Tuesday 8th May 2018
This day marked the first chase of the trip. We had plenty of ground to cover after leaving Oklahoma City first thing in the morning, and we would end up in Valentine Nebraska in the early evening. The conditions were not conducive to tornadic supercells, however decent wind shear and adequate instability would pave the way for some high based thunderstorms capable of producing frequent lightning and high winds.
This is exactly what greeted us, while it wasn't anything spectacular, it sure was a fun chase and well worth the 10 hour drive getting there.
Thursday 10th May 2018
On May 10th 2018 we ended up playing in western Nebraska. Nice instability and wind shear would allow isolated supercells to develop during the late afternoon. The only concern today would be moisture. Storm activity was expected to be high based, limiting any tornadic potential during the afternoon.
After hours of waiting, finally, a significant high based supercell develop dropping based ball sized hail! This storm was nicely structured and produced a spectacular cloud to ground lightning show that raged on into the evening hours.
Friday, May 11th 2018
This was a day where we were not expecting too much to happen. A large scrub fire develop to the south of Armarillo, Texas and generated a large pyrocumulus cloud. This continued to grow and right before our eyes, it developed in a fully fledged supercell!
We witnessed a barrage of close cloud to ground lightning strikes that went on to produce further grass fires across the region. This storm tracked all the way to the Oklahoma border before slowly dying.
Certainly an event that you don't get to witness too often!