Well, I would not call it a total bust.
Ended up at the same Shell gas station with Bill, Eric, Mel, David, Tony, and some new chasers that asked it they could tag along too.
For hours and hours this morning I reviewed data, looked at the ruc, reviewed even more data and picked two targets. One near Albert Lea to Owatanna MN and the other near Hastings MN.
Since Hastings MN is on the Mississippi River and the target area would be in Wisconsin, I said, eh, NO.
So I went with the southern option.
Why do I sucker myself into chasing setups that the surface, 850 and 500 mb winds all scream at almost the same direction? The best backing winds were from Hastings to Eau Claire WI but again, even that was 45 to maybe 90 degrees at best.
But it was not a total bust. I got to test out the new transmission and work out some bugs in the new data setup.
And yes, I did it, I took one for the team. After I met up with most of the group just outside of the base of Mt. RedWing, I did it… I went into the forbidden chaser land… I went into Wisconsin.
Half to chase and half to check out that area just for kicks. I made it to just east of Plum City where I said enough was enough and turned around after my phone got a signal.
Cell phone coverage from Mt Plum City WI to Mt Red Wing MN to Mt Prescott Wisconsin poor to none. I say MT. as a joke because their is no mountains but the roads all go through river valleys and you get on top of them from time to time. For the most part your maybe 300-500 feet down in the sub basement of a valley.
I did see some short lived lowering on the tail end of the stuff that went into Wisconsin but I did my Wisconsin chase for the year and got it out of the way on the first chase so I won’t be tempted to go again.
Lessons Re Learned:
Don’t go into Wisconsin. Highway 52 is your neutral ground to say, enter at your own risk because your not going to see anything but hills and trees from this point forward.
When Surface, 850 and 500 mb winds are all going the same way and really fast, with temps and dew barely over the 75/55, your chances of seeing a tornado is slim and the storms are going to race off at light speed.
And when doing 5 over the speed limit, ALWAYS let the guys speeding by at 90+ pass you. While we were all driving north on 35 to the cell that just went up, a Lincoln blew past me like I was standing still. I was doing 75 and they had to be doing at least 90 to 100.
A few minutes later, a MN State Trooper came flying up behind me and I was thinking oh crap, this is not Texas, you can do 8-10 over up here before they get anal. I moved over and he blew past me like there was a tornado on the ground. So I thought there was and I was thinking oh crap, what is happening up here?
Until a few minutes later, the trooper had the Lincoln pulled over.
That and pea sized hail was the extent of the chase.
This is what we saw just east of Medford
