Late Night From Lubbock

 The word of the day is "structure." Storms have structure- and today was the best day in terms of storm aesthetics that I've seen (confession: I may say that every time, but I regret nothing!).

We began our early day with a 6 hour drive south from Denver through to Roswell. I love New Mexico; in terms of scenic vistas, the gradual lowering of elevation from Colorado to New Mexico was great- but New Mexico has been good to me on all 3 of my chase trips. We caught up with our first storm, southeast of Roswell, later in the afternoon. 

The first storm was tornado warned, although this can be deceptive with the messy storm setup I mentioned in my last entry; there were a lot of maybenadoes, and this storm had a whole lot of dust to kick up into its circulation. We didn't see anything pronounced- but there a few moments of profound excitement.

As storm 1 waned, it was absorbed into storm 2- which showed off a lovely structure. After we relocated ~15-20 miles to witness storm 2, I took a few minutes to listen to Roger lecture on storm structure (I adore the opportunity to listen to an expert wax academic about supercell thunderstorms!), and take a reunited selfie with one of our drivers- Bill- whom I met on my first trip, 5 years ago. Two lovely gents for sure!

 

Storm 2 put up a beautifully striated structure (below) before waning down, and the group migrated to Lubbock for the night, accompanied by flashes of lightning.

I am grateful to have had such an exciting, jam-packed first day of chasing- but after little sleep last night and today's adventure, I'm looking forward to resting well and getting up early to work out. I'm glad I was wrong about ending up in Amarillo tonight- it's pretty great to be wrong for a good reason. Tomorrow looks like the atmosphere will be even better than today, and we will either play in south Texas or back in New Mexico. Either way, I'm one happy chaser!

This Doesn't Look Like Kansas

 ...Because it's Colorado! Arriving in Denver for the first time since 2012 was like:

There are so many topics I find myself mulling over on my first long distance trip since COVID began:

• Whoa, I haven't been on an escalator for how long?
• There are no lines at O'Hare security- is this real?
• I forgot United serves stroopwaffels and I. FREAKING. LOVE. STROOPWAFFELS.
• I haven't been here since I graduated from my Masters in Nonprofit Management program in 2012, holy moly!
  
• On the drive from the Denver airport to my hotel- I missed the sky. 

I love my Chicago city life- but it's so open and refreshing to be in a new place. The feeling of walking into a crisp, disinfected hotel room also feels strange (AND they serve cookies when you check in!).

Maybe I'm just having a lot of strong feelings about cookies today. That's fine too. 

 Upon arrival I saw that there is no evening orientation because the crew is out chasing- considering the convective outlook for today, I'm not surprised. Roger wants us ready at 7:30a.m. tomorrow morning, which translates to a whole lot of driving. The Storm Prediction Center (SPC) outlook for tomorrow and Monday have me thinking we'll be straddling the Texas/New Mexico border for the next 2 days; the areas I am most familiar from chasing on prior trips. There are slight risks- that's level 3 on a 6 point severity scale- of storms. I don't think Sunday and Monday will be all about tornadoes, so I'm hoping for good storm structure and maybe some western US bird species I haven't seen in awhile. 

 Tonight I'm meeting my fabulous cousins for dinner at a brewpub- my idea of a good vacation night for sure. We'll see where I am tomorrow night; my guess based on previous experience is Amarillo. 

Third Time, Feeling Charming

The Beforetimes. Pre-COVID. My last foray outside the Midwest was Valentine's Weekend, 2020, when I met my college besties in New York City for a girls' weekend as beautiful and poignant as similar chick flicks wish they could be. 

Fast forward 15 months, and the storm chasing trip I postponed last year is only 3 days away. So much has changed- beyond the pandemic. I started working at a local anti-poverty organization a little over a year ago, my schnauzer soulmate, Libby, passed away in October, 2020. I started rescuing exotic birds, fish, and reptiles (a lifelong dream of mine that is just as important to me as storm chasing), and I am hosting the inaugural meeting of soon-to-be-nonprofit Chicagoland Exotic Animal Rescue (CLEAR) on June 17th. 

Not to mention; Frankie. My new schnauzer sweetheart loves to give kisses and hold paws; he's the man of my life for sure, and this is his first time meeting my suitcase. Bewilderment, curiosity, TREATS. Priorities, Frankiemonster. He'll head off to Nana Nancy for a week in the suburbs when I depart to Denver on Saturday.

 

Third time with Silver Lining Tours is the charm; when I rescheduled last year's trip I opted to select a tour with a later start date, so that I could see how storms behave a month later than my previous trips in 2018 and 2016. I am honestly so grateful to get away for a minute- if the weather is sunny, I'll go birdwatching. If the weather is tempestuous, I'll be in my happy place: watching a storm rotate over the plains, with the calls of Eastern Meadowlarks in the background. I'll reunite with the growing number of chase buddies I have cultivated over the past 5 years, and regain some of the introspection I had as I embarked upon my 30th year. Unlike 2018, I'm taking a whole week to reaffirm my intimate relationship with Mother Nature.

Next post from Denver on arrival day; bring it on!