5/18/2009 - End of Trip 1

Sunday and Monday were "down" days (again) for chasing -- we spent time touring areas of Wisconsin, including the University of Wisconsin and the cities of Madison and Milwaukee. We sampled many, many small-batch craft beers at the Great Dane Brewing Co. in Madison, as well as beers from one of the largest brewers in the world -- Miller in Milwaukee.

Animation of our tour of the Miller brewing facility in Milwaukee.

The sun sets over the Wisconsin State Capitol -- view from our hotel in Madison.

My first trip into the Plains for 2009 has come to a close and although Ma' Nature failed to produce the ingredients necessary for widespread tornado activity during the trip, it was a still a lot of fun and featured sharing some very picturesque storms with great friends.

A geographic summary of Trip 1. Numbers indicate overnight stops, in sequential order.

If the models are correct, this will be the SPC forecast for the upcoming week or two or ... three?

I was planning to chase this upcoming week or so, but the pattern is simply abysmal and will feature little if any widespread severe storm opportunities anywhere in chaseable terrain. I will for sure be back in the Plains beginning May 29th, when I will lead a College of DuPage 10-day storm chase tour. Here's to hoping the weather pattern will shift back into a May-June mode rather than this March-kinda-wanna-be-August mode it is in currently.