Mon Day 7 - Isolated Supercell - Albin Wyoming:  A really tough day deciding where to target.  SPC had painted a slight risk over parts of northeast Wyoming sliding southeast into the northwest Nebraska Panhandle.  That was the intended target, but the CAM models just did not seem very bullish on much happening in this area before sunset.  However, the HRRR model kept a nasty looking isolated supercell initiating near Cheyenne Wyoming and tracking East Southeast into Nebraska well after sunset.  I tried to ignore that since there was only a marginal risk for severe as opposed to the slight risk up north.  Yet, surface convergence, dew points, and ThetaE all pointed to that southern supercell. I conferred with Bill several times and he was thinking more and more the southern play as well. After hanging out in Torrington untill about noon, I decided to get away from the clouds and head north into the full sun, but had a nagging feeling I would regret this decision.  I stopped at JayEm and conferred with Bill again and he was hedging south a bit before making the final decision.  I headed back south and met up with the gang at Yoder Wyoming and looked at more data.  Everything said to go south.  Bill stayed a little farther north at Chugwater, but I wanted to get on the southern side of any storm that would form, and one was already developing to our WSW.  Besides, I needed gas and a couple of supplies so I headed south towards Cheyenne.  Heading down I-25 the fledging supercell already looked impressive just to my west with cloud tops already approaching 45K.  I fueled up a little east of Cheyenne and watched the cloud towers develop to my northwest. I decided not to linger too long as I knew it would pick up speed soon and head ESE.  I headed east towards Burns and then cut north on a road that parallels 213 by a few miles. I had a great look at the storm on my way north (first photo shown below) and it soon became apparent that I would just barely be able to beat the storm to the intersection at 216 which then cuts east to Albin.  As I was turning the corner hail started falling and I could see a tornadic lowering in my side mirror.  But this quickly got rain wrapped so I continued east to Albin, and then south on 215.  The storm was really showing some nice structure, but was also picking up speed and cutting more to the southeast.  No time to dally very long for photos, but I did get a few good ones in the Albin area. 

By the time I reach Pine Bluffs I knew I could no longer beat the storm east, so continued on 30 east instead of I-80 where it would be safer to stop when desired.  But a hail core soon cut off my path east and I soon encountered 2 inch hailstones on the roadway and a few started hitting my truck.

I had to stop several times but eventually made it to Kimball where it was raining heavily.  I wanted to go east on I-80, but the underpass to the east bound ramp was completely blocked by at least a dozen cars with folks afraid of hail damage (there was no danger as the storm core was east of the area).  I decided I was not going to wait for folks to move their cars, so cut back 11 miles on I-80 to the next exit where I had a great look at the storms updraft towers to my east glowing in the late evening light. 

I then cut back east on 30 to Kimball once again, then continued east on I-80 hoping to beat the worst of a new storm that had formed to the north of the original storm, and this one was awfully close to I-80.  I managed to get to Sydney with only some minor hail pinging, but had to unload quick as a wrap around portion of that cell was fast approaching with some gusty winds and hail.  All in all a great chase day by making the fortunate call to head south.  Days Inn Sydney, Nebraska with 353 miles logged for the day.

June 27, 2023:  Tue Day 8 - Bust - Chadron Nebraska:  SPC had a large swath of the central plains painted with a slight risk, enhanced risk, and even a moderate risk farther south along the Kansas-Oklahoma border.  I had zero interest in driving all the way south to the southern play, which would eventually turn into a severe MCS. I was more interested in the slight or enhanced risk across northwest Nebraska, especially since I was already nearby. I headed north from Sydney to Chadron in hopes of an isolated storm forming in far Northwest Nebraska ahead of a Dryline and in an area of moisture convergence.  Severe storms were expected to form early across most all of western Nebraska, but only one isolated severe cell formed down in the Broadwater area.  I remained hopeful as updrafts formed and then died.  It eventually became apparent that the CAP would hold in this area.  Later updates indicated any storms would happen farther east in north central Nebraska, and not until near sunset.  I followed one isolated LP like updraft from Chadron to Hay Springs, but it too anviled out quickly and soon fell apart.  All the action near sunset was 60 or more miles to my east and moving away from me.  Approximately 247 miles driven.  Another expensive Holiday Inn Express for the night. Chadron, Nebraska.

June 28, 2023:  Wed Day 9 - Dusty Tornado South of Kimball Nebraska:  Started in Chadron Nebraska trying to decide whether to stay north again or head south to the favored area off the Cheyenne Ridge.  There was a slight risk in place for all of the Nebraska Panhandle and the HRRR model once again showed a nice supercell entering the northwest Nebraska PH and the far southwest Nebraska PH.  I decided to play the middle ground in Alliance until early afternoon, and finally convinced myself that the southern play would be the best option, both for storm strength and a better road network.  Headed south to Broadwater and then west on 88, but decided this could be a long day detoured north 12 miles out of my way to fill up on gas, as there would be no other options for quite a while.  By the time I repositioned onto 313 toward LaGrange there was already a robust supercell forming off to my WSW!  I really had to blast west on 313 knowing I would have to cut south toward 215 to Albin.  There was already some nice structure along the way but knew I had to keep moving in order to beat a path to the business end of the storm farther south, and the storm was already turning from easterly to ESE.  I made my first stop for photos a little south of Albin just as Bill Reid and crew came in from the opposite direction and positioned themselves a little farther down the road from where I was parked.

From there we headed south to Pine Bluffs and then east on 30.  Once again like two days prior I was racing to beat the hail, but encountered it anyway near Bushnell.  Fortunately it didn’t get too large and we made it to Kimball and then headed south several miles on 71.  On one of our stops heading south we parked on a dirt road looking west at the approaching storm.  The structure was okay, but not spectacular. But there were several wall clouds attempts with rotation which was followed by several very close cloud to ground lightning bolts!  At about the same time a large dusty stovepipe tornado formed a couple miles to our west.  I took several photos and some video with the 6D hand held, and a little tripoded with the R6M2 as the tornado began weakening.  The zoomed in and wide angle photos below are shown in the order they were taken as the tornado drifted south (to the left) in our view to the west. 

We then blasted south on 71 and soon encountered very strong winds from the outer circulation of the weakening tornadic circulation. This resulted in rather focused driving for several minutes until we cleared the heavy wind blown rain.  After another film stop farther south, we had to drive about 20 miles south to our next good east option, and once again encountered the rear flank of the storm near Sterling.  Our last photo stop was on a dirt road high above Sterling, Colorado as we watched several promising wall cloud lowerings, but no tornado.  Again, the structure was okay but again not spectacular.  I took several photos and some video before we got hit by the rain core. 

The chase was over at that point as the sun had already set, and heavy winds and rain were threatening my escape route north to Sydney for the night.  I had to navigate through very heavy rain and small hail on my way to exit north off of I-76, only to find it totally blocked by trucks and panicked drivers.  I drove another 6 miles to an alternate route north, here again were a few cars but no blocking my way north.   I relaxed as I would now be driving out of the rain/hail, but only to find this road closed a couple miles from my exit, no doubt due to flooding.  So, back west on I-76 to my original exit once again through heavy rain but this time the exit was clear on the north side of the highway.  I made the last 30 miles or so north without incident.  Days Inn (same as two nights prior) Sydney, Nebraska with 449 miles driven for this chase day!

June 29, 2023:  Thu Day 10 - Severe Storm - Chugwater Wyoming:  Another day with the risk of severe storms over a good part of southeast Wyoming and northeast Colorado as well as the western Nebraska Panhandle.  HRRR showed two areas with good convergence with at least one big supercell forming near DEN and the other in the favored area near Chugwater.  I chose the northern target near Chugwater in part because it has proved successful for developing storms over the past week or so, and I have become rather familiar with the road network. I left Sydney by about noon and headed to Pine Bluffs Wyoming for lunch and to decide on a plan from there.  Everything still pointed to Chugwater so it was time to get moving, and there was already an isolated storm forming about 50 miles to its west.  This storm soon became severe warned and looked really promising on radar.  I stopped briefly at the top of the hill above town to take a few pictures, and then blasted south on I-25 to get in front of this storm.

I exited off I-25 about 20 miles south of Chugwater which put me directly east of the storm.  At this point it had some nice structure along with an occasional wall cloud.  A clear slot developed and soon after a nice lowering with a funnel.  Looked as though a tornado was imminent, but it did not happen.  Some nice base structure passed off to my north as the storm began to cross I-25. 

I then headed south again on I-25 and cut northeast on highway 85 in order to re-intercept the southern flank of the storm at a point a little west of Albin.  Sadly, the storm was fast becoming outflow dominate but still had some interesting base cloud structure.  I stopped several times on my way to Albin taking photos including one of an old house with a stormy background.  The second photo below was taken from Albin Wyoming looking north at the approaching gust front from this now outflow dominate storm.

By the time I reached Albin the storm was merging with other storms and I no longer had interest in pursuing this now disorganized storm.  I then headed south to Pine Bluffs which completed a chase road network circle for the day.  It was time to call it a day and continue south to my nights lodging in Brush, Colorado.  I fought winds and moderate rain along the way from a severe warned storm that started in the DEN area.  I was on the northern edge of this storm after sunset, so there was nothing to see or photograph.  All in all not a bad chase day, but would have been better had my storm remained discrete longer.  Cobblestone Inn - Brush Colorado with 349 chase miles logged for this day.

June 30, 2023:  Fri Day 11 - Brief Severe Warned Storm - Yoder, Colorado:  Although a good part of SE Colorado was in the slight risk area, I wasn’t all that enthused about the prospects of discrete supercells in that area.  There was also a 5% tornado risk for a small area south of I-70 from about Limon to Burlington,but the initial supercells coming off the higher terrain held the most interest.  Storm initiation would also be about 2 hours earlier than usual, so it would be best to get closer to the higher terrain by early afternoon. 

I left Brush around 10am and was surprised to see that Bill and Tempest Tours had also stayed in the same hotel.  We both liked the area south of Limon.  I headed down 71 and stopped at Limon for lunch.  The place was crazy full of tourists starting off their long 4^th of July holiday weekend.  By this time a storm had formed off the favored higher terrain west of Colorado Springs, and another isolated storm formed down by Pueblo.  I continued south to highway 94, then west to Yoder where I then dropped south in order to get in front of this developing storm near Colorado Springs.  It was severe warned at the time, and I was entertained with some Mammatus clouds, a heavy rain shaft and rain foot at times.  I stopped several times to enjoy the thunder and take in the storm. 

I got south of the storm along Boone Road as the storm crossed the road behind me.  Sadly, by the time I got to Boone the storm was essentially dead, as well as my plans for an intercept of this storm near LaJunta.

The Pueblo storm was dying as well, and the only really good storm left was down by Kim, way too far to consider an intercept. I decided on an early dinner in LaJunta, then preceded to my hotel in Eads for the night. The Kim storm had morphed into an big MCS and was preceding towards Kansas.  So nothing left to do but head to the hotel.  Tomorrow morning I will need to decide to head for home or stick it out a few more days.  Either way there will be nothing to chase tomorrow, only a long drive to position or head home.  Cobblestone Inn, Eads Colorado with 297 Chase Miles logged. 

July 1, 2023:  Sat Day 12 - Travel Home Day with Storms:  With no storms left to chase on the plains for the next few days I decided it would be a good time to head home. I Left Eads by mid-morning with the thoughts of making it to somewhere in Missouri.  There was a slight risk of severe storms in Missouri with a marginal risk stretching back to about Salina.  I would at least have to chance to see some storms on the way home.  HRRR was showing a large cluster of storms sliding over the Kansas City area by 6-7pm CDT, right about the time I would be getting there!  I had no desire to mess with heavy rain while traveling through a congested urban road network which is bad enough under clear skies!  I considered chasing in eastern Kansas, but the storms were mostly multicell or pulse type storms, not supercells.  

Subsequent runs of the HRRR backed off a little on the storms in the Kansas City area and the slight risk had been pushed about 100 miles east and south, which would work better for me!  I managed to get through the metro area just as a small storm was forming but fortunately only light to moderate rain was encountered. Traffic was also rather light due to the Holiday weekend I suppose.  I stopped  a few time to photo a pretty updraft from a developing pulse storm near Sweet Springs Missouri, then drove through the remnant rains as the updraft weakened. 

I dropped a few miles south of Boonville to photograph some wall cloud structure from a weakening storm before proceeding to my hotel. 

Shortly after I took the above photo I arrived at my hotel in Boonville just as a gust front approached.  This was from the storm that formed over Kansas City earlier and had now caught up to me! I took a couple of quick grabs with the I phone and then quickly ducked back into the hotel just as the heavy windblown rain hit. Holiday Inn Express - Boonville, Missouri with 596 miles driven today.

July 2, 2023: Sun Travel Day, with some storms:  I gave a lot of thought to diving the final 900+ miles home, but the prospect of driving the final several hours in the rain at night on the Pennsylvania Turnpike held little appeal.  I drove through a developing broken line of heavy showers as I entered Indiana.  This line was moving east fast and gaining in strength.  I made it through Indianapolis without incident, but the storms were right on my heels.  A bowing line segment formed and was severe warned.  I decided to end the day where I started my first night two weeks prior in Springfield, Ohio.  It was a couple hours earlier than I would have liked, but would give me the chance to have a sit down dinner and maybe see some structure as the line of storms reached Springfield.  I headed out a short distance from the hotel and was able to grab a couple of quick photos as the gust front rolled through, but nothing really worthwhile posting here.  I then had dinner and called it an early night back at the hotel.  Holiday Inn Express - Springfield Ohio (same place I stayed two weeks ago) - 526 miles for the day.

July 3, 2023:  Mon Travel Home Day - Weak Storms and Heavy Showers: A mostly uneventful 8 hour journey home from Springfield Ohio except for some developing storms and heavy showers for the first few hours.  Seems folks absolutely refuse to slow down no matter how bad the conditions.  I saw several accidents involving cars that spun out of control and ended up against a guardrail or into a field with auto body parts strewn everywhere.  Who knows, maybe they will become a little more cautious in the future.  Got home around 3pm with nice skies and minus the smoke filled skies the plagued home before I left for the plains .  461 miles driven from Springfield Ohio to Home.