5/6/19 | Hudson, KS

Enhanced Risk

What a way to kick off an extended trip to the Plains. It was my birthday, and our little crew arrived during the morning hours to a warm, sunny day and an Enhanced Risk in Kansas. We headed west towards the intersection of good shear, instability, and a nice boundary that we could see on visible satellite imagery. 

The main thing working against tornadoes in this setup was a lack of low level cape and instability. Most forecast soundings showed ample wind fields for supercells and fantastic hodographs, but the low level instability and shear was lacking a bit for a classic tornado day. Instability was expected to ramp up a bit during the late afternoon or early evening with a moderate, southerly low level jet. 

Our anticipation was that we’d see supercells form in the mid to late afternoon, and would have a window for a tornado or two right around sunset. That’s exactly what we got. Storms formed during the late afternoon ours and immediately took on supercell characteristics – some of them were small and seemingly a bit elevated. 

Later in the evening hours, more surface based storms formed. One in particular rode near a boundary we had been tracking earlier, so we stayed on it after dark. We were able to grab our first tornado of the season near Belpre, KS. Lightning illuminated the tornado which was on the ground for several minutes. The circulation eventually became wrapped in rain and the updraft weakened, ending our chase day.