Day 7: Wray, CO

Yesterday was the longest day of all- 16 hours of driving from Colby, KS up to Wray, CO and back down to Oklahoma City. It's so important to enjoy the people you're with when you're stuck in a van for that many hours, and after an entire week of being in the aforementioned van with Sara, Stephanie, Evans, Vincent, and Victoria I wanted to send some special recognition their way. The Sexy Six will ride again someday, I hope!

By the time we made it up to Wray the storms were still in the early stages. We repositioned several times, and it was interesting to see others in the chase community arrive. We watched as Josh Wurman & the DOW with Sean Casey & the TIV steamed in the opposite direction ("Just like on TV!" I squealed). Why were we travelling in the opposite direction from these veteran storm chasers? 

The answer is simple and gut-wrenching: we ran out of time. Roger knew we had a 10+ hour drive back to OKC to finish the trip, and so it was time to go.

Wall cloud (above) and mammatus clouds (below) on the storm that would go on to produce the extremely photogenic Wray tornado about an hour after we left the area. At the time of these photos, the storm was severe warned.

As photos from other chasers began blowing up the online community- a rusty brown elephant trunk tornado with excellent structure, amazing forward motion, and even the satellite vortices that indicate a very strong tornado- the morale of the group dimmed. A half dozen of the group are going chasing with Roger today, but I have to head back home to Chicago. I hope today's storms form in their favor.

I can't even remember what town we were in when we stopped to watch our last supercell of the day and take a group photo, but these parting shots make me glad to have been where I was, even if I did miss the storm in Wray.

As I begin the journey home from this epic adventure, I'm taking a moment to reflect on those who may have been impacted by the tornado in Wray, and hoping that there were no injuries or fatalities. Portlight has provided aid in tornado-ravaged towns such as Joplin, MO, and their mission was on my mind as I reviewed my photos of the storm.

It looks like I missed my chance of seeing a tornado, so I guess I'll have to turn 30 a time or two before I make this dream come true. Nevertheless, it was an amazing week filled with simply fantastic people and experiences.

My next post will be the first honor roll of donors. It's time to head to the airport- onward and upward!