Trey Greenwood

September 27, 2014: Chasing the Coveted Transition Event

 

SUMMARy: Final chase of Monsoon 2014; went out with Corbin Jaeger again. September 27 was looking like a solid transition event; leftover monsoon moisture would interact with a strong Pacific trough and low pressure system right over Arizona. With the feeling that this would be a transition event where storms would fire during the early morning hours and last throughout the day, we headed toward northwestern Arizona at 2:00 AM. We stopped along Route 66 near Seligman at about 5:30 AM to watch a growing cluster of storms to our west. It was an amazing scene: the lightning was almost constant, and the rising sun lent a tinge of orange to the beautiful storm complex. Noting that the best wind shear was creeping into Arizona, we continued west toward Kingman. We saw a pronounced lowering on some storms to our west; we stopped just outside of Peach Springs to watch it as some newly developing low cloud bases began to rapidly move toward us from our west-southwest. After a few minutes, we shot toward Kingman to intercept a rapidly intensifying storm that, by Will Wilkens’s words on his live stream, was forming a small funnel. As we arrived in Kingman, we didn’t see a funnel, but we did see a beautiful hail shaft underneath the racing cloud base. Seeing that a cluster of strong storms was moving north and was headed right for I-40, we jumped on I-40 and headed east to intercept. We stopped in a beautiful area east of Kingman and watched the incredibly low cloud bases with amazing motion. We headed a couple miles more to the east and stopped on a hill; what we saw absolutely amazed us. An epic shelf cloud was forming and moving right in front of us. Definitely one of the best shelf clouds I have ever seen. After the shelf cloud moved away, we decided to try to get back in front of it, but we were stopped in our tracks by a new storm, whose hail core was moving directly at us. So we stayed in place and waited for the hail to start falling. Sure enough, pea-sized hail bombarded us, mixed with heavy rain and a few dime-sized hail pellets. It was very intense. We then continued down I-40, stopping for a short rest before heading back toward Flagstaff. We noticed a new cluster of storms forming just south of I-40, and before long there was a decent velocity couplet on radar. We blasted through the storm and when we emerged from the heavy precipitation near Ash Fork, we saw another amazing shelf cloud begin to take shape. We stopped for gas at a Texaco gas station in Ash Fork, which had a nice view of the stunning shelf cloud. Deciding that we were pretty much out of chasing options, we decided to head back toward Phoenix. However, a small popup storm formed just to our east as we entered Chino Valley. We stopped at the beautiful hilltop spot in Chino Valley at which we watched some beautiful storms back on July 28. The storm quickly became severe-warned, and even though it was moving away from us, it was still beautiful to watch. A new cluster of storms quickly developed all around the Prescott area, so we inched south toward the main storm of the cluster. It was showing a very tight velocity couplet on radar, but as we pulled into the Prescott area, the entire base of the storm was obscured by heavy rain, so we could not see if there was a tornado on the ground. We continued to chase the storm and follow the velocity couplet, which remained fairly tight for at least an hour as it moved northeast. Although the storm was slightly disorganized, there was a lot of rapidly rising scud; rotation was not readily evident to the naked eye. After we decided that the storm was moving too quickly for us to keep up with, we called it a day. It was a great chase; we saw two shelf clouds, some great structure, and lots more. A few days after our chase, NWS Flagstaff confirmed that an EF-0 to EF-1 tornado touched down six miles southeast of Prescott within the storm that we were chasing. However, we would not have been able to see it due to the amount of rain that was obscuring the entire base of the storm, although we were only about five miles from the circulation.

 

CONCLUSION: Success. Although we didn't meet our goal of seeing a tornado, we saw two incredible shelf clouds and were within a mile or two of a very tight velocity couplet on a tornadic storm near Prescott.

 

CHASE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elfDsPShGDI

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF_z2kcAwT4

 

September 6, 2014: From Tucson to Wickenburg

 

SUMMARy: Went out with Corbin Jaeger again after a month-long hiatus from chasing! Going into this chase day, Corbin and I both had a good feeling that storms would fire all around the Tucson area, including some storms close to the Valley as the day progressed. So we headed south under some slightly concerning clouds from the very outer edges of Hurricane Norbert. However, our fears quickly subsided when a fairly strong storm began to form near Sahuarita, moving north. We positioned ourselves just outside Tucson International Airport in south Tucson and watched the storm intensify and move right at us. The storm had incredible structure, including a very thick rain shaft, and the cloud motion above our heads was amazing (the storm did show signs of mid-level rotation on radar). It continued to intensify and move at us, but it made an odd turn away from us right as it was about to engulf us. Despite this, it was a phenomenal storm to watch. After this storm dissipated, an area of developing storms near the Catalina Mountains just northeast of Tucson caught our attention, so we shot north in order to get in position. We positioned ourselves near Oro Valley, very close to the Catalinas, and we watched two stunning storms take shape right over the mountains. To see the rain falling right over the mountain slopes and the great structure above was one of the best scenes of Monsoon 2014. Some new, stronger storms were rapidly forming to our north near Oracle, so we raced north in order to intercept these new beastly storms. We made a dangerous decision to punch the core of the storm right ahead of us, and things quickly turned rough. Extremely heavy rain buffeted the car as it came in sideways with several small hail stones mixed in; lightning struck the ground less than a few hundred yards from us several times. We decided to try to get ahead of this storm, which was part of a developing line of strong storms moving west toward the area south of Phoenix, so we shot northwest on Highway 79 and connected with Park Link Dr. to head west toward Picacho Peak. Heavy rain continued to bombard us, and we saw a lightning bolt strike within a couple hundred yards directly in front of us. We could see sparks as it hit what we believe was a tree. After emerging from Park Link Dr., we were quickly surrounded incredibly high winds and thick channels of blowing dust. Visibility was down to a few yards in spots. We inched our way through the dust until we reached a road that would take us straight north into Coolidge, near where some strong, severe-warned storms were taking place. We stopped along this road to watch the backside of the growing wall of dust; after debating whether we could reach the Coolidge storms in time, we raced north toward Coolidge. As we were approaching Coolidge, we saw an amazing lowering start to take shape and spread out underneath the cloud base. At first, we thought it was a wall cloud, but as it started to expand, we knew that it was a small shelf cloud! So we pulled into a gas station in Coolidge to both refuel and watch the amazing shelf cloud take shape. After a few minutes, it disintegrated; the storm seemed to be staying strong, so we headed north and pulled off the road just outside Coolidge with an incredible view of the storms all around us. The one just to our north was the most spectacular, with roiling cloud bases, amazing cloud-to-cloud lightning, and even a bit of tornadic rotation. The storm lasted for a long time; we finally left the storm as it started to dissipate. In an attempt to watch some lightning from a storm well to our west, we tried to head northeast on I-10 to get a better view, but traffic was backed up for miles due to a semi blown across the road in the dust storm. So we sat on I-10 for several minutes; the storm with lightning dissipated as we were sitting on the highway. Our only option was some storms starting to form over the northwest Phoenix area, so we shot toward the Valley. Before long, we saw frequent flashes of lightning from the storm ahead of us; we intercepted the storm and were bombarded by heavy rain. In order to get ahead of this storm, we headed west on I-17 toward Peoria. However, we thought that the storm was dissipating, so we headed northwest toward some strong storms forming near Wickenburg. But before long, these storms started to dissipate slightly, so we pulled off near Lake Pleasant to watch the storm over the northwest Valley, which had some nice lightning in it, and the storms near Wickenburg. The storms near Wickenburg continued to fall apart, but a new tower started to rise rapidly right next to the dying storms near Wickenburg, so we shot toward this new storm in an attempt to see some lightning. However, this storm quickly fell apart, and we called it a night, ending an incredible day of storm chasing.

 

CONCLUSION: Success (+++). We were very fortunate today in that we saw several amazing storms with incredible structure, including a shelf cloud, tornadic rotation, and more. Definitely one of the best chases of the season!

 

CHASE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZTXk4rahOo

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADuBJfvR73k

                          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhfMBXP-nZ8

 

August 11, 2014: A Step Behind the Storms

 

SUMMARy: Went out with Corbin Jaeger again. After looking at models, we thought that storms might initiate in all directions around, east, and/or west of the Tucson area; thus, we headed south with the Old Pueblo as our initial target area. We parked in a shopping center parking lot in southwest Tucson watching a small storm start to grow right over the metro area. We were hesitant about heading west due to the possibility of great storms popping up north of Tucson that afternoon; after some deliberation, we headed back toward metro Tucson in order to get a better vantage point of the growing storm over the city. We found a beautiful overlook of the entire metro Tucson area at Sentinel Peak Park; our vantage point of the beautiful storm was incredible. After several minutes, the storm dissipated, but some strong storms began to form to the north of Tucson. We shot north and stopped on the outskirts of Marana in between two strong storms (one to our east and one heading toward us just to the southeast of Marana). We saw some great lightning bolts and nice structure. After a halfhearted attempt to head slightly south to intercept the storm southeast of Marana, we decided to head northeast to try to catch some growing storms just south of Stanfield and I-8. However, those storms began to dissipate, but a new storm began to form on the outskirts of Casa Grande. We headed into Casa Grande to try to intercept this storm; before long, lots of dust was kicked up from the storm’s outflow. We shot north to try to get ahead of the small wall of dust that was forming. We watched the small dust storm advance in front of us as a beautiful storm with great structure began to billow up to our east. In between a new severe storm over Chandler well to our north and the storm with awesome structure to our east, we decided to shoot east, but we were too late; the storm dissipated before we were able to intercept it. Our chase was winding down, so we decided to head back toward the Valley. However, a new storm began to develop west of Sun Lakes. Once we had a visual, we were surprised to see what appeared to be a wet microburst in the form of a ball emanating from the storm. Only a minute or two later, NWS Phoenix issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the storm and warned that the storm was displaying microburst characteristics, confirming our suspicions. As quickly as it formed, the storm died and left us with very few options to chase. We made a halfhearted attempt to catch a cluster of storms west of Gila Bend, which were gradually dissipating, so we called that off once we reached I-8. We headed back toward the Valley but stopped in Chandler to watch some distant storms with nice lightning near Rio Verde, bringing a nice end to a somewhat successful chase.

 

CONCLUSION: Semi-success. We saw several great storms throughout our chase, but we seemed to be a step behind the storms all day. In other words, we arrived to intercept storms right as they were starting to dissipate; we were just a bit out of position all day long.

 

CHASE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M25EJq_BLF4

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfclfQMDFEY

 

August 10, 2014: Blue Sky Bust to One of Top Chases of 2014

 

SUMMARy: After perusing dozens of forecasts and models stating that southeastern Arizona would be the preferred place for strong storms on August 10, we headed out toward beautiful Sierra Vista. We positioned ourselves near Huachuca City and waited for storm initiation. We watched a nice storm form well to our north near Benson, as well as a cluster of storms well to our east, both of which were well out of our reach. However, we decided to head east toward Tombstone to see if anything else might develop. The eastern storm quickly died; we headed through historic Tombstone in hopes of intercepting a decent new storm southeast of town. However, as soon as we exited the rustic streets of Tombstone, the storm rapidly disintegrated. So we stayed put just outside Tombstone and waited for storms to fire. Cumulus clouds dotted the sky; they would all start to rise and then quickly disappear, teasing us for a good hour and a half. We noted that storms were beginning to form back by Tucson, so we hopped into the car and raced through Benson and Willcox to get to the Tucson area. Two massive storms with incredible distant structure were developing (one just east of Mammoth and the other near Dudleyville to the north); the southern storm—the one we were targeting—began to produce small hail and high winds, prompting a Special Weather Statement from the National Weather Service in Tucson. Thus, we positioned ourselves near Mammoth in order to salvage the chase. The storm had amazing structure, with a well-defined, almost “shelf-ish” leading edge with a small rotating lowering. It continued to display amazing structure for an incredible amount of time; it tried to “shelf” out several times. Sunset was approaching, so we started to head back home; however, we quickly stopped just outside of Oracle to watch one of the most amazing sunsets I have ever seen. The storm we were watching continued to move west and stay fairly strong; the setting sun stunningly illuminated the storm clouds as it dropped below the horizon right behind the distant Picacho Peak. After we endured a complete bust during the first half of our chase, one of the best storms and sunsets of the season made the chase a memorable one.

 

CONCLUSION: Success. Although a blue sky bust defined the first half of our chase, the Mammoth storm and sunset made the chase.

 

CHASE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7i-7J-ozXH0

 

August 1, 2014: Are We in California?

 

SUMMARy: Went out with Corbin Jaeger again. We were slightly unsure of when storms would initiate and whether we should head southwest toward Ajo or southeast toward Tucson. Not wanting to stray too far from the Valley in case evening storms fired up in Phoenix, we headed toward Tucson with cloudy skies above. The clouds cleared a bit as we headed into town, and we saw some storms start to fire up over the mountains near Vail. We headed toward Vail and stopped at the base of some beautiful mountains; the storms continued to produce rain and lightning. After those storms fizzled out, we headed south toward Sonoita in pursuit of a new, quickly developing storm just south of Vail. As we headed toward this storm, we were shocked at what we saw. Desert terrain abruptly switched to green, rolling hills. If you blindfolded me and dropped me at the spot where we stopped to watch this new storm, I would guess we were in Sonoma, CA. It was spectacular. To top it off, we had an exceptional view of the valley and the mountains surrounding us. The storm we were watching produced some nice rain and some great lightning; it fizzled about twenty minutes after we arrived in the rolling hills. We waited for awhile at the same spot watching some cumulus towers try to explode, but we gave up and headed back toward Tucson. Only a couple mintues after we left, we saw one of the towers we were watching explode and grow into a nice thunderstorm, so we headed back to the spot where we were. We watched this storm and another beautiful storm over the Huachuca Mountains for several minutes before heading back north toward some developing storms near Oracle. About an hour later, we stopped off the side of the road in beautiful Oracle to intercept a strong cluster of storms that had a “Special Weather Statement” on it. We got blasted by very heavy rain and some close CG bolts before we moved south to try to get ahead of these strong storms. The structure was amazing; the clouds were low and were moving very quickly. On our way south, we stopped to take in the incredible structure and a rainbow before stopping in Oro Valley to watch the storm come at us. We saw some decent lightning and great structure, including what appeared to be a downburst on the right side of the rain shaft. After awhile, we headed back to Phoenix and stopped in Ahwatukee to watch some lightning from storms firing over the West Valley. However, we only saw flashes with a few CC bolts.

 

CONCLUSION: Success. We explored the stunning area around Sonoita, which was only bolstered by some nice storms that fired up near us. Then, we intercepted a great cluster of storms near Oro Valley with some great structure and nice lightning.

 

CHASE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vemDJTPndkI

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07MIk9YbaCs

 

July 28, 2014: Great Storms over Beautiful Prescott Area

 

SUMMARy: Went out with Corbin Jaeger again. We were originally planning on heading south toward Tucson, but conditions just did not look prime for storms down there. After consulting Area Forecast Discussions and other analyses, we decided to head north instead. Rolled into Prescott Valley right as a nice storm was popping up in town. Stopped on the side of the road and then at a grocery store parking lot in hopes of intercepting the storm. Saw a hint of rotation above us; a few close CG bolts and some fairly moderate rain fell on our location, as well. Headed north into Prescott to get ahead of these growing storms; we stopped in an elevated parking lot of a hotel with a perfect view of the storms. We were soon buffeted by heavy rain and extremely close CG bolts, including one that struck less than a mile from us. We could see exactly where the bolt struck the ground! After several minutes watching these great storms, we headed north to get a better vantage point of some growing storms to our north. Stopped on an elevated plateau on the south side of Chino Valley where we had a perfect 360° view of these beautiful storms. Watched those for several minutes, then tried to head north and intercept them, but the road we needed to take was dilapidated and muddy. We called the intercept off and headed back toward Prescott. However, another pretty storm was moving directly to our west near Paulden, so we stopped to watch that storm for awhile before heading back to the elevated plateau in Chino Valley in hopes of catching some new towers mature into storms. Luckily for us, they did, and we had storms surrounding us. A couple consecutive storms moved right over Chino Valley with rain and CG bolts, and another beautiful storm was moving right at us from Prescott Valley. Wanting to intercept the Prescott Valley storm, we headed back south, but we were not able to get in position. We did see a beautiful double rainbow on our way, however. One last storm began to fire up in Dewey, so we headed on a back road toward Dewey, but the storm fizzled out right before our eyes.

 

CONCLUSION: Success. We saw a number of beautiful storms over beautiful terrain, and we witnessed a lot of great close lightning. It was definitely a solid chase!

 

CHASE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbkcPbztQKo

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYlvcbBtntI

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_B40nI09Ho

 

July 25, 2014: Three Great Storms, Best CGs in a Long Time

 

SUMMARy: Went out with Corbin Jaeger again. For some reason, I had a good feeling that we would see something good on today’s chase. We targeted Sells, AZ, which was situated in an area where the cap would not disrupt storm growth and where strong CAPE and a little bit of shear would form later in the afternoon. Headed off toward some new storms firing near Sells, but we hit a roadblock not even halfway to Sells. The two-lane highway we were on was cut to one lane, so traffic flow had to alternate to let both directions of traffic pass. After a few minutes, we turned around toward a powerful cluster of severe storms starting to explode to our southeast (south of Three Points, AZ). They quickly showed signs of decent hail and very heavy rain. We pulled off Highway 286 several miles south of Three Points and waited for the core of the storms to come to us. Incredible CG lightning crashed all around us, and the roadway quickly became flooded in several spots. After the storms began to dissipate, we headed back north and pulled over once again to watch the incredible lightning from these storms. Ultimately, we parked for a few minutes at a gas station in Three Points to decide what to do. New storms were forming near Tucson and moving northwest, directly along I-10, so we flew north to intercept these new storms. Once we were underneath this strong cluster of storms in Marana, heavy rain and intense lightning bombarded us, once again. As we continued north toward Picacho Peak, the rain subsided and we could see a large wall of dust beginning to take shape. After stopping at Picacho Peak, we decided that we couldn’t catch up with the dust wall, so we headed northwest to intercept a cluster of severe storms producing high winds and heavy rain near Stanfield, AZ. We pulled over on I-8 near Stanfield, and we were pounded with 60+ mph winds. The rain came in completely sideways and in sheets; it was an incredible sight. Not to mention the additional bright CGs crashing all around us. We drove into Stanfield and stopped to watch the amazing lightning show for awhile. After being dazzled by more insane close lightning, we headed north toward Maricopa, thinking our chase was pretty much over. But soon, a powerful storm took shape northeast of Maricopa, so we decided to chase it. We were extremely happy we did. The storm showed signs of a few strong downbursts, and we experienced some of the closest CG lightning bolts of the day. Some hit less than a mile from us. It was an incredible storm to end a successful day of chasing.

 

CONCLUSION: Success. We saw some of the best lightning we had ever seen, and we intercepted three great storms, two of which were severe-warned.

 

CHASE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LUj54j6B9U

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7s3Ztfp52fU

                             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC0cTxGWXx8

                             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_Qbq7LTEJc

 

July 14, 2014: AZ Chasers in NM, Car Troubles Strand Us

 

SUMMARy: Went out with Corbin Jaeger again. Area Forecast Discussions and SPC predicted dense concentration of storms over Eastern Mogollon Rim and White Mountains, so we headed out with an initial target of the Snowflake area. Drove through Payson trying to catch a pretty good storm moving just to the northeast of town. Found a road that went into the mountains to get closer to the storm; stopped at a beautiful dry lake with a pretty solid view. Saw a couple faint lightning bolts before the storm fizzled. Saw new rain shaft take shape to our south, so we headed back toward the main highway but stopped at a stunning scenic overlook. It was beautiful; surrounded by reddish rocks and pine trees, we could see the rain shaft grow and blanket the pine forests below. After a few minutes, we decided to head toward northeastern Arizona (flatter land on top of the Rim). Saw a couple towers start to go up northeast of Holbrook, so we raced toward them. One of the towers became a beautiful cumulonimbus anvil with rain shaft as it grew; we pulled off the highway to watch and film the pretty storm as it moved over the gently rolling hills. After about a half hour watching the storm, it started to weaken, but there was some decent convection behind it to its northeast. So we headed that way and stopped on Highway 191 just north of Chambers, AZ. Several amazing CG lightning bolts struck the ground out of the storms to our north. After awhile we saw a new puffy cumulus congestus cloud go up to our east (just across the AZ-NM border in NM). We thought, “what the heck. We’re already almost in New Mexico; why not take a trip across the AZ-NM border just to say we chased in NM?” So we headed toward Gallup, NM. However, the storm rapidly fizzled shortly after we crossed the AZ-NM border, so we turned around and headed back home. South of Holbrook, we were driving along when we ran over a fairly large piece of tire. The car drove soundly for awhile until we heard a sort of “pop” about 10 miles west of Heber, AZ. The battery light immediately lit up, and Corbin (the driver) quickly lost his ability to turn the car well. So we stopped on a dark, secluded forest road about 30 miles east of Payson, mostly away from civilization. Coincidentally, this road was the one on which we traveled earlier in the day to get closer to the first storm moving northwest of Payson. It wuickly became clear that the car was no longer drivable, so we were stranded. I called my parents, and they said that they would take off to come rescue us. We were left stranded for a little over two hours with giant beetles attacking us, limited cellular reception, and gradually dropping temperatures. Finally, my parents rescued us just before midnight, and we left Corbin’s car on the side of that dark road to be towed the next day.

 

CONCLUSION: Semi-success. While we saw nothing spectacular, we saw some beautiful storms with nice structure and several good CG bolts from a distance. Doesn’t take into account the post-chase mayhem and car troubles.

 

CHASE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbZGdeKGqpI

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP7qDN2e-3o

 

July 13, 2014: First Bust of Year, Missed Microburst at Home

 

SUMMARy: Started the day off heading down toward the Tucson area just waiting for some promising convection to pop up. After consulting Area Forecast Discussions, SPC Convective Outlooks, etc., I decided to head just SE of Tucson and just wait to see if anything happened. This was when impatience and indecision took over. Saw some convection start to pop up near Oracle, so I decided to head back that way and give up waiting near Vail, AZ. Thought the storms were weakening and not worth chasing, so made another switch of plans and headed south toward Sahuarita. Some weak storms quickly fired and dissipated near Sahuarita. Saw some action on radar near Picacho Peak, so I decided to head back north toward Picacho Peak and try to catch some of the storms forming near Marana moving northwest. Saw a few good lightning strikes in those storms, but nothing spectacular. Some new storms popped up southwest of Picacho, AZ, so we went into Picacho to watch the storms and maybe get a few lightning strikes. Saw a few CGs, but nothing spectacular. Saw a massive storm on radar about to hit home, was a little ticked. Called off the chase and headed back to Chandler to either a) intercept the outer edges of the Chandler storm, and/or b) drive by some of the damage. Looked to be an insane storm, a little ticked that I missed it.

 

CONCLUSION: Bust. Saw some ordinary thunderstorms (mostly from a distance) with a few good lightning strikes, but missed out on an intense microburst right over my house in Chandler, AZ.

 

July 8, 2014: One Supercell w/ Possible Tornado Makes Day

 

SUMMARy: Went out with Corbin Jaeger again. Got off to a late start due to his tire blowing out on the way to pick me up; in hindsight, this was a good thing because we would have been waiting for awhile in Tucson to see storm fire. Chase started out much like it did last time I went out with him; we headed south toward Tucson. We saw a massive storm fire up near Sonoita, AZ, moving slowly toward the northwest, so we headed past Tucson toward Sahuarita. Looked like the storm had split, and we wanted to get a little closer, so we took a dirt road through an open range to inch closer to the beautiful storm. Rain shaft was hefty, and several lightning bolts spewed from the storm. Was beautifully framed by mountains and desert landscape, as well. Saw a few storms pop up in the distance with a couple CGs, but nothing spectacular. We decided to turn around and head back toward Tucson to catch some storms firing over the Tucson metro area and the mountains east of Tucson. They were not very strong, and they never grew to be anything special before they weakened. Thinking that the only chance for new storm development would be in the open desert between Tucson and Casa Grande, we headed northeast to try to salvage the chase, which had been lackluster so far. Immediately, we saw a new storm fire near Avra Valley, and it became evident that it was a strong downburst due to the “feet” on the rain shaft. Blowing dust began to pick up and move northward. We stopped at Picacho Peak to decide what to do. We saw new storms fire near Chuichu, and they quickly grew to be beastly storms with 1-inch hail. So we decided to catch the strongest of these new storms near Chuichu and punch its core. We hauled ass to catch it before it died; little did we know that it would be a long, long time before it died. Near Chuichu, we saw the storm’s thick, white hail core just off the road to our northeast. We headed back toward the north to try to intercept the hail core in Arizona City, but we then saw what appeared to be a shelf cloud quickly start to take shape. But it quickly became more than that, the storm morphed into an incredible beast with supercellular structure—some of the best structure I have ever seen. So we stopped to admire the beast for a few minutes, and I shot a time lapse of it. Lots of blowing dust was pushed by the outflow winds toward the Valley, but we didn’t care about that; we cared about capturing and admiring this unbelievable supercell. We headed back toward Arizona City to try to get closer to this beast. Darkness had fallen by this point, and the storm was now only illuminated by lightning, which was constant. Before long, we saw what appeared to be a small tube on the ground with several fingers of cloud above it about a half mile up and just right of the road. We were stunned; we thought this could very well be a small tornado on the ground! It stayed on the ground for a minute or two before dissipating, but I captured its existence on film. After the possible tornado lifted, we continued to head toward Arizona City, but our progress was slow due to the incredible amount of rain falling. Some streets were flooded up to the curb, and we could have gotten stuck several times. We tried to get out of the core of the storm, but it took awhile, as the storm seemed to follow us. Once we headed into Casa Grande, the rain ceased greatly and revealed a beautiful lightning show to end the day. On July 9, Corbin and I headed back out to Arizona City to try to confirm the possible tornado and see if it caused any damage. In a neighborhood at Santa Rosa and Battaglia in Arizona City, several houses had shingles ripped off their roofs (both toward the north and south) and basketball hoops and trash cans blown down. One “For Sale” real estate sign was bent almost to the ground toward the north. This damage could easily have been caused by straight-line winds, which were very strong as well, so the tornado could not truly be confirmed. But we are still hopeful that what we saw was a tornado.

 

CONCLUSION: Success (+++). While the overall chase day as a whole was not all spectacular, we hit the jackpot when we intercepted the Chuichu supercell with insane structure and possible tornado.

 

CHASE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJf4UpCR85o

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hGoztz__jY

 

July 5, 2014: Chase thru Beautiful SW AZ, Bagged Wall Cloud

 

SUMMARy: Didn’t plan well in advance for this chase, but after looking at the parameters on the morning of July 5, I knew that a chase could be very worthwhile. CAPE values were predicted to exceed 2500 j/kg in south-southwestern AZ (near Ajo), and PWAT values exceeded 1.5 in., even 2 in., in some spots in SSW AZ. So at noon we headed out toward the area south of Gila Bend, AZ. Storms were already firing southwest of the target area and moving west, so we positioned ourselves just north of Ajo with a good view of surrounding area and storms. Happened to meet up with Mike Olbinski here, as well. Storm to our southwest looked very good, with a massive rain shaft, a hint of a hail core, lightning, and several lowerings. However, there were no roads that would take us ahead of the storm, so we sat and watched it for awhile as it moved over the mountains near Ajo. Saw a new storm with incredible structure fire near Sells (to our southeast), so we ditched the Ajo storm and headed for the Sells storm. On our way to the Sells storm, I saw what looked eerie similar to an LP supercell out ahead of the Sells storm we were targeting. Probably was not an LP supercell, but I took some photos and video just in case. Drove a little farther until we had a good vantage point of the relatively weakened Sells storm, which was south of us and moving west. Nothing special with this storm; a few good lightning bolts and the fact that it was framed by beautiful high desert shrubbery and mountains. Thinking we were done for the day, we headed toward Casa Grande to get home. However, we saw a beautiful, textbook thunderstorm go up north of a severe line of storms in Tucson. We stopped by the side of the road in Eloy so that I could time lapse the beautiful storm. Then, we drove to Picacho Peak to see if we could see any lightning from the storm. Saw a couple bolts. However, what made me take a step back was the scud rising and forming a lowering underneath the base of a new storm going up ahead of the initial storm (the textbook one). I wasn’t sure if it was rotating, so I shot several minutes of uninterrupted video to time lapse once I got home. Sure enough, it was clearly a rotating wall cloud! A great end to a mediocre but solid chase day.

 

CONCLUSION: Success. While on the chase, it seemed like just a semi-success due to the lack of spectacular storms, but after looking back, the confirmed rotating wall cloud at the end of the day made the chase a “success.”

 

CHASE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US72yACHmZ8

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec3HXvehua4

 

July 3, 2014: Best Chase Day of My Chasing "Career"

 

SUMMARy: First official storm chase with Corbin Jaeger. We met at my house and drove south toward Tucson, wanting to get in position to intercept any thunderstorms that formed in and around Tucson but not too far away so that we couldn’t catch up to any dust storm that formed as a result of collapsing storms in and around Tucson. We drove south past Picacho Peak and stopped in Marana to evaluate the atmosphere. Parameters looked to have deteriorated since the morning hours in a little hole surrounding the Tucson metro area. Became a little worried about our initial forecast. We saw some decent storms start to fire up south of Tucson, so we headed toward those storms, thinking that the dust storm potential would be limited due to lack of energy for storms near Tucson. We stopped near Sahuarita, AZ, at a cement factory to try to intercept a good-looking storm moving west from the Vail, AZ area. It had a well-defined, large rain shaft and some nice CG bolts. However, a new storm formed right over our heads. We watched it on radar for a few minutes; it matured for a little while and then seemed to weaken. So we went east to get closer to the initial storm. We could see both storms, and the initial storm began to get disorganized and weaker while the newer storm (now to our northwest) was getting stronger again. Therefore, we ditched the initial storm and tried to catch up with the newer storm. As we were heading north to catch the newer storm, it appeared to generate a little inflow notch on radar, indicative of a supercell thunderstorm. But we didn’t see any sign of rotation or supercellular characteristics. It was a good storm, anyway, so we tried to head west-southwest to get ahead of it. However, traffic was very heavy, and we thought our efforts would be futile, so we turned around and found a pull-off where we could get a good view of the storm. Rain shaft was massive, and there were some nice CGs with it. We saw some new activity start to mature on radar to the east and northeast of the Tucson metro area; since we couldn’t get in front of the storm we were watching, we decided to head back toward Tucson and try to catch the newly forming activity. The new storms grew very quickly, and there seemed to be two main storms: one over Mt. Lemmon (slightly northeast of Tucson, moving west-southwest) and one pretty much east of Tucson (moving west-northwest). We found a slightly elevated parking lot of an AJ’s Fine Foods store where we had great views of both storms. Saw some nice CG bolts at first; then, the storms seemed to merge to create one huge beast of a storm headed right for our location. The wind picked up quickly, and the rain began to pour and pour and pour. The roads became flooded within a few minutes, and a severe thunderstorm warning was issued within a few minutes, as well. The rain was coming down so hard that we could hardly see out the windshield of our car. We decided to drive north in order to intercept the intensifying hail core of the storm, but before we could get in position, the hail diminished. The rain continued to pound the car, and CGs struck very close to our car. Then, we decided to give up the severe-warned storm and shoot northwest to catch the wall of dust that was building as a result of the Tucson-area storms. After passing a downed tree, we headed northwest on Highway 79 toward Florence to get ahead of the dust storm. But we quickly saw that we were going to drive straight into a new storm that was rapidly intensifying. As we entered the core of the storm (which was directly over the highway), we were once again buffeted by intense rain and close CGs. As we emerged from the core, we saw some of the most amazing structure we had ever seen. The base was ragged, a shelf cloud was starting to form, all with the growing wall of dust below. It looked like something from a high-based supercell that usually graces the soils of Colorado and New Mexico. We got out to admire the storm, and we were blasted by 50-60 mph outflow winds, with gusts probably up to 70 mph. Dust began engulfing us, and we could barely stay standing at times. Surrounded by channels of blowing dust, we continued to drive northwest, with visibility down to a few yards in a few isolated spots. As we got farther and farther away from the base of the storm, the dust wall began to obscure the growing shelf cloud. Corbin then spotted a little tube of dust rising from the leading edge of the growing dust wall. We thought that it could be a gustnado[1], so we pulled over and filmed it for a few seconds in moderate rainfall and high winds. We continued to drive north, spotting another possible gustnado, and the wall of dust began to become more well-defined. Realizing that we couldn’t really get fully ahead of the dust wall, we stopped just outside of the Horne Hyundai dealership off the Tomahawk exit of the US60 in Apache Junction. Winds began to pick up greatly, and the dust came swarming in. The most memorable part of the dust storm intercept, for me, is the fact that the setting sun became something at which you could safely stare, and then completely obscured by the thick wall of dust. After the dust storm passed, we headed toward Maricopa, where new storms were forming on the outflow boundary that produced the dust storm, with a goal of seeing some good nighttime lightning. Sure enough, we saw some incredible CC anvil crawlers and some amazing CG bolts over Pinal County as we were pulled over along Highway 347. It was an incredible end to an insane day of chasing, probably the best chase day of my chasing “career.”

 

CONCLUSION: Jackpot! Again, if we saw what we saw on July 3 over a whole week during the monsoon season, we would normally be happy. We saw great storm after great storm after great storm with great structure after great structure after great structure. Best day of my chasing “career.”

 

CHASE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZCXsM2bi6g

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufuclCIdYDE

                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05lMvF5L-Ts

 

July 2, 2014: Chase in Beautiful Red Mountains of Clifton, AZ

 

SUMMARy: First chase of 2014 AZ Monsoon Season! Initial target was Pearce, AZ, near the Chiricahua Mountains; however, on the morning of July 2, parameters looked much less favorable for storms there. Re-evaluated and decided to head toward Safford, where parameters looked much better. Made the long drive out to Safford; saw a nice thunderstorm pop up to our east when we were about 60 miles from Safford. Once in Safford, we ate lunch and drove to Discovery Park, where we had a nice view of some towers trying to rise over Mt. Graham. One tower in particular started to rise at least three or four times but failed to do so each time. After conversing via Twitter with fellow AZ chaser Corbin Jaeger, decided to head northeast into the mountains to catch what I believe was the initial storm we saw when we were 60 miles from Safford. It looked like it had moved southward and had continued to remain strong; it appeared to be a good target. Rerouted to Clifton/Morenci area, a beautiful mining area in the reddish-colored mountains of eastern Arizona. Met up with Corbin, and we watched the storm die out over the beautiful red mountains. Decided to go back south to try to catch some storms forming to the southeast. Met up with Corbin again at a pull-off just south of Clifton. It appeared that new storms were forming right over our heads. Sure enough, a few minutes later a few CGs struck the ground and the heavens opened. Rain poured down on us as the new storms formed. A few small pellets of hail, as well. Rain drops were so big that they sounded like golf balls hitting our car. The dirt road underneath us started to turn to mud quickly, so we moved back toward the road as the rain continued to absolutely pour. Corbin and I decided to drop south a bit, and we stopped a few miles south of where we intercepted the thunderstorm with ridiculous rain. Sat there for a few minutes and watched some nice CGs strike fairly close to us. After seeing that the storms were either weakening or too far away from us, we decided to head home.

 

CONCLUSION: Success. Had to wait a little while to see storms get close to us, but when we went after the Clifton storms, we weren’t disappointed at all.

 

March 1, 2014: First Chase of Year, Missed Tornado

 

SUMMARy: Probably not the greatest setup today, as storms could really pop up randomly anywhere, but I was itching to get back out in the field. Looked at models on the evening of February 28 and thought that an area near Black Canyon City would be a nice area in which to see some decent storms. Disregarded my forecast from February 28 and headed out for the Globe-ish area in morning to intercept a cluster of heavy rain showers with some embedded lightning strikes moving NE. Should have looked at how fast these storms were moving (anywhere from 30-50 knots); they were moving just too fast for us to get ahead of them. But I foolishly thought we could get ahead of them and intercept them. On our way to the Globe area, we intercepted an intense storm dumping very heavy rain right around Apache Junction/the area near the Renaissance Festival. Very hard to keep the car from hydroplaning; visibility dropped a good bit, as well. Great adrenaline rush to start the day. We continued on, and I quickly realized that the storms were simply moving too fast for us to catch. However, I decided that Kearny might be a good target point to intercept some storms. Hard to move quickly due to the slick, wet, winding roads with the occasional boulder in the way, but we made it to Kearny in position to intercept a decent-looking storm. Parked in a gas station in Kearny and intercepted a storm that dumped some decent rain. No lightning, though. Decided to go south to the San Manuel area to try to intercept some more storms that looked okay on radar. Just some steady rainfall; again, no lightning. A little discouraged, we decided to head back home. Looked at the radar in and around Phoenix, saw some great thunderstorms go up; a bit ticked by the fact that we could have just driven twenty or thirty minutes north and/or west to intercept good storms that . At about 1:00 PM, looked at the radar again and was shocked to see an insane hook echo and velocity couplet on a storm over Mesa (tornado confirmed with this storm). More ticked off. Near Gold Canyon, looked at the radar and saw some new storms forming SW of Chandler moving quickly to the NE. Caught sight of storms and we looked to intercept, thought that there may be some lightning in them. Intercepted one of the storms while driving on the US 60 freeway. Heavy rainfall; visibility dropped immensely in short period of time. Wipers could not wick the water off our windshield fast enough. A nice end to the chase day, despite the missed opportunities (storms in Phoenix) and the lack of something spectacular in the storms we intercepted.

 

CONCLUSION: Semi-success. Didn’t see anything spectacular, but solid storms for wintertime and nice way to start the 2014 chase season despite missing the tornadic storms in Phoenix area.

 

CHASE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oR45XjmtQVs