May 7, 2005 North Platte, CO

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Mileage: 750 miles Chasers: Verne Carlson Left Denver at 8:00am, drove to Ogallala, NE and check data. A MD said that the best chances for tornadoes were along the warm front in SD. I headed to North Platte and drove through town around a road block for a soapbox derby race. Headed north on HW83 as a Tornado warning was issued in Arapaho County, CO! Talked to Tony who was heading that way. The area north on 83 quickly turns remote as you head into the sand hills where there is no cell phone service and weather radio. I could see that the cells at the end of each line were the most intense so I turned around and headed back to North Platte. As I neared the town the storm intensified as I tryed to get through town and out of the rain that started falling. Drove as fast as I could east of town to escape golf ball size hail that left weird streaks all over my car. Never did see any tornadoes, the storm was just too rain wrapped. Headed to the south of town and watched the cell that had started as tornado warned in Yuma county, CO pass over with a nice rain free base. Headed home at 4:30pm and got to Ft. Collins, CO and met Amanda at her hotel for the night.