I’ve been wanting to get out and chase for a while now.  Today was looking like the best day I could go out this week, but the action appeared to be heading into the Nebraska Panhandle and I just didn’t want to make that drive for what appeared to be a mediocre risk.  After pondering if I should go out or not, at about 2:30pm I decided to call it off for the day; unless by some lucky reason I could find a close to home cell.

About 3pm I looked at the obs and radar and noticed a small set of cells forming just east of Colorado Springs.  Storm motion would take these cells NE and I figured I could intercept them about Limon.  As they worked their way out on the plains the dew points and shear would get better, so I figured why not; if nothing else it would shake the rust off and ensure all the equipment is still working.  So I headed out with the destination between Limon and Last Chance on Hwy 71.

The storm was moving fairly slow and I was able to take some county roads and check out the storm pass slowly by from a nice vantage point on the ridge that Hwy 71 follows.  The wind farm was directly to my SE.  I ended up moving about a mile south of Last Chance to catch up to the storm for dusk lightning shots.  The storm was fizzling out so I left it about 9:15.  About 250 miles, nearly 8 hours.  Not bad for the first chase of 2013!