Day 11 - May 21st - Home

We departed Wichita Falls, TX around 9:00 this morning, drove all day, stopped for some great beef jerky, and arrived at the USA campus shortly before 10:00 this evening. A "By The Numbers" summary of the 2009 Storm Chase Trip will be posted once we have an opportunity to catch up on some sleep (things are just a bit hazy right now). Until then, please enjoy the following ballad:

Skywarn Spotter

Day 10 - May 20th

We decided to pass on chasing in northwest Nebraska and Wyoming since the dewpoints were so low, the wind shear was forecast to be relatively weak, and it would put us farther from home. So, today we departed the hotel and traveled just a few minutes down the road and drove through Garden of the Gods park in Colorado Springs. The Garden of the Gods are a collection of sandstone rock formations rising out of the landscape with Pike's Peak in the background. The chasers climbed around some of these rock formations for about an hour and then we hit the road bound for Texas. After lunch in Raton, NM, we drove to the top of Capulin Volcano near Des Moines, NM. Capulin is an extinct cinder cone volcano in the Raton-Clayton Volcanic Field, with nearby Sierra Grande being the largest of the volcanic peaks in the area. The top of Capulin Volcano provided us a specatular view of four states (Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas), as well as the bottom of the crater below in the center. The group then had dinner at the Big Texan Steakhouse in Amarillo, TX while we watched four guys (three from New Zealand, one from Switzerland) attempt to eat the 72 oz steak in 1 hour (one came close, but all ultimately failed). We then made our way to Wichita Falls for a late check-in at the Best Western for some rest before our final push home. We should be back at the USA campus late on Thursday night.

Day 9 - May 19th - Part 2

After our picnic lunch at the Forest Canyon Overlook, we continued up Trail Ridge Road to the snow-packed tundra. There was a weak thunderstorm in the area which provided us some breath-taking views of virga overtop snow-capped peaks. The tundra was definitely the group favorite as the chasers played around in the snow at over 11,000 ft. After finishing up in the tundra, we made our way over to Fall River Road and took in the sights at the Alluvial Fan from the 1982 Lawn Lake Dam break. This was a spectacular sight to see such large boulders brought to this final resting place by the force of 29 million gallons of water. We exited the park at the Fall River Entrance Station only to be greeted by a herd of bighorn sheep. These sheep typically spend most of their time on the mountain sides, but come down to the Sheep Lakes in order to get potassium and other vitamins. This was definitely an unexpected treat to the conclusion of our Rocky Mountain National Park visit. We then had dinner on the south side of Denver and bunked down in Colorado Springs. We have begun our trek home and plan on stopping to see some sights along the way.

1982 Lawn Lake Dam Break Alluvial Fan

Day 9 - May 19th - Part 1

After spending the night in Estes Park, CO, the storm chase group went up to Rocky Mountain National Park for the day. The group started by taking in the views at Moraine Park, which included snow-capped peaks in the distance and some elk in the area. We then moved on to Bear Lake and immediately had a snowball fight at an elevation of 9475 ft. After our hands went numb from the snowball fight, the group decided to hike around Bear Lake to work up an appetite for our planned picnic lunch in the park. We drove up past Many Parks Curve and had a picnic lunch at the Forest Canyon Overlook surrounded by snow-capped mountains. More on our Rocky Mountain post-lunch activities in Part 2 coming soon.

Rocky Mountain National Park Map

Day 8 - May 18th

Today was a long travel day with the group leaving Wichita, KS this morning and driving all day toward Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado (with some interesting stops in between). We drove north to Salina and then west across most of Kansas with a stop at Castle Rock. Castle Rock is a limestone rock formation that has been carved out through millions of years of erosion and stands near some impressive sandstone bluffs. This was definitely a nice break for the group and a chance to get out of the van and climb around for about an hour. After departing Castle Rock, the chasers had lunch in Colby, KS and then continued on to Estes Park, CO via Denver and Boulder. The Rocky Mountains are absolutely gorgeous and the group has fallen in love with the town of Estes Park. We had dinner at an excellent mexican cantina called Casa Grande which included the recitation of a poem composed by Emily Schwing and Megan Travis. We are bunking down for the night at the Travel Lodge in Estes Park and we will be spending the day in Rocky Mountain National Park tomorrow (Day 9).

Rocky Mountain High

Day 7 - May 17th

Today, Dr. Kevin Kloesel was kind enough to give us an all access tour of The National Weather Center on his day off. We had the opportunity to see some of the mobile dual-pol radars and mobile mesonet vehicles being used in the Vortex 2 field project. Dr. Kloesel then showed us Dorothy and Dot-3 from the movie Twister, as well as the TOtable Tornado Observatory (TOTO). The TOtable Tornado Observatory was the real-life inspiration for Dorothy and Dot-3, but unfortunately the TOtable Tornado Observatory was too heavy for Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton to lift in the filming of the movie. Therefore, instead of using the TOtable Tornado Observatory, Universal films decided to use an old water heater for Dorothy in the film. Because the TOtable Tornado Observatory was approximately 450 lbs, the TOtable Tornado Observatory had to be deployed 12-15 minutes prior to a tornado moving over an area. Therefore, the TOtable Tornado Observatory experiment was unsuccessful during field projects from 1981 to 1983. Dr. Kloesel was then good enough to show us the observation deck, the Storm Prediction Center, and the NWS Norman WFO. We then had a great lunch with Dr. Kloesel at Coach's grill in Norman, OK. We are staying the night in Wichita, KS at the Wichita Inn after having dinner at Spangles. We are truly grateful to Dr. Kloesel for spending so much time with us on his day off.