Randy Baker,
Phil Kurimski,
Mark Rader,
Kris White,
Zack, Nick, and Tom
Target:
Grand Island, NE
Distance:
386 miles
Duration:
10 hours
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Partners: Randy Baker, Phil Kurimski, Mark Rader, Kris White, Zack, Nick, and Tom Target: Grand Island, NE Distance: 386 miles Duration: 10 hours |
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Convection continued to our east from the overnight hours. Our target area was mostly cloud covered during the morning hours. A dry line across central Nebraska seemed like a good bet, as it would provide convergence needed for convection during the afternoon. We headed north on 183 out of Hays, Kansas then east on I-80 in Nebraska. As the skies cleared during the early afternoon, and cumulus clouds developed along the dry line, we were psyched for a good chase day. After the tornado watch was issued we were optimistic that we would see some supercells with tornadoes. We quickly got east of the dryline in Aurora then went further back west to get close to the dry line as the cumulus clouds were more pronounced along the boundary. Storms started to blow up to the north, and we quickly took highway 281 to chase the developing storms on the dryline.
One of the southern cells became very strong and briefly exhibited shear, so we decided we would chase this storm to its end. With the storms moving Northeast at 40 to 50 mph it became difficult, but we managed to stay with it as we followed it to Wolbach, Fullerton and Tilden. As we followed the storm it exhibited great structure and was very photogenic, with a much higher contrast than we experienced the last few days. As we stopped south of Tilden to admire the storm, we noticed a low rotating cloud south of town. This lowering became very pronounced and developed a funnel cloud that extended more than halfway to the ground at 6 pm. The town sounded the tornado sirens as the funnel cloud passed over the town, but it did not appear to touch down.
This would be the best we would get from the storm. We continued to get some great shots of the persistent wall cloud as the storm continued on its northeast track. We followed the storm to Vermillion, South Dakota until 8 pm. With the storm quickly dissipating and no structure left we called off the chase and spend the night in Sioux City, Iowa.
 Storm initiation west of Grand Island, NE |
 A mesocyclone develops between Albion and Tilden, NE |
 Funnel cloud over Tilden, NE |
A closer shot of the funnel cloud over Tilden, NE |
 The storm north of Tilden, NE |
 Yet another developing wall cloud |
 Nice storm structure just south of the Missouri River |
 Sunset over the Missouri River south of Vermillion, SD |