Great Plains Tornado Tours: August 2008

As a storm chaser and a person who has a strong interest in weather and severe weather especially, I always kindof hope that I find severe weather if i'm out chasing, or if i'm at home in Omaha, I hope that something hits Omaha directly. I know that's not a nice thing to hope for because someone will end up with property damage of some sort or be without power for a long time, etc. But hey I can't help it, it's what interests me!! Anyways, at the beginning of June there was the tornado that directly hit southwest Omaha in a relatively small area, and then at the end of June, there was this severe bow echo that directly effected the whole city and ended up being a "once in every 10 year event". I was at home around 4 pm when my weather radio went for a new severe tstorm watch. I was surprised as it seemed like a nice day out and didn't really seem like the weather wanted to do anything. there was a slight risk however, so the chance was there. I checked the radar and there was a relatively small cell out by Columbus, NE that was warned for small hail and 60 mph winds. the storm was moving southeast directly towards omaha. as the storm continued southeast it began to strengthen and expand and eventually bow out. soon warnings were coming out around fremont, which is 40 miles northwest of omaha, for golf ball sized hail and 80 mph winds! the warnings for omaha came out almost an hour before the storm was going to blow through which ended up being around 530 or so. they actually sounded the sirens too for just a severe tstorm warning, which was a change of policy after the tornado that came through at the beginning of the month of June. during that storm there was no tornado warning issued in advance of the tornado being on the ground so despite there being emergency calls coming in and tornado like damage occurring, there was no sirens blowing until the weather service actually issued a tornado warning. back to this days storm, i set up my video camera out in the driveway to capture the storm rolling in. i thought about going somewhere where i would have a better view of the western horizon, but didn't want to be caught outside for this storm and besides i did have a decent view to the west from my driveway. unfortunately i didn't have my digital camera at home so i could only record video. anyways the sirens went off some 20 minutes before the storm even hit and then again just as it was coming into town. it was very impressive at my house where it wasn't even the worse. from northwest to west central omaha through midtown and downtown and southeast omaha received the stongest winds and damage. winds were estimated at 90-115 mph in spots!! 126,000 OPPD customers lost power right after the storm. at our place in millard(southwest omaha) we didn't lose power and i would estimate winds at 60-70 mph. i brought my video camera in right before the storm hit and continued to record from inside the house during the storm. my fiance sarah was working at the keystone pool in northern omaha and i wanted to make sure she was alright, but couldn't get a hold of her because the cell phone network was overloaded with calls. i decided to drive out there and what would normally be a 15 minute drive turned into an hour drive because all the traffic lights were out and it was just after rush hour. sarah and i drove through midtown and then went up to her sisters in northern omaha. there they still had pea sized hail in drifts some 3 hours after the storm had passed! we took mainly video and some pics although it was starting to get dark. on the way home we found the most severe damage around 132nd and maple. there were numerous power poles snapped at the base, stoplights blown down, and a gas station had its canopy ripped off. i went back out there the next morning to get some pics. it was truly an impressive storm. unfortunately 2 teenagers died in council bluffs when a tree fell on a car. there was also a concert just getting under way in memorial park but luckily there were able to evacuate almost everyone, and it was early enough that most of the expected 40-50,000 people weren't there yet. i've included links to the damage surveys done by the nws as well. you might have to scroll down a bit on the pages to see the info from the links

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=oax&storyid=16345&source=2
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=oax&storyid=16339&source=2
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=oax&storyid=16416&source=2

some amazing youtube videos from the storm:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdvVVLL2oCE&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFF19P23YJE

MY VIDEO THAT I TOOK FROM MY HOUSE!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pbcHttRU4c