June 12, 2022
Statistics
Hays, KS 9:33 AM 6/12/2022
Rapid City, SD 7:51 PM 6/12/2022
Summary
Upslope play in the Black Hills. Targeted Belle Fourche, SD area for afternoon supercells, intercepting scuddy gust front between Spearfish and Belle Fourche. Storm continued to continue to degrade so called chase north of Underwood, SD.
Crew and Equipment
Chase partners: Jennifer Brindley Ubl. Equipment: Photography courtesy Jennifer Brindley Ubl on a Nikon Z 7II.
Video
Map
Details
The next couple days looked to provide upslope opportunities off the Black Hills, and June in South Dakota is one of my favorite places to be, so Brindley and I were geeked to make the long drive up from Kansas where we had ended the previous day’s chase.
We were greeted in the morning by a dramatically low and fast moving gust front arcus that sailed over the top of the hotel from the north, remnants from an overnight MCS in Nebraska.
Enroute through the Black Hills, rows of low clouds streamed by in the relatively cool air of the boundary draped along I-90.
A severe warned complex was moving out of Wyoming into South Dakota. We took 85 north out of Spearfish for the intercept.
The storm looked like it would cross the highway south of Belle Fourche. With only sparse ranch roads to work with, we found a gravel road atop a hill right off the highway and watched the storm from afar.
A scuddy gust front emerged. It looked like the storm might have already gusted out into an outflow dominant state, or perhaps it was stuck north of the boundary and sucking on cooler air.
We watched the precipitation core cross the highway to our north along with a couple other groups that were stopped nearby. There was no real play on this storm beyond that, and it was a pretty lackluster intercept given the mileage involved. We left and headed back southeast down I-90 to keep the storm in play, hoping it would root to the boundary and reorganize.
We passed and were passed by several other chasers as we drove past Rapid City before we exited for a northbound intercept out of Underwood. The effort was futile as the storm was just high based remnants by then. The cows looked at us bemused, as they knew the chances for a tornado had long passed.
We called the chase and headed back to Rapid for a stay at one of our favorite hotels, the historic Alex Johnson.
Dinner at the bar at the Que Pasa Cantina:
Drinks on the roof top of the Alex Johnson in front of the fire pits made the day for us. It was one of those days where the after chase festivities were way better than the storms, and spots like these are why we love Rapid City so much.
Drinks on the roof top of the Alex Johnson in front of the firepits:
Drinks on the roof top of the Alex Johnson in front of the fire pits made the day for us. It was one of those days where the after chase festivities were way better than the storms.
Conclusion
A lackluster bust storm wise, but this was a fun night in Rapid City, and why our “chasecations” are still great times even without a great storm.
Lessons Learned
