Forecasting and Intercepting the 28 May 2013 Bennington, KS Tornadic Supercell: A Student Perspective

For the past 20 years, undergraduate students in Valparaiso University Meteorology program's Severe Convective Storms Field Study have ventured into the field and applied their classroom knowledge in a hands-on environment. The students collect data, forecast, and discern target areas for severe weather. When conditions allow, the students prepare and launch radiosondes in the pre-storm environment.

Examining the 28 May 2013 mesoscale case over north-central Kansas, this project will focus on the step-by-step process from a student perspective. The project describes the tools, models, parameters, and observations used to determine the focus for the day, including a classic loaded-gun sounding measured and observed by the field team. The decisions made by the team on this day placed them in position to observe an EF-4 tornado near Bennington, KS.