June 1, 2018

Statistics

Initial Target

Start

End

Storm Intercepts

Tornadoes

Hail

Wind

Features

Miles

Dickinson, ND

Bismarck, ND 10:09 AM 6/1/2018

Mobridge, SD 10:54 PM 6/1/2018

Bismarck, ND

0 mph

Mammatus

432

Summary

Cold front tornado play in western and central ND. Targeted Dickinson for discrete supercells, but missed early tornadoes. Caught elevated and HP storms near Bismarck later followed by pretty mammatus display over the ND/SD border.

Crew and Equipment

Chase partners: Jennifer Brindley Ubl, Phil Bates, Anton Seimon, Tracie Seimon. Equipment: Sony AX100, Canon 60D, Samsung S7 Edge.

Video

Map

Details

Friday, June 1 looked like a decent shot at a tornado over western North Dakota where discrete supercells were forecast to erupt along a nw to se boundary. We targeted Dickinson and left Bismarck after breakfast.

Finding Phil's Phone
6 miles N of Glen Ullin, ND
11:22 AM

We stopped along the way to retrieve Phil's iPhone, which he had dropped on the road the previous day while we were shooting a weak QLCS tornado. Miraculously the phone still worked even after being driven over and stormed on all night. The "Find My iPhone" app was still pinging the phone's location the next morning.

Circulation
2 miles NW of Bismarck, ND
6:16 PM

We got lunch in Dickinson and awaited our play. Storms reupted to our north and quickly tracked north in the meridional flow. We missed a few tornadoes as the storms tracked away from us while we awaited a Tail End Charlie play. That turned out to be the only real tornado play of the day unfortunately. We headed back to Bismarck (where we had started our day) to catch new development coming up from the south. This activity quickly congealed, however. Anton spotted this elevated looking circulation, which had displayed some weak rotation, but it filled in with rain and fell apart as it tracked overhead.

We dove south hoping for a Tail End Charlie play. This blocky lowering came into view, but the storms again quickly congealed and filled in with rain.

Mammatus
McLaughlin, SD
8:46 PM

We called the chase when the storms transitioned permanently into an MCS mode. We booked a room at lodge west of Mobridge, SD for the night. The drive down to South Dakota was gorgeous though.

The sun was setting when we got to the Grand River Casino and Resort. We setup for time lapse and video shots of the mammatus display.

Pink Mammatus
4 miles WNW of Mobridge, SD
9:21 PM

Pink Mammatus
4 miles WNW of Mobridge, SD
9:27 PM

Conclusion

We missed a few tornadoes and the supercells were pretty lackluster so I'm chalking this one up as a bust. We scored some nice mammatus time lapse sequences at the end of the day, and that evening drive through South Dakota was magical.

Lessons Learned

Enjoy photographing evening stormscapes and mammatus displays to make up for missed tornadoes and lackluster chasing.

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