Day 6: Torrington, WY

I added another new state to my collection yesterday, and I have to say- my introduction to Wyoming was tempestuous indeed. It was a 600 mile day from Colby to Torrington and back again, and we didn't roll into the hotel until after 1 this morning.

As Roger steered us into position the storm we were following seemed to wait politely for us to arrive. It was moving slowly- only 15mph or so- and hovering at the edge of a mountain range. We parked several miles away and watched it rotate slowly to our northeast. The photographers set up their equipment, and at one point I found myself standing next to the meteorologist, Brad Nelson.

"I can't believe this," I chirped, "I'm here, watching a storm with an actual meteorologist!" Being able to geek out over the structure of this storm with 19 other people was a phenomenal feeling. As we observed the cell mature and decay, the only sounds that could be heard beyond our conversations were the wind and an occasional Western Meadowlark call.

These two pictures were taken at roughly the same time. Note how clear the sky over my trip mates is compared to the supercell structure below. The lowered wall cloud base in the center-left part of the shot is the part of the storm that would have produced a tornado, had the conditions been right.

The forecast models for today have been going crazy for storms in Colorado and Kansas, and our plans for the day have gone through several revisions. Our call for the last chase day is at 10; I'm not sure where we're off to, but the setup looks good and I'm really excited for this last day. We'll be getting into OKC very late tonight, so my next post will likely be late morning or early afternoon tomorrow.

If you haven't already, please take a gander at the Portlight campaign page. With the possibility of a tornado outbreak over the next couple of days, Portlight's services may be called upon to provide aid to areas that could be impacted by this weekend's severe weather.