What a week!
After Wednesday's hectic and productive chase in west-central Minnesota, Tim and I made a late night return to Northwood, IA and got as much rest as we could in advance of another chase day on Thursday. I remember thinking to myself- with over 2000 miles of driving, was it worth it for ~3 minutes of having a wall cloud go directly over us?
Yes, it was. The wholeness of the storm growling over rural South Dakota earlier in the week while birds sing in the background, the unintended chaos of maneuvering around Minnesota during Wednesday's storm- it was all worth it.
Our target on Thursday was around Des Moines, and Tim got us into position really well, considering storms fired nearly 90 minutes earlier than we were expecting based on model guidance. It was HOT in rural Iowa, and although I managed to avoid buying junk food at the dozens of gas stations we stopped at all week, I was super close to breaking the rule for an Oreo ice cream sandwich when we stopped for gas.
The radar grab above shows how chaotic the setup was on Thursday's chase. The cells converged and diverged at different times, there were no tornado warnings for a good period of time, and the storms were not photogenic at all. It wasn't a bust day- we got storms, we positioned properly- but Thursday's setup didn't have Monday's beauty or Wednesday's successes.
I was dealing with a personal issue too (it's hard to have a vacation when you run an animal rescue) and that made it hard for me to focus, but Tim was really understanding, and my rescue's board of trustees stepped up phenomenally.
In the end, we arrived in Ft. Madison and stopped for dinner at a mediocre restaurant. I ordered a cheese enchilada. "This is my emotional support cheese," I told Tim.
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