May 12-13, 2000

	After a full year of planning, plotting, and preparing, MESO's Chase 
2K got off to a glorious start.
	Geoff Mackley and Chris Howell were the first to arrive in Kansas 
City, MO on May 11.  They arrived to a severe thunderstorm warning and a 
tornado watch, which was quickly upgraded to a tornado warning, and a 
twister touched down not 8 miles from the hotel they were staying at.  
Sadly, it was one of those high-precip deals, hitting after dark, so there's 
no good footage or pictures of it; just the wonderful satisfaction of being 
on hand for one of Mother Nature's temper tantrums.
	Nancy Bose had to leave her home in New York at about 4am in order 
to get to the airport in Newburgh in time to catch her flight out, and left 
a drizzly New York behind.  Shortly after making her connecting flight in 
Chicago, she was shocked out of a light snooze at 35,000 feet to see not one 
but THREE supercells in the distance.  The shots made by a hastily grabbed 
camcorder are available for viewing at www.mcwar.org, www.allandetrich.com, 
and soon to be viewed on www.post-gazette.com.
	Brian McNoldy was driving in from Fort Collins, CO, and surviving 
the Denver morning rush hour, got to Wichita at around 3pm on the 12.  Up 
until this point, things had been going almost too smoothly....a few 
adventures, a few great shots, and everyone was where they should be when 
they should be.
	However, those cells Nancy shot were soon to have an affect on the 
still-in-transit Bill Steigerwald (Pittsburgh Post Gazette) and MESO Media 
Director Allan Detrich.  Bill ended up stranded in Chicago while severe 
weather pounded the state of Illinois, and Allan was equally stranded for 
the same reason in St. Louis. Eventually, they both got to Wichita by early 
morning of the 13th.
	The immense joy of reunion was quickly dissapated when looking at 
the short term forecast. Realizing that the team faced at least a few days 
of disgustingly fair weather, we used the day to run down elusive computer 
hardware to repair one of the laptop computers, but not without first 
experiencing the madness of the roads and traffic in Wichita.  After a 
hearty mid-afternoon lunch in Cheney, KS,we went on to Medicine Lodge, KS...
a great favorite, and traditional base camp for MESO.
	This is where we all sit now, the press guys sending off their 
postings, Chris and Brian doing their forecasts and data gathering, and 
Nancy pounding away at the keyboard.  There is a possibility for moderate 
thunderstorms on the 14 in the TX/OK panhandle region.  Conditions and 
indices are not ideal, but are far superior to what we've seen recently.  
The biggest factors that work again us are the lack of a potent trigger 
(surface is all the forcing we'll get) and the presense of a respectable cap.  
Basically, expectations aren't too high for the near future, but we're ready 
for anything.

Nancy Bose
Brian McNoldy

MESO     (http://www.mcwar.org)