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