The Day That Verified

          

                                                Here is a teaser, Scandia, Kansas tornado 

      Within the JWSevereWeather organization, we have the ongoing perk of constant communication among other members and weather lovers. Imagine that, a team that communicates! Seriously though, communication with other like minded storm chasers is so incredibly helpful when trying to decide where to go on a chase day. We had been talking back and forth quite a bit on the days leading up to May 6th. Initially, it was enough of a setup to keep me from sleeping. The choice was very, very difficult. I posted this in our forecast discussion before the sun had risen, the morning of May 6th, the day that over verified. 

         “At this point I think it's more promising in Kansas. I may be wrong though because the environment is also favorable in Oklahoma... just seems like things will have a hard time getting going. Looking forward to the HRRR... I will be leaving in 2 1/2 hours, any thoughts put in here before then will be appreciated. (if you are awake... I'm a freak, can't sleep.)” 

        

         I was currently located in Joplin, Missouri. I wasn't able to sleep that night so I woke up early, and hit the models and chat.  I wanted to make a decision soon, and stick with it. The environment over Oklahoma was favorable for explosive storms that would surely produce, IF they formed. I personally did not think they would form. There was a very strong cap in place. But I also knew I would likely regret it if they did form. The environment in north central Kansas was painting the picture of some possibly strong, isolated supercells that could potentially produce very large hail and in the evening, a couple strong tornadoes with the strengthening low level jet. This seemed like a more certain bet to take. Here are the infamous words that I believe served to push me to the North and further reinforcing my gut feeling.

“So, you play north, probably win. You play more south, could be bigger and more violent, but far higher potential to bust too. Choose wisely. You guys know what to do.” - Jesse Walters

        

      You may also be asking this question. Why is Ben deciding to write about this event now, isn’t it a bit late? Honestly, life does not present enough hours in the day. I’m sure anyone can relate. It is not until now that I feel I could sit down and make time to write about my storm chasing ventures. (Currently, I am enjoying a week off, recovering from reconstructive ACL surgery.) I’m sure I could get better at time management, and I plan to. I am open to advice! But recently starting a new management job, it has been interesting figuring out how to balance everything. Now back to May 6th!

    So, before embarking on the long journey, I ventured to Walmart to pick up some velcro, then starbucks for some happy juice. Then, the long rainy drive began. 

         Ethan Mulnix was also planning on chasing that day, but he had not yet made a decision on where to go. He was currently positioned in South Central Kansas, which was a good spot given the environment. When the mid-day Storm Prediction Center discussion came out, they had given the north central part of Kansas a 10% for tornadoes, which solidified his decision to chase in Kansas. So, our targets were picked. 

       I chose the target of Hutchinson.  Around 2pm CDT, the first storm had developed SW of Oklahoma City, which made me me think perhaps I had made the wrong decision. Shortly after that however, another storm initiated well to my north, but I figured I would try and catch it. After nearly 2 hours of trying to catch up to it, I gave up. It did produce a large confirmed tornado, but still well to my north. At that point however, some new storms had developed to my south and west. One of them Ethan was chasing, and we were able to meet up and chase this storm convoy style. His particular storm was still isolated, and was in a great environment. We met up in the town of Brooksville Kansas, and chased it together until Interstate 70. At this point the storm had some good structure, but was moving north over a network of muddy roads. Not worth it, we decided to go around to Interstate 81 and head north to try and get ahead of it, then cut over again to the west.   After hours of driving with no real reward, and seeing what was happening in Oklahoma, (terrifying storm, incredible radar signature, and historical flash flooding) we were about to give up on our cell. Especially because to our immediate south there was now another tornado warned storm that looked promising. But our current storm still did show some signs of strengthening as we pulled into Concordia Kansas around 5pm CDT.  Ethan and I decided to take Highway 28 over to Jamestown to intercept the storm again. This time, it paid off. The storm went tornado warned at 5:06pm CDT, and we were in great position. At about 5:15pm CDT we could confirm a tornado touchdown. 

Courtesy of Robert Hoff and Radarscope

Courtesy of Ethan Mulnix

Taken by Benjamin Jurkovich (not the best picture ever, sorry)

     On that day, I was essentially navigating, driving, looking at radar, and trying the film what I could. I did not have a chasing partner in the vehicle with me. The photos I did manage to grab, were frankly not the best ever. But this photo is evidence of a tornado at the time of 5:22pm CDT. From here on out, everything was documented pretty thoroughly with video. This tornado was later rated an EF2, and it did manage to miss the town of Scandia just barely. After a very frustrating day, of being in seemingly the wrong spot all day, this storm was a turning point. We are very thankful that we were able to report what we were seeing the media and the NWS and that no one lost their lives in this storm.  

Courtesy of Robert Hoff

After this storm went by Scandia, I then had to go and grab gas. About an hour later I witnessed another tornado near Clyde, Kansas. I then worked on getting out of the way of a line of storms that had formed. I eventually made it back to Salina to get a room and edit some video. Don't mind the title on my video, silly editing mistake. But do enjoy the footage. 

Here is the link to my video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3R91A17T54g

Here are the links to Ethan Mulnix's videos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gSDuCsmhCo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyd5xcCa5bA

Here is the official report written by the Topeka NWS, which matches up exactly with what we witnessed. 

.TORNADO #4 LONGER TRACK TORNADO...

RATING:                 EF-2
ESTIMATED PEAK WIND:    130 MPH
PATH LENGTH /STATUTE/:  25 MILES
PATH WIDTH /MAXIMUM/:   800 YARDS
FATALITIES:             0
INJURIES:               0

START DATE:             MAY 6TH 2015
START TIME:             APPROX. 520 PM CDT
START LOCATION:         APPROX. 7 MILES S COURTLAND

END DATE:               MAY 6TH 2015
END TIME:               604 PM CDT
END LOCATION:           MOVED OUT OF REPUBLIC COUNTY 1.5 MILES WSW CHESTER NE.

SURVEY_SUMMARY: THE FIRST DAMAGE WAS NOTED JUST NORTH OF THE JAMESTOWN STATE
WATERFRONT MANAGEMENT AREA AND THEN PROGRESSED NORTHEAST AND CUT A PATH BETWEEN
COURTLAND AND SCANDIA PASSING JUST WEST AND NORTHWEST OF SCANDIA DAMAGING A
ETHANOL PLANT...FEEDLOT AND SEVERAL HOMES ALONG THE PATH. THE DAMAGE PATH WAS
WIDE AT TIMES TO AROUND ONE HALF MILE HOWEVER MOST DAMAGE WAS RATED EF1 OR
LOWER FOR MOST OF THE PATH. THE EF2 DAMAGE WAS NOTED AT THE ETHANOL PLANT
AND TO A HOME APPROX. 2 MILES NORTH OF SCANDIA.  IT IS LIKELY THAT ALTHOUGH THE
CONDENSATION FUNNEL WAS VERY WIDE AT TIMES THAT THE DAMAGE WAS DUE PRIMARILY TO
SMALLER VORTICES THAT WERE ROTATING WITHIN THE MAIN FUNNEL. THE DAMAGE PATH
CONTINUED NORTHEAST INTO NEBRASKA.  IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THIS DAMAGE PATH WAS DUE
TO A FEW TORNADO OCCLUSIONS OR A FAMILY OF MORE THAN ONE TORNADO.  HOWEVER THE
LACK OF DAMAGE INDICATORS ALONG THE PATH AND INCONCLUSIVE RADAR DATA MAKE THIS
DIFFICULT TO VERIFY.

http://www.weather.gov/top/May_6_2015_Tornadoes 

Follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/BenjaminJurkovi and also check out our website JWSevereWeather.com

First Two Weeks of Storm Chasing Successful

Hello all,

   It has been a ridiculously busy two weeks. I had my first storm chase on April 23rd in southeastern Colorado. I had the opportunity to visit my Aunt who I hadn't seen in years. That was a real blessing and boy she is a sweetheart. I then proceeded further east to near La Junta, Colorado. Storms began to initiate around 2pm, but for the most part they were sloppy and stayed disorganized. I was ready to give up altogether and my cousin invited me to dinner in Lamar.  I agreed, I wasn't missing anything. Yet again, that was a true blessing visiting with her, her husband and her three young children I had never met before that day.
   While visiting I couldn't help but to check the radar, the precipitation just to my south was beginning to intensify.  Lightning was being indicated on radar and more reds were showing, general consolidation was happening. I decided to get ahead of it just in case it did decide to really get it's act together. I said my goodbyes and hit the road. Did it organize? Yes, it did. Shortly after I had punched the precipitation, the storm was nicely organized and had a very visibly rotating base. The storm then went tornado warned. Shortly after it produced a very obvious wall cloud and possibly a funnel. This was one of the most beautiful storms I have ever had the opportunity to witness, as I was the only one watching it, and Colorado makes everything seem peaceful. The sun setting behind the base with the foreground of a golden field was fantastic.
   After a long while the wall cloud let up, and then the storm produced a mini shelf cloud with strong straight-line winds that blew straight through the small town of Syracuse, Kansas. As evening fell, the storm pressed on, going tornado warned once again, then quickly weakened into nothing but a measly shower. Wow what a way to start my chase season! No tornado, but beauty abounded. Here is a link to that video.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBFUr5KFOU8

   The Saga then continued as I drove through the night to pick up a friend in Joplin Missourito be my driver for the following days chase. This however, will have to be another blog as the day was frankly incredibly exciting, and it's dinner time at this moment. Men get hungry. I'm assuming women do too, but, my point is proven. Next blog will feature my chase in Kansas, escaping the supposed monster.

-Benjamin Jurkovich

Heading for Tornado Alley

   Wednesday evening marks the beginning of my three week storm chasing trip. I plan to drive through the night, pull over and sleep for a bit,  and hopefully make it out to Kansas by Thursday midday. I may be able to chase if there is any chance of storms in Oklahoma, but chances are I'll have to wait until Friday.
   Friday appears to have the chance of being a very active day. According to the NWS Storm Prediction Center "THE POTENTIAL EXISTS FOR AN OUTBREAK OF SEVERE STORMS IF THE ECMWF SOLUTION VERIFIES."  It appears this may occur in Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, but there is also a chance that bit will happen somewhere in the Mississippi valley. Time will tell, but either way I will be there.  A very active severe weather  period will ensue after Friday into next week
  I've recently upgraded my camera equipment so I will be able to capture any storms I do see better than I ever have before. Also, I will be carrying my heavy work boots, gloves, and an emergency first aid kit, in case I need to immediately respond to a disaster I witness. My goal is to capture the storms, and help right when it is needed. More blogs to follow, happy Monday.

-Benjamin Jurkovich