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Last Updated on Monday, 04 January 2010 23:39 Written by Roger Hill

2005

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April 10 was a day I wouldn't soon forget. We had to leave Denver early to escape a raging blizzard. We were able to get out in front of it and into the warm sector under sunny skies. This was a tough day forecast wise for me as it looked like the dryline bulge would be the place to play. We later discovered too much dry air and a perpendicular orientation of the mid level winds to the dryline would cause the storms to form in a line instead of discreet supercells. Too much dry air never let the storm updrafts get organized for long periods. Later we also found out about the tornadoes in Trego county, to our north. We had actually taken off from the Pratt area to head back north and play that spot, but changed our minds. Live and learn. Thank goodness it is early season! I hope you enjoy the photos below!

Highly sheared towers exploding along the dryline near Bucklin, Kansas.	Towers continue to build, providing nice photo opportunities.
Roger on phone, and Tim, checking out the sheared over towers ingesting dry air.	Nice fat mid level funnel forms attesting to the shear.
First storm forms and tries to organize.	Hail falls to 1" in diameter west of Pratt.
Spooky funnel extends halfway to the ground from the tornado warned   updraft base.	Clear slot forms attesting to the strong RFD evident. This came close to producing a tornado here.
Multiple updrafts with a nice rainbow. Storms quickly formed linear modes.	My wife Caryn and I watching the show.
Rock hard convection on a storm near Great Bend that was severe.	Tim and I facing the reality of the blizzard that hit eastern Colorado with up to 2 feet of snow and 10 foot high drifts!