Iowa Bust

Chase Recap:

I decided to make a last minute run up to Iowa for the Sunday evening severe potential. I have been working from home since March and decided a couple days away from the home would be good – And there seemed a conditional threat for tornadoes in Iowa. So I left late on Saturday and headed up to Kansas City, staying near the airport.

Sunday I woke up and swung by the airport in KC to see the Delta planes parked for the pandemic. After that, I decided to head up to St. Joseph and then continued up I-29 to Council Bluffs. My target area was somewhere near Storm Lake, IA, so I thought heading east on 80 would be a good idea.

I headed up to Early, IA where I had seen a tornado on April 9, 2011. The back roads of Iowa are still 55 MPH, so that is a much slower endeavour than it seems. After filling up in Early, I stuck around town as it seemed storms were starting to fire overhead or just east. Pretty quickly the first echos showed up on radar.

And after heading east 30 miles, they crapped out. The updrafts were obviously getting cut off by cap. I sat on the side of the road pondering life for awhile before starting to head home.

I made it to Portsmouth before seeing storms firing in eastern Nebraska. Just a couple little echoes, but I might as well head back towards them.

I found myself in Onaway, IA at dusk on a Sunday night going after the only beans out there on radar. Scan after scan, strengthening. Then the capping started slowing stuff down and eventually choked out the updrafts remaining.

I got myself a hotel room and continued pondering life all the next day as I worked from the lobby before returning home Monday evening.