Ottertail/Becker/Wadena County Chase - 7-13-2020

I'm just going to apologize now for the horrifically long post with tons of pictures.  But, yesterday was totally deserving of all of these pictures.

After missing out on the Dalton tornado due to a commitment, the number of chase days left in 2020 are starting to become more sparse. 

Yesterday was a First Weather Alert Day, because we had an enhanced risk of severe weather for the day, primarily in Eastern ND and Western MN.  As things progressed during the day, that risk moved further to the east, and led to a Severe Thunderstorm Watch being issued later in the afternoon. 

With me being able to get out and chase (and have time to get into position) it allowed me to grab a hamburger from a local restaurant, as I knew I would be getting home late.

Starting off in Clay County, I originally just hung out near Rothsay until close to the end of the 5:30pm newscast.  The cap was starting to finally weaken and we were seeing CU development and some showers forming in Clay and Becker Counties.

I ended up spending time with some Looney friends near Perham while I waited for storms to form.

It's a little Looney out there!

Shortly thereafter, we started to see some radar returns near Fergus Falls and it was clear this storm was going to be the one to watch.

As it was developing

I was able to get caught up to the storm near Richville, MN - just north of Ottertail Lake.

Maybe some rain and hail in there...

Then, we  could start to see a wall cloud VERY rapidly start to take shape.

In looking at the timestamps on my camera, it went from just starting to form to a rotating wall cloud in less than five minutes.  I was able to get this on video, and I'll edit and upload that at some later date.

Then, we noted a funnel start to take shape.  (Hi Brad and Kyle and Melanie!)

HI BRAD AND MELANIE! 

Wider look. 

The storm then started to move off to the Northeast, and I needed to re-position myself.  I let the RFD come right over me. 

I'm very glad I did, as the colors of this storm were just fantastic!

I am just going to let the pictures of this storm speak for itself. 

During this time, Bill Doms and I were able to connect.  Bill and I have been friends going back since I first started chasing, and he has always offered invaluable advice over the years.  Check out his Twitter feed for some awesome photos of this day as well!   It's even better that Bill and I work for different TV outlets (with him working with Fox9 out of the Twin Cities) we always seem to end up on the same storm. 

One more photo before I head home for the day.  I ended up getting home shortly after 11:30pm, which was a VERY long day for me! 

It looks like we do have more chances for severe storms coming up on Friday!  I hope I can get another couple of blogs pushed out before then! 

Grand Forks/Polk Counties Chase - 6-8-2020

Wall Cloud

What a chase day!

It started off with me leaving out of Fargo and headed north towards Grand Forks.  Originally, I was going to head north and then west to try to get to the storms in far western Barnes County.

Just as I was leaving Fargo. 

Very quickly after the storms went up, they started to rotate and before we knew it, there was a tornado warning.  I got up to Thompson I headed west and very quickly noted a wall cloud.  At first I couldn't tell if it was rotating, and then I was able to tell that it was, and as I got closer, it was cranking really hard.

Screencap from my dashcam. 

Quick camera shot out my window. 

Here's another screencap from closer to Emerado:

Note the big RFD cut - this can either help or be a hindrance to tornadogenesis.

I then had to make a choice.  The storm was very quickly going to be moving out of North Dakota and into Minnesota.  I also know my options for getting across the river are limited, and so I made a choice, and I dropped the storm as it got close to the airort and headed east and made the river crossing into Minnesota.

Once I made it info Minnesota, I was treated with quite a sight.

What a wall cloud! 

Here is some video I shot of the that wall cloud.

Another shot of the wall cloud with the RFD punch. 

After a few minutes, the wall cloud started to dissipate, but I was still left with some awesome picture opportunities:

Then, one more shot as the storm started to fade away:

Later on, the storm found the boundary again and became tornado warned, but by this time it was getting to the far northern reaches of the valley and I was well on my way home. 

As I was digging through the pictures on my camera, I realized I hardly blogged at all last year, and I am hoping to blog quite a bit more this year, and then do some blasts from the past from my previous years.  (Basically, I need to get caught up from hardly doing any chase blogs from last year!)  Hopefully I am able to get caught up more over the next few weeks.

Until next time!