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Well I planned on chasing somewhere south this day, but as of the morning and the first part of the drive I hadn't convinced myself on where exactly. There was a weak surface low over nc KS progged to move ne with a warm front drapping the IA MO border. Shear was pretty good in the nw MO region along with a small instability/moisture axis riding the KS MO border. Surface winds were quite weak. I figured St. Joe was as good a target as any. I awaited the 1630z outlook to be sure SPC was still liking this area as well. I saw 2 cells develop west of Lincoln and they appeared to be on a line for Omaha. I figured I might as well punch these storms on my way south. I intercepted part of them on the north side of Council Bluffs. Got some small hail there and some very close CG's. I pulled over then continued on. In this pick I'm just south of Council Bluffs...notice the rain blowing right to left heading south.
That is not sunshine poking through to the right/west. The cold outflow from this hail kicked the winds up just before and during the hail's arrival. Notice how dark it was to the east...it was 12:30.
Here she comes.
You can see the leaves getting torn off and blowing eastward.
More leaves.
It did not take long to cover the ground. There were imbedded stones just under golf ball in this area.
In less than a couple minutes it was winter looking. It would let up just a tad only so that the larger stones could hit. The windows in a Mustang are quite slanted. I think large hail might cause me some problems down the road. The thought was crossing my mind as this was happening. I was very surprised how loud this was.
I now have hail damage to my new chase vehicle, which isn't even licensed yet. The hood didn't have any dents(guess it is fiberglass). The roof is another story...lots of small dents....oh well. Getting back onto the now fog/ice covered interstate was less than enjoyable. Nearly everyone pulled over for this one. Nearly everyone pulled back on at the same time. I was on the cell phone and was a little behind. I'm not aware of any accidents which is quite amazing.
Sightseeing in nw MO?...since there was nothing to chase! I had to turn around for this one. I was like what the hell was that. Cloud cover and no well defined boundaries killed my day. During a lot of this early evening stuff there was no wind. Some elevated stuff blew up, but I did not mess with that as it was racing ne. I will say nw MO has some of the best fall colors I've ever seen. I'm not a foliage freak but it was kind of cool. Had I had something other than a vid cam I might have took some pics.
I thought this was kind of funny next to a nice ranch.
The drive home is one I will never forget. NW MO around Marysville is home of the finest roads in the country...not! These roads were very steep with very sharp peaks. You could not see over them at all. I think I unwantingly tapped my breaks on every peak. This was before the fog. The fog gets as bad as it gets. This was so unnerving driving in. You would lose your sense of direction...up/down direction...except for the occassional stomach falls/rises. At one point, which of course I wasn't filming, car headlights appeared ahead of me and way up in the air. That was so strange being in that fog and seeing those that close and above. Then wam I hit the hill and soon peak. It was fun earlier, before the fog. I'm not a fan of roller coasters. This was the closest I've been to one on a road. Oh yeah and there are about a million one lane bridges around this area. One lane meaning one lane. You have to yeild to the oncoming traffic if you have the sign. Some of them are right after these sharp hills. It was an interesting "chase".