Flint Hills time is good time spent—here, quality over quantity. Alas, we were in the area only a short bit, thanks to fading twilight and hunger for dinner in nearby Topeka, where we had reserved rooms after a fruitful round of tornado observing to the west, earlier in the day. Sequential attempts to intercept additional supercells—storms that had developed farther east and south in the growing aggregation—mostly resulted in either messy, non-photogenic storms, or in this case, a supercell that shriveled away south of Manhattan (KS), right as we got to it. Regardless, the storm’s outflow arc, and the shelf cloud that marked it, persisted well after the storm didn’t. I was grateful. This marked a pretty conclusion to the chase day, as the boundary receded eastward into a peaceful Flint Hills twilight. The landscapes and skyscapes in this area never cease to captivate me, always leaving a mark of desire to return, again and again.
4 NNW Alta Vista KS (28 May 19) Looking NE
38.9136, -96.5201Twilight Arcus from Behind (Flint Hills)
Flint Hills time is good time spent—here, quality over quantity. Alas, we were in the area only a short bit, thanks to fading twilight and hunger for dinner in nearby Topeka, where we had reserved rooms after a fruitful round of tornado observing to the west, earlier in the day. Sequential attempts to intercept additional supercells—storms that had developed farther east and south in the growing aggregation—mostly resulted in either messy, non-photogenic storms, or in this case, a supercell that shriveled away south of Manhattan (KS), right as we got to it. Regardless, the storm’s outflow arc, and the shelf cloud that marked it, persisted well after the storm didn’t. I was grateful. This marked a pretty conclusion to the chase day, as the boundary receded eastward into a peaceful Flint Hills twilight. The landscapes and skyscapes in this area never cease to captivate me, always leaving a mark of desire to return, again and again.
4 NNW Alta Vista KS (28 May 19) Looking NE
38.9136, -96.5201