May 22, 1999

Date: 5/22/99
Parthers: none
Miles: about 290
Summary: I got onto a couple nice storms, none produced tonadoes though. I saw a nice wall cloud over Limon also.
The Chase: This was my only chase while I was in Colorado for classes that May. It was a tough decision whether to head SE towards Limon or NE towards Fort Morgan. I decided to go east on I-70 and see which towers looked better, and to call back home to get some data for my decision. Well near Bennett there were some solids towers, and a couple mature storms up north, so I headed that way from Strasburg. I made it to Fort Morgan, and was watching some thunderstorms. There were reports of golf ball sized hail from a cell about 10 miles ahead of me on I-76, but to get infront of it I would hav had to punch through it. I decided to stop in Fort Morgan at a hotel for a radar upadet on the weather channel, and again call home for some data. Well there was a cell that had a tornado warning for it in Laramie Co., WY which was moving SE. I was going to wait to see it and try to play with that cell. I got to the N side of Fort Morgan, and stopped at another hotel for another radar check while I waited. What I saw shocked me, the cell up north dies completely, and a new cell exploded SE of me in Washington Co.. The giant red blob filled the wester half of the county. I immediately left to go south on highway 71. Soon after I got in the car a tornado warning was issued for this cell. It was northeast of me as I got to Last Chance, CO. I saw a couple other spotter following that cell, so I headed eat with them on highway 36. After about 10 miles, it was clear the cell wasn't tornadic, and a sever thunderstorm warning replaced the tornado warning. We then headed back to Last Chance and back south on 71. There were a coupel other cells SW which looked nice. I did get a couple pictures from highway 36 looking way S to Limon. One of them shows a lowering right over Limon. There was a tornado warning for this cell, but it only dropped some golfball sized hail near Limon. Upon reaching I-70, I stopped for gas and a drink and headed back W to Aurora. As I left, there was yet another line of storm firing along the front range. I clearly could see these cells. One of them dropped 1" hail at DIA, and the runways needed to be plowed. There also is a photo of that storm on my photo's page. Fortunately, when I drove through it on my way home it had weakened, and I only got some moderate rain from it.

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