September 17, 2022 Supercell

Leech Lake (Minnesota)

There was a slight risk of severe storms, including supercells capable of producing tornadoes, so the SPC had a 5% tornado contour around parts of northern Minnesota. Given that it was late in the season, and I might not have an opportunity to chase until Spring, I decided I should try to find what I could. Additionally, it was a Saturday, so it was a good day to do something fun. I had some things to do at Mt Itasca in the morning, and when that was finished, I headed back home, charged up, then drove southwest to where I thought storm initiation would occur.

The 1630 UTC SPC Day 1 outlook with overlain storm reports.

The tornado probability graphic for the 1630 UTC Day 1 outlook. There were no tornadoes reported.

This brought me to Park Rapids. When I arrived at Park Rapids, towers were going up to the southwest, and radar echoes were beginning to present themselves. I drifted south to Menahga, then came back north and watched a small cell approach. It had a decent shape, good separation between the rain and the updraft base, and it may even have had a little bit of a rear flank downdraft (RFD), but the storm was struggling a bit. It was not strengthening very quickly.

First storm develops south of Park Rapids, MN.

A cluster of storms gradually took shape to my north, so I drove back to Park Rapids and drifted northeastward from there. The multiple storms were now consolidating into one dominant storm north of Park Rapids. I targeted this storm as it became severe-warned, and I came up to the updraft base just north of Emmaville. There, it featured a wall cloud with some slow, low-level rotation. I began to follow it east, but the storm drifted across the Paul Bunyan State Forest, and I would have to drop back south and take a county road southeast. This took me away from the updraft base. This was okay because the storm lost a bit of its organization as I drove away from it.

I got back to Highway 34 and turned back east-northeast to try to get back within view of the updraft base. Finally, between Akeley and Walker, I was able to stop at a trailhead parking lot and snap a couple pictures of the storm. It looked pretty healthy again. I decided to get back in front of it if I could.

Co Rd 87 and MN Hwy 34 between Walker and Akeley, looking north.

I parallelled the storm over to Walker and took the road on the south side of town past the sewage treatment plant. The plant was located on a hill south of town, so there was a pretty decent view from there. The storm came back into view with a decent wall cloud and a collar cloud around the main updraft base. I sat here for a while, took some stills, and attempted a time lapse (all set up except I forgot to hit the record button).

South of Walker, MN as the storm was about to cross Leech Lake.

The storm shows som interesting features at low levels.

With the updraft base now getting a slight bit east of me, I decided to head east to Whipolt, where there was a nice view to the north and across Leech Lake. The storm would track right across this great view! I dove east and set up a timelapse. I also took quite a few stills of the storm. Aaron Jayjack and I watched this storm for about 30 minutes from the Whipolt beach.

The LP storm viewed from the wayside rest at Whipolt on the south side of Leech Lake.

Strung out but still with a wall cloud.

Persistent as it slowly moves from southwest to northeast.

Last image from Whipolt.

After our viewing, I took off to the northeast (closer to home), and Aaron drifted back south to another strengthening storm. The sun set, and I had a harder time following the storm visually as the sky around me became mostly overcast. I followed the activity northeastward toward Deer River where radar showed I had another chance at intercepting the storm. However, it was beginning to lose its supercellular characteristics. I continued past Deer River on Highway 6 and turned east on County Road 19, which took me east to the land bridge between Deer Lake and Moose Lake. I set up a tripod pointing north over Moose Lake and took a few pictures of the storm as it transitioned into more of an outflow-dominant storm. After a few pictures, I headed home. Other storms had developed farther southwest and were now approaching Grand Rapids. I arrived home just as these storms hit. That ended the chase for me.

Storm crosses north of Moose Lake, north of Deer River, MN .

My route for the day. 248 miles.

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