In Search of Original Prairie // Little Bend, South Dakota

 I traveled from Omaha, Nebraska to Little Bend, South Dakota during early October to experience the prairie as the buffalo and first nations knew it hundreds and thousands of years ago. I had my prairie experience, but unfortunately it was a limited experience as the six mile hike I had planned across the Little Bend peninsula was not possible due to numerous hunters in the area actively firing weapons. I had to settle for an hour atop a bluff overlooking the rolling grass-covered badland'ish hills. The Missouri River is now a man-made lake across this particular section of the waterway, but I could still imagine the Lewis and Clark party floating past. This area also happens to be along the route in which Hugh Glass crawled back to a fort near Chamberlain, South Dakota after being mauled by a grizzly bear farther upstream. That story of course was turned into the epic film "The Revenant." And this site also happens to be included in The War on Drugs song "Thinking of a Place," which is an amazing song by an amazing band.

Little Bend, South Dakota in Google Maps is here.

 

Malcolm X Birthsite & Pioneer-Mormon Cemetery // Omaha, Nebraska

 I visited a couple of historical sites in Omaha during late September. I first drove to North Omaha and the former address of 3448 Pinkney Street, which was the location where Malcolm X was born on May 16, 1925...100 years ago this past spring. The house itself was torn down in 1965, and all that exists today is an empty grassy field. After standing at the site for a bit of time, I drove further north to 3301 State Street to walk through an historic Mormon grave site, where 359 pioneers were buried en route to Salt Lake City during the mid 1800s. The cemetery is very peaceful and well preserved.

For more information on the Malcolm X birth site click here. 

For more information on the Pioneer-Mormon Cemetery click here. 

 

Ashfall Fossil Bed State Historical Park // Northeast Nebraska

 I did a daytrip up into Northeast Nebraska during the summer of 2025 to check out the site of a robust collection of ancient animal fossils being exhumed from ashfall laid out by a distant Yellowstone eruption millions of years ago. The fossil dig is enclosed within a modern barn like shelter allowing paleontologists to work uninterrupted through any type of weather. There is also a mile long trail that loops around the property. The walk includes a nice jaunt through a stream valley that was once the site of a hearty homesteader. This is a nice quick trip for anyone interested in the ancient history of Nebraska.

 

Cyclic Tornadic Supercell // West Texas & Far Eastern New Mexico // 5 June 2025

 Overnight convection left a pronounced outflow boundary draped across West Texas and Eastern New Mexico by mid to late morning of June 5th. I recognized that possible scenario the day before, and thus drove all night from Omaha to the Texas Panhandle, slept a few hours along an I-40 rest stop, and then made my way to a spot southwest of Lubbock by midday. Rich moisture with boundary layer mixing ratios exceeding 15 g/kg were present across West Texas and eastern portions of New Mexico, pooling along the outflow boundary that was reinforced by differential heating via stratus to the north and sunshine to the south. The exceptional moisture and steep midlevel lapse rates yielded large MLCAPE values, while low-level southeasterlies beneath 50+ kt upper-level west-southwesterlies made supercells all but guaranteed. That mode of convection combined with enhanced near-surface horizontal vorticity along the outflow boundary favored an elevated risk of tornadoes.

I noticed a deepening zone of cumulus in visible satellite imagery west of the TX/NM border, which was also in a spot favored for convective initiation in the HRRR. I thus began driving northwest, and as I approached Lingo, New Mexico, an incipient supercell began to emerge with an incredible anvil forming above a vertically towering column of buoyant white updraft. The base soon came into view and a broad bowl shaped wall cloud was present. Tornadogenesis seemed imminent, and sure enough, an occlusion took place and a brief tornado developed. I then followed the storm east-southeast and watched it occlude several more times. Landspouts, gustnadoes, and possibly an additional weak mesocyclonic tornado were observed. Then, as the storm and a massive caravan of chasers approached Morton, Texas, several zones of low-level updraft rotation began to consolidate immediately north of HWY 114. A classic low-level mesocyclone and wall cloud formed, which I viewed from the south, and beneath the wall cloud, a cloud of thick dust was rotating violently, and quickly contracted into a large tornado. The low-level structure was fantastic, and the lighting was excellent, which made for great photography.

After the large tornado, the supercell turned into a giant vacuum cleaner, sucking in huge quantities of Texas dust. Viewing a tornado under those conditions was impossible, so I settled for some structure photography from time to time. I then entered the west side of Lubbock, which was unnerving, as a potentially tornadic supercell boxed me in to the west, and a dense urban environment was present to the east. I thus decided to race east across Lubbock ahead of the approaching storm. I found an elevated position overlooking downtown to my west. This is when additional tornadoes formed along the western periphery of Lubbock, which I could not view due to darkness setting in under the storm. Nevertheless, the updraft structure did not disappoint, which I observed for 30-60 minutes before exiting to the north just ahead of a core of large hail.

 

Supercell and Tornadoes // Northwest Kansas & Southwest Nebraska // 18 May 2025

 I latched onto a supercell south of St. Francis, Kansas during the afternoon of May 18th. After a benign core punch, I placed myself northeast of a wall cloud that was showing major signs of imminent tornadogenesis. However, the RFD wrapped around the circulation and the wall cloud dissipated quickly. I then had to race north toward Max, Nebraska in order to stay within viewing distance of the next potential tornado. This involved a more significant core punch involving large hail, strong rear-flank winds and torrential rain. I eventually emerged out of the hook echo and was immediately greeted with what was likely an anticyclonic circulation and/or weak tornado that accompanied the development of a very strong cyclonic tornado forming to its north. I couldn't see the cyclonic tornadic circulation due to dust, rain, and poor contrast, but I did get clipped by the anticyclonic circulation, which pushed my truck sideways almost off the highway. I then raced north to Palisade and Hayes Center, watched a core of heavy rain that hid a possible tornado, and sampled another round of very large hail. The chase was essentially over at this point and I began the long journey east back to Omaha through multiple rounds of heavy MCS rain and wind.

 

Kentucky Storm Chase // Ultra-Long-Lived Deadly Supercell // May 16, 2025

 I chased a supercell across western Kentucky on May 16, 2025. This storm formed in southwestern Missouri and tracked east all the way to southcentral/southeastern Kentucky, which is 500+ miles during the lifespan of the supercell. Unfortunately, it produced a significant tornado that impacted London and Somerset resulting in ~20 fatalities. I gave up the storm at Hopkinsville, Kentucky, as road networks and jungle-like vegetation made additional chasing essentially futile. During the multi-hour period I was on the storm, I sampled the updraft base multiple times, as well as hail cores that produce large to very large diameter stones.  No rotation at the base of the storm was observed, and in fact, every time the storm appeared to take on a classic cyclonic reflectivity gradient in radar including a hook echo it would fizzle out the next volume scan, but for reasons unkown to me, the storm transitioned into a significantly tornadic phase several hours after I departed. No blog worthy pictures were taken, but some archived date is posted below. 

Supercell // Far West Texas // 5 May 2025

 I chased a Cinco de Mayo supercell in Far West Texas. The storm formed in a well mixed boundary layer airmass, where CAPE was moderate, deep-layer shear was strong, but SRH was minimal. The storm then crossed a stationary front, with structure becoming more interesting, and tornadogenesis seemingly imminent. However, tornadoes failed to occur, and the likely culprit was continued slight to moderate cold dry air advection via east-northeast winds. Not only did this cause the storm to encounter lower CAPE, lower moisture, and greater CIN on the cool side of the boundary, but hodograph structure also displayed large crosswise vorticity in the lowest couple hundred meters AGL. The MAF afternoon sounding launched a bit east of the storm is posted below, and displays the unfavorable near surface hodograph structure.