March 5th Western Kansas chase!

March 5th showed some promise for some time on the models so when the SPC showed a 2 percent risk of tornadoes just into Kansas I jumped on it!

On my way out towards my target of Bird City, KS I saw that cells south of Oakley were intensifying so I dropped south to Goodland and headed east on I-70 to intercept the line between Colby and Oakley. Near the town of Mingo, KS I encountered hail drifts alongside the road, a couple of lightning strikes and some heavy rain. I continued on east past Oakley and hopped off a couple of exits to get a view of the tail-end of the line. The lightning was now picking up along with brick winds and dark lowerings along the forward flank of the line. I then shot south to near Utica, KS where I encountered wind driven pea to nickle sized hail, strong winds and frequent CG lightning. Chased east following the line well past dark and overnighted in Russell, KS where I'm glad to say the chase base faired the 4 mos of winter unoccupied with no problems whatsoever. It was soooo nice to be out and chasing again on this first day of the 2010 chase season!