Beatrice was overcast and cool first thing in the morning. SPC showed better chances for storms into southern KS, so we needed to get south in a hurry. We left, driving through Gage, Jefferson, and Thayer counties along US-136, and then turning south on US-81. Through KS, I picked up Republic, Cloud, Ottawa, Saline, McPherson, and Reno counties. In McPherson, we picked up some internet and confirmed that we needed to head south or southwest. We opted to go southwest, as we wanted to avoid Wichita if at all possible. We took KS-61 through Hutchinson to the town of Pratt, KS. Here, we met up with Bobby and a bunch of other storm chase crews.
Pratt was sunny with plenty of vertical development in the cumulus field to the south and west. Rather than producing discrete cells, a nasty line had formed almost immediately. Rather than take our chances, we both parked under a bank ATM overhang and awaited the oncoming hail.
Two vehicles parked under a bank overhang on Memorial Day. I guess that was suspicious, as several police officers showed up to insure that we were not breaking into the bank. We chatted with them for a few, showed them some radar images and told them what we thought was coming. They were very polite and professional, and were happy to see the current radar images. They bid us farewell and we turned our attention to the approaching line, which had weakened significantly.
Convinced that the hail threat had diminished, we headed south along US-281. At Sawyer, Bobby headed east along KS-42, and we continued south to Medicine Lodge, under a weakening line and sunny skies to the west. Busted day.