July29th Aitkin County Minnesota

Evidently chase vehicles and chase partners appear to be the best bait as we bake in a 97 degree temp with a dewpoint of 77.  Yuck.

Michelle Parker, David Drufke and I wait for the cap to break in Wahpeton, ND in the shadow of this huge catfish next to the Red River.

Yes, 2006 has been a stressful chase season for me!

Once storms did fire, we got in the hook of the Aitkin county cell as this huge wall cloud came spinning at us fom the northwest.  View is looking west as we sit in the bear's cage.  Hail was just northeast of us thankfully.

Strong inflow winds at our back as we watch it pass.  The image on the right shows it starting to tighten up with some type of lowering in the middle.  There was no tornado on this storm to the best of our knowledge.

Car passing in from the camera messing up my shot.  Look at the stinger to the left of the sign.

This is what the cell looed like as we started shooting.  The hook passed right over us.

Old meso occludes as a new one forms on the back of the cell.  Note inflow tags overhead.

Lowering really wrapping up.  Note clear slot and scud tags being inhaled off the ground.

This also gets undercut and looses its organization as we head south and call it a night.

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