May 5, 2004
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Left out very early to head north. The only possible storms
looked to be in the Nebraska area.
Made it to Nebraska before 10:30 am!
Around noon we stopped in Council Bluffs for lunch and to
check out the current conditions.
Almost 4 pm and we finally get some radar returns to our
west.
The surface flow from the south was sustained 30mph.
In Norfolk we were able to get some high speed data. The
dryline was evident on radar and the cells had formed behind it. We decided to
intercept the cell where they would hit the dryline, encountering more favorable
air.
Target cells have been spotted and we are in intercept mode.
The easternmost cell dissipated and we caught some nice virga
from it as we passed by on the way west.
We finally intercepted the western cell around 7:15pm, the
outflow was beginning to pick up dust to our west, approaching fast. In only a
few minutes we were engulfed in a sandstorm. Visibility dropped to zero!
The truck was covered in mud after the first wave of dirt
flew by.
After the dust past to our east it began getting caught up in
the storms inflow and began rising up toward the cloud base. It was evident
there was no rotation here, but if there had been it would have been very easy
to see.
10 miles south of Grand Island as the sun set we were treated
to a few nice lightning bolts.
