March 13

Just after I finished the severe weather graphic for our school TV broadcast channel on the morning of March 13 while training another student how to do weather graphics and green screen; she nailed it!

Getting my friends Jacob, Justin, Ethan, and Kaden together for a pre-chase team photo.

Headed west on I-70 looking south towards downtown Kansas City as the atmosphere continues to destabilize.

Chaser convergence happening at QuikTrip in Bonner Springs, Kansas.

Showing my "spaghetti" forecast sheets of the day to a very impressed storm chaser John Hale, hoping to target near Topeka, KS.

Us and some other storm chasers examining data to pinpoint storm initiation and best target areas.

After partially convincing the team to head west, we wound up in Lawrence, KS, and hung out and goofed off as we waited for storms to develop.

Storm initiation beginning just to our south.

Radar presentation of thunderstorm development near Lawrence.

Anvils of supercell initiation further west. These cells would go on to produce the photogenic Alta Vista, Kansas tornado.

Storm base begins to organize and become more robust.

Non-tornadic shear funnel not attached to a mesocyclone, but rather the base of a cumulus.

Impressive cumulonimbus towers continuing to erupt to the east.

Radar presentation of the supercell initiation at 7:04 pm.

Breathtaking cumulonimbus updraft as the anvil develops "backshear".

Incredible supercell updraft beginning to develop a back-sheared anvil to the east of our location over Linwood, KS.

Radar presentation at 7:21 pm of the merging severe storms as travel east on I-70.

Alarming feature above us under the storm's base on I-70. Presumably a wall cloud.

A scud cloud to our north grabs our attention, but quickly fades away.

Hail core of the storm on top of I-70 dead ahead.

Goliath supercell sitting over Kansas City, Kansas on radar at 7:47 pm with a broad meso, making us watch for a tornado.

View of the extremely heavy rain and hail core sitting over Bonner Springs, Kansas at 8:01pm. The storm is currently dumping hail near softball size in Shawnee, Kansas. The supercell's wall cloud can be seen on the bottom right, as well as the Rear Flank Downdraft and back of the Forward Flank on the central left of the frame.

Attempted long-exposure of the storm pushing east. Some team members grow frustrated about not being further west for the Alta Vista tornado.

Monster hail core of the storm passes through the north KC metro, less than a mile south of my house.

The supercell thunderstorm gets a "destructive severe" tag for giant hail as it plunges through Kansas City.

Hail map for the evening of March 13th showing the path of the major hail storm through the Kansas City Metro.