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<br />..-...~ <br /> <br />,~) . <br />M~Y",.~i!.1::t:1(\OPERATIONAL DAY #4: AllTID'3t all the cDndl1~lDns HE:>re pr'e~;"nt <br />. t.lw:s' da.y for the development of very severe storms: lov{-level GuJ r <br />moisture~hich surged across SW Kansas into an intensifying surface <br />lo'{')\)l*"'$\5ti,"C center in S. Wyominl:';. potr,>ntiblly high atlnospherJc <br />insta.bi}~1:,>j'0:)strong shQar. and convcrg<>llcG in the lower levt!l.s Df the <br />~1;l!n"J€!J.f'~.'"! '~,."." fasL-'IIJUvIlw Un):>8r trouc'h I'I"a :o;1:rm1>' j,ot Gtrcam winds. <br />....' l-V~l;~~-... a J;" Po' <br />\10\T P< . ^n . <br />("e....' J.. <br />Around 3:45 p.m. ,MDT. two cloud base planes wBre senl tuward <br />Greeley County to seed a newly developins storm In a.Central Kiowa <br />County (Colorado). It moved quickly NE at an estimated speed of 65 <br />mph and the planes Were unable to set to it befer. it had moved almost <br />out of the. tarset area, No :Baedi ng wa.'5 done. At the sZlrue t irue till <br />earl!.er severe storm from Texas had moved up through the Oklahoma <br />Panhandle pointing towal"a Sewar'd County. Tl1e other tHO a!.l'craft Here <br />launchad at 4:22 p.m. to go to that sterm; the original first two <br />planes airborne '"ere re-directed to the [;eHard storm at 4: ~~8 p. m. <br />This storm Has moving extremely fast.. --,,,around 60 rnph!! <br /> <br />:J <br /> <br />Seeding began on the f3torm at 4: 58 p. Ill. vrhile it was in Nil Seward <br />Co.: however, it quickly sliced the SE part of Haskell County and <br />raced NE across Gray County and the towm of eiman-on, as well I>S NW <br />Ford County. Golfbal1.-si;>:8 haU, i'lS w(>l1. as sID7.U.er ha1.1 and rain, <br />was reported by pIlotc,;. Thel-e \'IQI"e at least tWD embeddod ar"as within <br />the total storm complex whi.ch W0r", \lnablo to \>0 !':.ceded and produced <br />radar intensities indIcating strong crop-da.maging hail potenti.a].. Th8 <br />storm soon moved out of the target area and seeding ended at 5:54 p.ro. <br /> <br />Around 7:20 p.m. a visually .tron~-lookinR, new storm began <br />tfuilcHng within a weak NE-8W line laying aer.uss Wichita County. Eo.secl <br />on that obs,,~"vatj,on, two planes were scrambled for seeding. It was <br />believed at fll'st that the stann I./Uuld also IUt)ve NE Clut of the target <br />at high speed. However, post-analysis shows that the storm development <br />during this period produce'd the! ma.xl mum j nteno:;i.t.y atarms of the day <br />and was asooclated with an upper trou5h passbee in pro8ress at that <br />tlmlil. InstRiHl. llRW nRJ'J" w1t111l1 1:hp JJllP J1u111: furthRr Rn1Jt.hwf?ffit into <br />Kel;\J'ny County becoming a solid line of severe storms therebfter moving <br />eastward: individually, those cells then moved BB up the line. The <br />oth",r two planas were scrambled for seeding- when this intensLfication <br />was recognized. Hinder-ins OUr seeding performallce were moderate to <br />5l<;!vere turbulenoe, poor nighttime visibIlity, but ItlZiinly the embedded'" <br />n''!'IS of ",evere storms.d,mseveral of which could not be seeded at all. <br />let alone seeded px'of1",rI.Y, Event'JF.\lly. aU a!.n:Taft wen~ So(!,i~ng 50m~ <br />ot the storms, partioularly the southern ptlI't over Finney, Scott and <br />Lane counties. Cloud base seeding ended around 9,20 p.m. in extreme <br />ea5tern Finney County; the cloud top plane continued a short while <br />longer then patrolled the line as it passed throu5h Hodgeman County. <br />I"ord County was unaffected by 1..118 8eccln<;\ "'erl.es of e;tonll8. <br /> <br />Radar indicated hail-bearing storms most likely moved across parts <br />of Wichita, Kearny, Scutt, La"~ ~nrt Flnney counties. Particularly <br />worst hit by hall this second storm episode appeared to be Lane County <br />then Scott and FInney counties. <br /> <br />-((/~: ((l~', ~U., ,.-./!c:~~!~-2) <br />, f~ ,.//~.., <br />Curtis D. .'Omitrl <br />Proj eet Manager, <br />WiZ~$tt~l~n Kansas Weather Mad 1. f il~FlT {I'm <br />