Storm near Williamstown,KS On Sunday April 3rd I left with a group of 3 friends from Minnesota to go to Kansas for a system that was looking fairly impressive in that area. I left Wisconsin at 12AM, arrived in Minnesota around 1:30 and my friends and I took off for right afterwards. We drove through the night and arrived in Kansas by 10AM, we waited out around Kansas City, stopped at a few places a visited until evening when the storms broke out in Central Kansas near Topka and moved ENE, We ended up perfecting intercepting them just south of Oksaloosa,KS When we stopped out in a field near the storm, I noticed some notable inflow winds.

Gustanado near Williamstown,KS April 3rd

We ended up catching something I have never seen in a storm before in all my years of watching storms. A very strong gustanado developed on the rear flank downdraft of the storm just to our southwest and moved east passing us just to the south of where we were, It was an amazing site to see the swirling cloud of dust move across the landscape. The NWS in Topeka said it was a strong gustanado with sustained winds of 80MPH inside of it, which did some damage in the Williamstown area, no one was hurt thankfully. We left the Field we had stopped at when hail the size of dimes and heavy rain started falling, afterwards we called it a night because it was getting dark and we got a hotel. All in all for the actual storm chase it went very well and very safely, and I was surprised at my self in the situation which I kept very calm and reasonable with the knowledge that I have as a Skywarn spotter. Video of the gustando that I shot can be found HERE

The Weather and trip home!

Green trees and grass of Kansas City,KS April 3rd

This was the first time I’ve ever been south of southern MN, and as I’ve always liked to do I enjoyed watching the landscape change as we went across the Upper Midwest! The weather when we left Minnesota was cloudy and chilly in the low 40s and raining, There was still snow on the ground when we left, but it quickly went away when we got south of the Twin Cities metro. By the time we reached Kansas it was hot, humid and very windy! Temperatures topped out in the lower 90s where we were and immediately had to take off my coat and break out the shorts and short sleeves! Winds were very strong out of the SSW and were some of the windiest I’ve ever felt! the lack of trees in that area seemed to enhance the winds. My friend recorded a 45MPH wind gust at a park in Gardner,KS with my hand held wind gauge, Which is the highest that gauge has ever measured.

Downtown Kansas City,MO

Kansas

When we arrived in Kansas, I could not get over how the trees in Kansas City were already blooming and leafing out, Spring was well under way in that area and people were already mowing their lawns! The garden center Walmart in Gardner,KS was already open and they had annuals and spring flowers for sale, I could not help myself I had to purchase something in the excitement of seeing flowers for sale again so I bought some daffodils! The landscape was more hilly and had more trees then I imaged near Kansas City from urban plantings but when we got away from the metro it was as flat as everyone says it is, and looked alot like the pictures commonly seen from the Kansas plains!

near Cameron,MO

Missouri

Missouri was fairly flat but it had hills as well, There are less trees then at home though and the amount of Juniper trees noticeable because they are fairly rare at home! The further north we progressed towards north we got, the more the the season began to almost to back in time, trees that were leafing out in Kansas were barely starting even 100 miles north of that area.

Downtown Des Monies,IA

Iowa

Reaching Des Monies there were barely any trees showing signs of budding, and grass was much browner in this area, but the landscape was some of the flattest on our trip especially in Northern Iowa!

Twin Cities Metro Apple Valley,MN

Minnesota I was surprised how much snow had melted between the time we left and the time we returned to the Upper Midwest, the rain and warmth had really melted it away over the last few days! When we reached the Twin Cities area, the trees and grass were completely dormant, with only the earliest flowers showing signs of growing

snow patches around my home in Clayton,WI

Wisconsin I was fairly surprised that there wasn’t and significant snow patches on the ground until I reached with in 7 miles of my home! I have to say though it really went down over the past day, there is more grass then snow patches now, and we have an average of about 1 inch of snow left. It wont be long before it’s completely gone!

In conclusion to this trip, it was a very fun and interesting experience for me. I saw stuff I’ve never seen in storms, and I got to prove to myself that I really enjoy watching storms. I also really enjoyed watching the landscape change from home to Kansas, and being in 90.F degree temperatures once again was great, I would certainty do it again had if given the chance!