‘The day of the shelfie'

AccuWeather meteorologist Tony Laubach breaks down his severe storm chase from South Dakota into Iowa on Aug. 5.

Transcript

00:00 I'm meteorologist Tony Law back in Sioux City, Iowa.

00:03 Saturday's chase was day three of this trip and it brought me into a state I was visiting

00:06 for only the first time this season.

00:09 For the first time in what felt like forever, I was chasing somewhere other than the high

00:13 plains and the day started in a state that I was chasing for the first time this year,

00:18 South Dakota.

00:19 My first target was the cell just outside of Yankton.

00:22 The storm looked a lot meaner than it actually was as I only encountered a little rain while

00:26 crossing through it in the city, but after getting a bit ahead of it, it took over the

00:30 sky with a dramatic shelf cloud as it pushed toward Iowa.

00:33 I followed the now developing line into northwest Iowa.

00:36 Staying ahead of it was rather easy thanks to the slow movement, but that meant some

00:39 flooding issues.

00:41 Earlier storms in the same area left behind a lot of water here in Sioux Center, with

00:45 some streets closed as high water lingered.

00:50 Back to the south I went and for the second time I was watching another dramatic shelf

00:53 cloud from another outflow dominant storm.

00:56 The storm was now part of a longer line of storms that arced back toward Sioux City, so

01:00 I followed the front of that line southwest into town.

01:06 Heavy rain greeted me as I arrived, but just as quickly as I drove into it, the storm moved

01:11 out, leaving the clouds to flash away as the sun set on another chase day.

01:17 With that particular cloud feature on such prominent display yesterday, Saturday's chase

01:21 became known as the day of the shelfie, and of course I had to oblige by taking a selfie

01:26 in front of that shelfie.

01:28 Today is a travel day heading back west toward Colorado, where I will be setting up for a

01:32 couple of days early this week for more severe weather in the high plains.

01:36 Reporting from Sioux City, Iowa for AccuWeather, I'm meteorologist Tony Laubach.