Chase Day (Departure)

Models early this afternoon are rather consistent and keep the frontal boundary a bit further west. Mesoanalysis and obs currently indicated the development of that pre-frontal trough I was wishing for - only a bit further west than I had anticipated.

A few positives:
- convection that's fired up early today has an outflow boundary pushing west through east-central ND currently...
- LFC's are progressively dropping over southeastern portions of the state and this should continue to the northwest along instability axis
- EHI's still looking fairly good across eastern third of the state by 21z.

Still think I'd have to drive pretty far to get into the better mid-level flow over north-central and western areas of the state, but think that this will improve with time to the east. Better deep-layer shear out there as well.

Will be departing over the next half-hour with an initial target of around the Hwy 281 and Hwy 2 junction, or near Churchs Ferry. Highway 281 will give me a good north-south option with Hwy 2 allowing me easy access to east-west options.

It's looking like I'll be going solo as the 'partners' have seemingly backed out on me. So, that's affecting my westward extent. That is, unless someone calls me within the next half-hour or so.

Stay tuned...