Watching and Waiting

The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) had issued a moderate risk for severe weather for Western Iowa early on the morning of Saturday, April 9, 2011. My son Ryan and I left Cedar Rapids before 11:00 AM that day, heading west--first to Ames to join up with six meteorology students from Iowa State University. In addition to our vehicle, another car was used for the coming chase. After consultation in Ames around 1:00 PM, our storm initiation point was deemed to be Avoca or Minden, Iowa, just NE of Council Bluffs. After arriving at an old abandoned convenience store/gas station site just .2-mile north of the Minden exit off Interstate 80, we waited. Temperatures were unseasonably warm--in the low 80s with dew points in the low 70s. Strong winds buffeted a sunny sky as the atmosphere began to mix and percolate. The top image shows the chase team waiting for possible storm initiation around 4:10 PM. Standing from left are: Nick Carletta, Sam Schreier, Ryan Alliss, Tristan Morath and Bryce Link. In the passenger side of the foreground car is Ethan Milius checking radar on his laptop. Not pictured here was Tyler Roney. The bottom image shows a cumulus tower beginning to form in the north just before 4:30 PM. At 5:00 PM the chase was on--west to Interstate 29, then stair-stepping NE through Western Iowa--and into a significant tornado outbreak!