5/11/02

We went to bed last night knowing that there would be storms today, and
they would form rapidly.  We had been staying at the Comfort Suite near
the KC Airport, which we will have to add to our list of recommended
hotels.  We found that by taking a suite, with a few sacrifices of comfort
(and fresh air) we could fit everyone into one room, and save tons off our
lodging bill.  So while we WOULD recommend the Comfort Suites in Kansas
City, we would also recommend that if you put 6 people in to one of their
suites, you'd best be REAL good friends.  Our stay in Kansas City would
also have to include recommendations for the Smoke Box Restaurant, which
offers the best no frills barbecue dinner we've had yet.

Early data indicated that we should move southwest, and we headed to
Emporia, KS early on.  Once in Emporia, conditions had changed to the
point where we felt north central KS would be a better call.  Time was our
enemy, and we met that particular enemy head on.  With limited access to a
direct route, we made our own.  For approximately 30 miles, we off roaded
down a wonderful highway that is by most peoples' standards "closed"
(this was K-150, from between about Elmwood and Marion).  However, in
addition to shaving years of the lives of our cars, we shaved hours off
the duration of our trip and arrived just as things started to pop.

The Storm Prediction Center issued a Mesoscale Discussion at 1837Z (1:37pm
CST) for a good portion of central KS. and we were now in the heart of it.
Continuing west to McPherson and then Lyons, things were REALLY happening.
We were watching vigorous updrafts fire up along the warm front we were
careful to stay south of.  At Lyons, we headed north on Rt. 14 toward
Ellsworth.  We meandered quite a bit in Ellsworth and Rice Counties as
Tornado Warnings were being issued for our county and surrounding ones.
Unfortunately, it didn.t take long at all before the storms had formed a
squall line.  Although helicities weren't really forecast to be very high
(in the 100-200 range), many cells in the line were becoming tornadic and
we were either under them or in front of them!

However, despite the radar-indicated and spotter-reported rotation, no
actual tornadoes were reported as of this writing. So at our key stop at
Rt. 4 and 14 on the Ellsworth/Rice County line, we witnessed some of the
best rotation the storms had to offer. Local spotters highlighted our
position on several occassions in anticipation of a tornado, but alas. it
was not meant to be.  We finished the chase with no regrets and nothing we
would have done differently.  Considering the difficulty of chasing an
explosively developing squall line, we did as well as we could have hoped
to do.  A success.  

As far as tomorrow goes, the only action in the area appears to be in
eastern OK/TX and western AR, an area we know experience is NOT desirable
chase country.  But we'll take another look at things when the 12Z model
runs are in on Sunday morning. 

At this writing, we're sitting in Wichita, just outside of the airport.
We'd like to send a special thanks to Bill Tabor, of Austin, TX.  Bill is
a good friend, and a hard core chaser out of Austin, TX.  Bill provided
remote data for us throughout the day, spurring us on from Salina, South
through a squall line to meet some late day cells arriving from the
Pratt/Medicine Lodge area.  Bill, we have a Smirnoffs Ice in the cooler
for you.

Reporting during a stormy Saturday night in Witchita,
Nancy Bose and Brian McNoldy
www.mcwar.org