Storm Chase 2019 Blog (6/5) - Day 4 - Heading to the Black Hills of South Dakota

LIMON, Colo. (WAVE) - While we didn’t head south as planned since cloud bases were simply too low down in parts of Texas and Southeast Colorado, we were able to chase a storm near Hugo, Colorado that had some picturesque structure and hail. The storm quickly merged with other storms to the south and weakened. That means our chase ended early yesterday since storms didn’t stay strong for long. Before that happened we bumped into veteran storm chaser and old friend Daniel Shaw from Australia, who showed us the hail dents and hail shields on his chasing vehicle. You’ll see that near the end of the video above, alongside some time lapse video of what yesterday’s storm looked like.

Today we’re en route to the western half of South Dakota where storms will get going near the Black HIlls. The Black Hills act as a source of lift and storms are quite common there. Since storm ingredients are so marginal in Texas today and we have to be in South Dakota anyway to end our tour Friday night, it makes sense to head north. It’s worth noting that there will be some slight enhancement in the 500 mb (~18,000 ft aloft) winds today in Western South Dakota, which will help steer the storms and create some wind shear when compared to the surface winds.

A small enhancement in the 500 mb (~18,000 ft) winds will happen close to the Black Hills of... — A small enhancement in the 500 mb (~18,000 ft) winds will happen close to the Black Hills of South Dakota today. Westerly winds will also aid in wind shear and storm steering.

The HRRR model’s simulated radar output has an individual storm getting organized up there this afternoon. That will be better to chase than the merged storms down in Texas. We’ll also need to watch the Cheyenne Ridge in Southeast Wyoming for any development as it can be a hotspot in these marginal setups. Be sure to check out Brian’s previous blog post from this morning for more on Louisville’s severe weather threat today.

The HRRR model’s simulated radar output has more individualized storms, which are better for... — The HRRR model’s simulated radar output has more individualized storms, which are better for storm chasing, over the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Keep up with my storm chase today by following my social media accounts...

And of course at select times during our evening newscasts on WAVE 3 News this upcoming week I’ll be streaming video of our chase when possible. Daily updates right here on the WAVE 3 Weather Blog (bookmark this link) will be available as well.

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