HP Supercell - Northeast Kansas - April 6, 2006


HP Supercell just south of Sabetha, KS on April 6, 2006 7:04pm.

Chase Account: Jonathan Garner - http://www.tornadocyclone.com

After today's chase, I hope I have learned to target the surface low when a closed 500 mb low is sitting immediately to the west. Brian Thalken and myself drove down to Topeka, KS, and sat waiting for storms forming near Wichita to move northeast into our area. Cells did make it up to Topeka, but they immediately weakened as they approached. After reviewing the evening soundings, it appears that a warm layer of air, seen here on the 00 UTC 4/7/06 KTOP sounding, likely inhibited sustained updrafts as they moved east off of the dryline (note the subtle inversion just above 850 mb).

We did follow a reintensifying cell north of Topeka, which developed into a small-compact HP supercell. It developed a very low base which quickly rotated around the back side of the storms wet RFD. Observing this storm saved us from experiencing a complete bust. Meanwhile, several tornadic supercells developed west of Topeka. We considered racing west to intercept them, but finally concluded that we couldn't catch up due to their rapid northerly motion. Apparently, these tornadic storms developed in a region which closely fit Jon Davies mid-level closed core low pattern, which can be found here. I hope I will recognize this pattern the next time it emerges.


South of Sabetha, KS - 7:04pm


Radar image 6:49pm - Left Pane BREF1 , Right Pane SRV 1

Radar image 6:59pm - Left Pane BREF1 , Right Pane SRV 1

Radar image 7:09pm - Left Pane BREF1 , Right Pane SRV 1