We spent the previous day making the long 800-mile drive from Pueblo, CO, to Pierre, SD, via Denver, CO, and North Platte, NE. Given the bleak prospects for severe storms along our route, we did not attempt to observe any storms.

That morning, we woke up early in Pierre, SD, to continue our long drive north. It was apparent that we’d have to reach at least the I-94 corridor in North Dakota to have a reasonable chance of seeing decent storms; it was even possible that we’d have to venture into northern North Dakota, so it was crucial that we got up and got moving early. A map of our route is below.

Meteorologically, an upper-level trough would be ejecting out of the Northern Rockies into the Northern Plains. The associated surface cyclone and cold front was forecast to reach central North Dakota by late afternoon, although the triple point would likely be located somewhere over the northern portion of the state. The triple point was an attractive target because most of the warm sector would likely remain capped owing to both warm temperatures aloft and continued meager moisture return from the Gulf of Mexico. Accordingly, the Storm Prediction Center had included most of North Dakota in a slight risk of severe weather, with the greatest tornado risk existing along and north of the synoptic warm front.

North Dakota. We made it. Is that a DOW? Taken at the North Dakota-South Dakota border on US-83.

When we reached the truck stop at the junction of US-83 and I-94 (point A on the map), we rendezvoused with the Center for Severe Weather Research and the Doppler on Wheels crew, who were conducting their Radar Observations of Tornadoes and Thunderstorms Experiment (ROTATE-2012). I offered my services as one of their lead forecasters pro bono (I chased with the DOW crew in 2004 and 2005 with ROTATE and in 2009 and 2010 as their lead navigator with VORTEX2). Executive summary: ROTATE-2012 was a lot of driving, a lot of fun, but not a lot of tornadoes.

As CSWR was installing a two-way radio in our vehicle, Reed Timmer and the Dominator rolled in to the truck stop. It was my first time meeting Reed. He seemed like a nice guy and we had a brief conversation about my dissertation. Between the DOWs (and all their support vehicles) and the Dominator, the circus truly was in town.

Some of the students and I pose with Reed Timmer in front of the Dominator. Taken at the truck stop 1 N Sterling, ND.

After the circus left town, we grabbed a quick lunch in Bismarck and then reassessed conditions at the Lewis and Clark Memorial along US-83 in Washburn, ND (Point B on the map). After waiting for over an hour, we decided that the warm sector would likely remain capped and that we’d have to head farther north to get a good storm. Why not Minot?

As we approached Minot, a storm developed near the triple point to our west. We positioned ourselves northwest of town (Point C on the map; the storm was moving northeastward). The storm had a broad updraft base when we first saw it, but since we were shivering in the inflow, we were not extremely optimistic about tornado prospects.

Broad supercell updraft base, taken 11 N of Berthold, ND, looking WSW.

The plan was to allow the storm to come to us since a tornado did not seem imminent. Storms, however, being somewhat unpredictable, don’t always do what you expect them to. As we stood there in the chilly inflow watching the storm, it suddenly dropped a brief tornado. We were likely 15-20 miles away when the tornado touched down.

Tornado, viewed from 11 N of Berthold, ND, looking WSW.

Zoomed-in view of the tornado, courtesy Zach Wienhoff.

Now, I’m hardly the type to report things that aren’t tornadoes as tornadoes (I’m looking at you, dust swirl folks), but I also have independent confirmation of a ground circulation beneath the funnel from a very trustworthy source. Strangely, this report never made it into Storm Reports; I guess no one ever bothered to call it in (or didn’t have good enough cell service to do so because North Dakota).

As the storm approached, we shifted 4 miles south to make sure we were out of the way of the mesocyclone and any possible hail. The storm lost any significant wall cloud as it neared us, but it managed to produce a funnel cloud as it passed to our north (this circulation definitely did not touch down).

Classic supercell thunderstorm NW of Minot, ND. Image taken 7 N Berthold, ND, looking W.

Contrast-enhanced image of a funnel cloud extending from a ragged wall cloud. Image taken 7 N Berthold, ND, looking N.

The storm continued to lose organization as it passed northwest of Minot. This was not the type of storm that I’d risk getting stuck on muddy dirt roads over, so we traveled back to Minot, then headed north to keep up with it. The storm briefly reintensified, regaining our attention and providing one last photo opportunity, as it passed Minot Air Force Base and continued northeastward.

Supercell thunderstorm with a funnel-shaped lowering. Taken 1 SE Glenburn, ND, looking N.

We decided not to follow the storm any farther since it was exhibiting another weakening trend and it had every intention of going to Canada and we had every intention of not. Furthermore, it was getting late and a look at the forecast for the next day revealed a likely target in Eastern Nebraska, which is quite a hike from north-central North Dakota. We returned to Minot for dinner, reserved the last rooms in the entire city of Jamestown, ND, and arrived about midnight. Never stop chasing.

Test.