Minto, ND Supercell - July 7, 2008

Despite a relatively slow chase season in 2008 and nearly nonexistant one in 2009 I fell way behind getting my storm summaries written. Fortunately I have a solid memory and could probably retrace my route from just about any chase even those from the Nebraska days. I recall watching the radar on this day and thinking what the heck, I might as well take the drive down to Hillsboro and see what the storm looks like. Upon getting to Hillsboro I hear on the NWR of a tornado warning for Walsh County (the opposite direction I was travelling). I'm thinking what the hell, I should have stayed home. I did a quick flip on the diamond interchange and headed back north. I knew the Walsh County storm would be on borrowed time once it made it to the extreme eastern portion of the county as the atmosphere was quite stable there per some pre-chase analysis. From a distance the storm looked like it had a decent punch but as I drew closer it did not look quite so exciting. I opted to hit the exit just north of the Oslo exit and park next to my favorite bridge. This bridge is probably used just a few times a day and offers great views to the north and south. Low LCL was evident and one spot under the storm looked a little lower than the rest. I focused on this area as it slowly crossed I-29 from west to east. Once across the freeway a well defined RFD notch could be seen but a few minutes later the storm quickly disolved in stable air.

 

Heading back north toward tornado warned storm located in Walsh County. I was a good 50 miles south of the storm at this point.. The storm to my south between Hillsboro and Fargo was weakening rapidly.


Low clouds to my northwest. There was visible weak rotation.


Area of rotation crossing I-29.


Left: Area of rotation crossing I-29. Right: Apparent RFD notch east of I-29. Right: A few minutes later looking east of I-29 at apparent RFD notch.


Perhaps the best photo of the day. An interesting feature center-left. Perhaps some semblence of a funnel, perhaps junk. The storm quickly lost any noteworthy atributes after this photo was taken.

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