Day 3 recap

Yesterday had such promise.

That's why it didn't work out. ;)

We hung out around Rapid City for most of the day, as the moisture was collecting there and convergence was very evident, as seen as a fine line of reflectivity on the RADAR. Towers were going up pretty vigorously in the area and we figured it was just a matter of time.

Towers went up just by us and we started out. The lead one died and we figured, okay, the one behind it will dominate. Which it did.

For about 20 minutes. In that 20 minutes, though, the character of the sky changed dramatically. It went from full of towering cumuli to clear with a few stable-looking altostratus bits. It was quite amazing to watch.

When we saw that, we knew the big storm potential was over: cap bust. Still, storms were moving into South Dakota from Nebraska, and we decided to target one of them. It produced an all right shelf, not as spectacular as the ones we have already seen on the trip.

We settled in for the night in Chadron, Nebraska.