5-22-10 North Central South Dakota

Well the setup was looking like a gamble leading up to the 22nd, the CAP that was forecasted was fairly stong and we knew that we could bust but you can't score if you don't play. We ended up scoring big time! A total of 7 touchdowns, including a large wedge and a stovepipe.

We took off from Sioux Falls, SD at noon and headed west on I90 to our original target of Chamberlain, SD, while on the road we talked the forecast over with KELO's Meterologist team and we decided on a target of NW of Pierre, SD. After considering this new target we jumped on it and by the time we got to Pierre towers were already starting to form, we took our time and headed East on Hwy 14 towards Highmore. We got to Highmore and grabbed a little bit of food and watched those towers just explode and start to anvil. We took off north on Hwy 47 and got to Hoven, SD and the storm went tornado warned. The storm was very rapidly rotating and we knew that this one was the storm to jump on and chase until it died. We pulled off of Hwy 47 and observed the storm and we could not believe the inflow at this point, this storm had a ton of energy and was ready to go nuts. We got in the car and as soon as we got back on Hwy 47 we witnessed our first tornado, we took some gravel roads to avoid traffic issues and got 2 more quick touchdowns. We then got to Hwy 12 where we way "THE WEDGE" aka the biggest one of the day (Rated EF4) we flew west on Hwy 12 towards Bowdle, SD. When we got to Bowdle we turned off onto a gravel to get a better angle of the massive wedge, we sat there for about 3-4 min while the tornado rapidly grew and became extremely violent.

The wedge then became rain-wrapped and we decided to get East, we wen't another 5 miles east and sat about 1/2 mile north off of Hwy 12 and from there we witnessed 3 more touchdowns, 2 stovepipes, and a rain-wrapped cone.

We then continued the general Easterly path and got pounded by RFD many times. We also found a new "Bob's road" aka CO Rd 13 right next to Richmond Lake, NW of Aberdeen, SD. I highly recommend that nobody ever drive on that road! I need not explain, just trust me, stay off of it!
We then played the gust front for a little bit while it was getting dark because the updraft area was so wrapped in rain it wouldn't be safe to be in at this point. Along the gust we witnessed many funnels.

Overall it was a great and very sucessful chase, we scored 7 out of 8 reported tornados. Who knew a CAP bust possibility could succeed so well? Credits to Greg Rardin for the photos, I was busy with the video camera.


Links for the video: Part 1  Part 2