Saturday 13th May 2023 - Iowa (Slight Risk)

We started today in NW Iowa after our amazing chase day in Nebraska on the 12th. SPC highlighted a 5% Tornado risk over the Des Moines area and a 2% over our target in NW Iowa nearer to the Surface Low, once again Low Topped Cold Core Tornadoes were on tap and we were within 25 miles of where everything happened today. After a nice breakfast next door to our Super 8 Hotel we ventured North to Storm Lake and watched the first Storm of the day become Tornado Warned, these storms are really ground hugging and this one was so low we could hardly make out the base. After another 20 minutes we finally saw a wall cloud and a brief touchdown occured SW of Storm Lake verified by video from chasers closes than us on dirt roads. We then played drive at velocity couplets for most of the day skipping between each Tornado warned Supercell, I lost count of the number of storms we intercepted but we ended the day with 3 Tornadoes all at close range, the closest being a few hundred yards away in a field. I really am becoming a fan of these cold core set-ups and hope to chase many more in the future, they are small 25k feet storms but wow do they spin and produce some lovely Tornadoes.

Tour 1 are now onto 10 Tornadoes for their 10 day trip. A great tour to be on!

Some Pics below