mnwxchaser's Blog

I've had worse days considering how bad the parameters were. Went on the hunch the limited heating today would be enough to get something going. Originally was going to head southwest towards Glencoe/Hutch by 2pm but it was pretty evident the little instability axis had nudged a little further north by 1pm so just hung out at the office. One cell by 2:00 did catch my eye out in McLeod county so I decided to move west to intercept it as it slid into western Hennepin. The tops and vil's kept spiking and sure enough, the little bit of backing surface winds were enough to put on a little bit of a structure show.

Full chase account can be found HERE

After venturing back from the National Weather Service open house in Grand  Forks, North Dakota on Saturday, we decided to enjoy a beautiful afternoon at the Sherburne National Wildelife Refuge  north of Big Lake.  Thought it would be a good idea to get out as with two waves coming through this week, this was likely to be the warmest and driest for a while again. Maybe some lightning shots tomorrow night?   Here are a few photos from our outing of the resident bald eagles also enjoying the warm aftrernoon sun.

Not a whole lot of wild weather (really didn't expect any), but the harvest season always provides a beautiful foreground for even the most mediocre of storms.

A full account of the chase can be found on OUR WEBSITE

Here a few photos from the day:

Wow..where is our second severe season?  The synoptic pattern doesn't look too promising for any chase opportunities but the boomers the other morning and night were a welcomed treat.   Kinda bummed as our streak of bagging obscure August tornadoes in the Dakotas is going to end this year.  Oh well, maybe September will be active.  We all remember what happened September 16th 2006 in Rogers and the tragic death of Jaymi Wendt.  Point being we are not out of the woods yet.

So, being the skies have more clear than not of late.  Something which is kind of fun to watch is an iridium flare.  Basically these look like a sort of "shooting star" usually occurring in the hour or so after sunset and again in the pre-dawn hours.  These are the result of iridium communication satellites  (which are about the size of a  mirrored mini van) catching the rays of the sun while it is below the horizon.  Dark down here but up at the altitude of  the orbiting satellites, it is a different story.

Read more about iridium flares HERE

I use a website called Heavens Above to forecast the times and locations they can be seen.  These coordinates and using a hand held GPS makes it pretty easy.  Make sure the clock you are using is set to the world clock because they only last about 20 seconds or so!  Photographing them is a fun challenge and is a great way to pass the time until the next significant weather event.

Here are some shots from August 28th and 29th in and near Buffalo, MN

That weak boundary and some steep lapse rates made for a fun backyard chase this evening which ended with a beautiful shelf cloud near Rogers and some much needed rain in western Hennepin and Wright counties.  More pictures can be found on OUR WEBSITE.

A family activity took us up to Grand Rapids over this past weekend.  With the storm season winding down and with such a slow stretch as of late, a solar wind hitting the earth's was a welcome sight.  Personally, this was the best aurora I have seen since December 2006.  If you look closely in some of the pics, you will see a few Perseid meteors also (which peaks tonight ).  Looks live meteor watching will be tough with the thickening cloud deck today and the good chance of rain tonight and early tomorrow morning during the best viewing time.  The meteors will be visible for several more days as the earth passes through the tail of the Tuttle comet so there will still be chances to look to the northeast to see a few of these. More images can be see HERE.

Obviously the big story on the Minnesota weather scene was the EF3 tornado in Willmar, but  there was also a handfull of tornadoes in the northwestern part of the state near Waubun, Fosston, and Frazee, MN.  I chased the cell from Rothsay,MN to near Wolf Lake, MN where the supercell did put down a brief, weak tornado near Frazee (the picture below):



Many more pictures from the chase can be seen HERE

What a beautiful ending to a spectacular chase day.




Bill