June 16, 2023

Statistics

Initial Target
Start
End
Storm Intercepts
Tornadoes
Hail
Wind
Features
Miles
Lamar, CO
Elk City, OK 10:26 AM 6/16/2023
Lamar, CO 9:34 PM 6/16/2023
Timpas, CO
0
0"
0 mph
Updraft Base, RFD Clear Slot
514

Summary

Marginal upslope play in se CO, targeting Lamar for afternoon supercells. Intercepted high based cells southwest of town noting textured rain free base, RFD clear slots and some broad rotation, but cells looked too high or partially elevated to be tornado producers.

Crew and Equipment

Chase partners: Jennifer Brindley Ubl. Equipment: Sony AX100, Canon 60D with EFS 10-22, Samsung S9.

Video

Map

Details

Our fourth chase day on a Plains run with Jennifer Brindley Ubl, we had a rather marginal upslope play to work with, but were in the region so we wanted to make the most of it.

Cactus
15 miles E of Timpas, CO
4:49 PM
We departed Elk City, OK, where we had ended the previous day’s chase, making for a Lamar, CO target. We stopped on the north side of town to wait for storms to organize with some high based showers in the vicinity. Cells coming off the foothills on the New Mexico/Colorado border looked most promising so we ran west and south out of La Junta to head them off.

High Based Supercell
19 miles E of Timpas, CO
5:25 PM
A high contrast storm with textured base approached from the west. An RFD clear slot opened in the back of the cell with twisting and churning motion. Yet the cell was also quite high based and looked like it may have been partially elevated as well, a common issue in the often drier and cooler High Plains. We had one good north south paved option and watched for several minutes before storm motion eventually pushed us further south.
A scuddy lowering wrapped in rain within an RFD clear slot:
We found a big gravel lot off the highway and stopped to watch the storm with a half dozen other chasers and locals, chatting and shooting timelapse.
The stormscapes were pretty, but we weren’t going to get a tornado out of these cells, and the sculpted supercells updrafts would elude as well.
Some carved out base with a bit of curling downdraft motion on the backside of a cell:
A peek at the anvil soaring overhead as scuddy cool clouds fed into the base. We watched cells all around us and moved about as rain started to encroach from various directions. Eventually everything started to congeal into big rainy complexes, a typical end for these High Plains setups. We called the chase and headed back to Lamar for dinner and a room.

Conclusion

We got some pretty shots and some supercell structure out of this chase, but thsi was a borderline bust with cells that looked cold and high. Still, it was a marginal setup so our expectations were a lot lower than the bases.

Lessons Learned


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