Off-day

On our off day we decided to head north to reposition ourselves for upslope convection tomorrow in northeastern Colorado. On our way we drove to Wakita, Oklahoma where we saw tornado damage from the tornado seen earlier this week by Tom Skilling. This damage was quite impressive from the multi-vortex tornado. Once we made it into town we stopped to see the Twister Movie Museum. The museum was open on request by dialing a number. When we called a little old lady came up and opened the museum for us.

We all signed in and put a push pin in the board where we were from. There were people from every continent! Including Antarctica! It is amazing to see how many people come to this small town in Northern Oklahoma to see this hole in the wall museum. They built false fronts on all the buildings in town and tore them down during the movie. Also, the locals did not like Helen Hunt (apparently she was not a pleasant lady) but they all loved Bill Paxton. He even played baseball with the local kids.

After the tour we went to Alva, Oklahoma for a storm chase tradition Pizza Hut Lunch Buffet. While we were here we decided our next stop was Greensburg, Kansas.

In 2005 an EF5 tornado hit Greensburg tornado and completely destroyed 90 percent of the town. Five years later it was eye-opening to see the damage still present and the bare foundations, but it was also good to see the town rebuilding from scratch and also rebuilding as a totally "green" town.
The only building left standing after the tornado was this grain tower on the north side of town.


Notice the lack of trees in the background. None are any taller than 20 feet, and those just have new growth on them or are dead.

Next we left to the north to Monument National Park in Central Kansas. These geological features were randomly in the center of the Kansas Plains, and made for a beautiful stop and site to see. We even saw a few antelope!




We are now back to our hotel and we all went out to eat at local resturants. It is always good to eat at the local places where we can generate some revenue for these towns which at times are really struggling to get by. After some time in the hot tub it is not time for bed.

Goodnight. Tomorrow we will be chasing upslope in Northeast Colorado. I will post on Twitter, but i will not be able to blog. We should see some excellent structure, and possibly even a spin up under a storm. I will keep you posted.