We had been watching severe possibilities for several days, and the forecast had consolidated on initiation along US 56 with a line developing through Great bend and northeast along K-156. There were some indications that storms might fire a bit further south. Targeting thoughts drifted a bit over the three days before the event, and we ended up maybe 20 miles west of where I really thought we’d see action. Nonetheless we were treated to a high-based storm initially, with some lowering bases and weak rotation showing up at times.
Chase Summary
Miles driven: 321
Chase times: 1:56pm to 10:45pm (8 hours, 49 minutes)
Chase Team: My wife Roxan, Matt and me.
Route Map
I’d been waffling between Sterling and Stafford as our preliminary stop on the way to the target. I like to choose something close to or in the target area as my initial starting spot, then re-evaluate and move from there. Over time I’ve noticed that if I deviate from the starting point I settle on night-before, I usually end up regretting it. So we started out headed for Stafford. As we arrived in Stafford about 4:20, we made the decision to push west to Macksville to pause and evaluate.
The severe thunderstorm watch was issued while we were stopped, and during the stop towers started going up to our southwest about 30 miles. So we drifted a bit further west toward Belpre. We ended up southeast of Lewis, watching the bottom of the storm to our southwest.
The narrative continues after the photo gallery (including some photos not in the gallery, video, and the tweets I was posting to communicate warning decision making data to NWS Dodge City).
Image Gallery
Tap on any image to view full-size, swipe to cycle through the images.
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Images and Videos by Location, along with tweets to NWS Dodge City for warning decision making assistance.
5:54pm, 2.5 miles N of Belpre
1/3 @NWSDodgeCity views of the garfield area storm. Location taken is in the next shot. Pano SW to NE, here pic.twitter.com/3rHlC24N57
— Chaser Scott Roberts (@KSStormInfo) April 6, 2021
2/3 @NWSDodgeCity looking NW into base of the cell #kswx pic.twitter.com/4D7kxQHL8m
— Chaser Scott Roberts (@KSStormInfo) April 6, 2021
3/3 @NWSDodgeCity video, same as before pic.twitter.com/aglHz7K8ES
— Chaser Scott Roberts (@KSStormInfo) April 6, 2021
6:30pm, 4.5 mi S of Larned
Latest look at the Pawnee county storm, some signs of descending air… #kswx pic.twitter.com/6HMGF3n7C0
— Chaser Scott Roberts (@KSStormInfo) April 6, 2021
A brief video of this:
6:38 to 7:11pm – 1.5mi SE of Larned (Ward Feeders)
I also took a couple of panoramic shots while we were here:
Reports:
.@NWSDodgeCity taken from Ward Feeders just SE of Learned looking SW. #kswx #storm12 pic.twitter.com/QJ6PJwi0dM
— Chaser Scott Roberts (@KSStormInfo) April 6, 2021
.@NWSDodgeCity video of possible wall? Same location, looking SW #kswx #storm12 pic.twitter.com/cX2NiYVLhA
— Chaser Scott Roberts (@KSStormInfo) April 6, 2021
.@NWSDodgeCity Pano south to north, I’m still just SE of Learned. pic.twitter.com/3Ics6gZmpk
— Chaser Scott Roberts (@KSStormInfo) April 6, 2021
(Yes, I know how to spell Larned….)
And some video:
Final stop for the night: 7:45pm, 1.25 mi. SE of Pawnee Rock
Didn’t make any reports from here, but we did stop and watch what was really the last gasp of this storm.
All in all, it was a great first in-area chase of the season!