HIE - Terra Haute, IN - 651 miles

HIE- Goodland, KS - 866 travel and chase miles logged for the day.

Todays chase started in southwestern ND at the entrance to the south unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Theta-E and surface wind convergence was maximized in this area with sufficient insulation to break the CAP. The morning HRRR showed nothing would form in this area, but the NAMnest model did! By early afternoon the HRRR jumped on board with the same initiation point along or just north of I-94 in far western North Dakota. A right-split supercell became severe warned and is shown in the first photo below. This image was taken while looking north from the Theodore Roosevelt NP Painted Canyon segment. It became tornado warned as it crossed I-94 near South Heart ND. Strong 60mph RFD winds were wrapping into the storm (2nd photo) looking east towards the town of South Heart. The town was pummeled by golf ball to tennis ball size hail with car windows broken or even completed flattened! After taking a few more photos of the storm and hail size south of South Heart, I left the storm go and called it a day.  And a good day at that!

A well advertised day for severe weather with much of North Dakota in an enhanced risk for severe weather including all hazards. It was apparent that storm initiation would occur in extreme eastern MT or southwestern ND during the late afternoon or early evening hours. Since I was already very close to the target area I had plenty of time to kill. I spent the morning hours in the north unit of Theodore Roosevelt park, but decided to cut it short and head south just in case storms fired earlier than expected.

I hung out near Belfield ND studying the models during the mid-afternoon hours. By late afternoon an MD was issued just to my south and a couple of storms had already initiated to my west over the MT border. I figured my best shot would be to get moving south and target the southern most cell that was located in a broken line of young storms, but that tail end storm was pretty far south of my position.  I drove about 50 miles straight south targeting the tail end severe warned storm. Although the models showed the storm would move NE, instead it was moving due east and then strong SSE which would make it even harder to intercept. North of Bowman, ND I ended the chase when I knew there was no way I was ever going to beat the approaching hail core from this storm in order to get south of the storm base, which was still another 40-50 miles to my south. I ended the chase and headed back north hoping to at least beat a new messy line of strengthening cells moving in from the west. I was able to just barely beat them back to I-94 and safely blast east. These linear storms were not severe warned at the time, but would be becoming much stronger as they surged eastward. A disappointing day given the prospect for a couple of semi-discrete supercells by early evening in SW ND.  Looks like the best storms will occurmuch farther east for the next few days in areas I prefer not to chase.

Candlewood Suites - Dickinson, ND - 256 miles

HIE - Watertown, SD - 402 miles

When I went to bed last night I figured I would be chasing close to the SD/NE border somewhere near Yankton SD, but things sure changed overnight as it looked like the storms ahead of an approaching front would not reach this area until just after sunset. By late afternoon a large cell initiated well to my southwest near Broken Bow Nebraska and was slowly drifting to the northeast. I plotted a course south to Plainview and then continued east on 20 towards ONeil. I cut south at Atkinson on highway 11 figuring I could beat the approaching hail core of this ever growing cell in order to get a look at the updraft base near Burwell, NE. I stopped about 10 miles north of Burwell where I had a faint view of the updraft area. All I had to do was wait since this area was moving in my direction. As it got closer I had an excellent view of the southern edge of the updraft base with some laminar shelf cloud structure above. I took several photos here until this area moved overhead and then let the storm go as it continued its path to the northeast.

My path back north on the road I just came in on was now cut off by the hail core of this big storm. Ended the chase and called it a day as there simply was nothing worthwhile to chase at this late hour.

HIE - Norfolk, NE - 426 miles

There was a slight risk of severe storms in place very close to where I woke up this morning, but they would be numerous and messy competing with one another which seldom is worthwhile for photography purposes. Instead I used today to reposition about 400 miles west into Colorado for the following day where the prospects of more isolated storms might occur, at least initial. A few very weak storms formed about 70 miles to my west near the front range mountains of Colorado, but they quickly died out due to lack of moisture and a lifting mechanism. These were shown by the models but were not worth the effort to chase.

HIE - Sterling, CO - 386 miles

I did manage to get right under a developing cell south of Wheatland, Wyoming that had a dark elongated base, but that base was rather high. It produced some brief heavy rain and a couple of small hailstones as it crossed I-25 and then rapidly died as it hit the CIN to the east. The models did show this, so it was not unexpected.  I took a couple quick photos, but nothing special.  I decided to simply document the stages of the storm in case it ever really got organized. I knew there would be a big risk going north, but just had to give it a try as the reward could have been well worthwhile.

HIE - Torrington, WY - 346 miles

At least there were storms to chase today, but they were mostly short lived and messy at times. The first cell went up early to my SE when I was sitting at the Sapp Bros truck stop east of Burns, WY. This one had no competition and was looking good on radar, but there was no easy road network for an intercept. I first had to go east several miles and then south to Grover, Colorado looking for a road west, but the good ones were closed for road work! By the time I found a decent gravel road west the storm had pulsed and the photo opportunities were gone. I took one photo of an abandoned farm house with the decaying storm in the distance.

Meanwhile a strong line of storms went up to my north and west of a Burns to LaGrange line. I was able to scoot by the worst of the rain core of these storms on road 213 and then headed east on 216 to Albin and then north on 215 to 88 east of LaGrange. Several miles east I was far enough ahead of the line to photograph some semi-interesting leading edge shelf structure.

I then continued east of 88 towards Broadwater and stopped again to take a few photos of a new line of storms to my south near Courthouse/Jailhouse Rocks in Nebraska. At Broadwater I cut south on 385 in order to get ahead of this line of storms. I finished up taking more photos near Dalton, NE before heading back north through heavy rain, but no hail. I took one last photo from the motel parking lot near sunset of some colorful clouds to my southwest.

Cobblestone Inn - Broadwater, NE - 364 miles

Another long drive to get into position for the following day which had a slight risk for severe storms and likely supercells that may start somewhere in west central North Dakota. If so these would no doubt start out somewhat isolated before merging and clustering commenced somewhere in central ND as the storms moved east. My plan would be to get on an early storm, follow it until the merging began and then let it go.

As I typed this at 7:20pm MDT there were some ongoing storms to my west near Glendive, MT which was about 100 miles to my west. These will likely die out near the ND border, but will monitor in case they hold together. If so I will drive 50 or so miles west to get the remnants in the setting sun. UPDATE: I decided to drive west 30 miles to the Painted Canyon overlook and was able to capture some interesting late day scenic-photos of the approaching storm to my west-northwest. I watched the storm slowly drift to my north with occasional lightning strikes, but was not able to capture any of those as they were far and few between. This was more than I expected today and a real bonus after all the driving recently under clear skies.

After tomorrow I will likely have one more chase day possibly to my southeast (SD/NE). After that I will start my way homeward bound.

Candlewood Suites - Dickinson, ND - 435 miles + 60 chase miles = 495 miles.

There was a slight risk of severe storms for all of central North Dakota southward into north central NE. Conditions were conducive for semi-isolated supercells starting in northern ND and initiating southward towards evening. I decided heading north would be closer to storm initiation and drove north from Dickinson to Stanley North Dakota where I had lunch.  I then waited a bit for storms to initiate. It soon became apparent I would have to head east towards a developing CU field, but only weak high based storms occurred. I cut south near Minot, North Dakota and watched a developing cell that looked promising to my southwest. I caught up to this developing storm near Makoti, but it was struggling and soon dissipated. Meanwhile a strong updraft rapidly developed just to my east and that became my target storm.

I headed east on 23 to the town of Velva following the rear quadrant of this storm. It exhibited a nice RFD but never produced a tornado. A trailing line of storms soon attached to the base of the lead storm and exhibited some nice structure for awhile.

I then turned my sights back east and south towards more supercells that were developing along the north-south highway 83 corridor. A second supercell had already crossed 83, but exhibited photo-worthy updraft structure lit up by the low sun angle.

The next supercell south (number 3) also crossed the road but was somewhat obscured by intervening clouds at times. I did manage to snag one decent photo near Max, North Dakota of the updraft structure and a lowering wall cloud beneath the base of the storm.

The last supercell just north of Bismarck would pose a challenge, as it was just beginning to cross highway 83 and looked to cut off my path south to Bismark. I hesitated a bit thinking I would never beat the hail core, but then decided to make a run for it since 83 slightly jogged eastward away from the leading edge of the hail core (as shown on the radar screenshot).

It was a white knuckle race for awhile and I was just able to make it in front of the storm with only heavy rain and some small hail being encountered. By now I could see the updraft base and even in the fading light in looked ominous. I took a few quick photos while driving and stopped briefly a couple of times before entering Bismarck. The RFD started buffeting me with strong winds and wrap around rain, so I blasted south to the motel parking lot just as the tornado sirens wailed.

The hotel guests were being routed from their rooms and began spilling out into the parking lot area upon my arrival. I could see the base of the storm a mile or so to my NW from the parking lot. A clear area had developed below the base and suddenly I could make out the shape of a ropy stovepipe tornado. This quickly transitioned into a thin rope but I was able to grab one quick photo with my iPhone. No sooner had I taken the photo that it had truncated and quickly disappeared, all in a matter of seconds. Quite a fun day overall and a great way to end my 2025 chase season!

HIE - Bismarck, ND - roughly 400 miles

Another long uneventful day of driving, but this time all miles towards home and fortunately not missing anything too serious storm wise back to my west on the plains. I encountered the periphery of some storms near Kansas City, but only light to moderate rain for about an hour or so. The rest of the drive to Effingham, Illinois was dry, but as I type this at 2130 CDT a few weak storms have initiated just north of town with some lightning and thunder evident.

HIE - Effingham, IL - 696 miles

Yet another full day of driving to get home. A few developing weak storms did form while traveling through Kansas and Missouri, but fortunately I missed most of the heavy rain. A more vigorous batch of severe storms was ongoing in Pennsylvania as I approached home, which did close some roads due to accidents and fallen trees. Fortunately, I was able to navigate around those and only encountered the back edge of the heavy rain cores close to home.  By this time the severe threat had ended. That being said, more storms with heavy rain occurred overnight with lots of thunder waking me up a few times.

Home - 722 miles