Guided tour chase in central Nebraska 4/27/14



It's been a long time since I have posted on this blog! My last post from a chase was 2 years ago in 2012, but have gone several times since then. In 2012, if I remember correctly, I only went a couple of times. Last year was a little better but still only a handful of times with another slow severe weather season.

I will try to post a few pics from the last several chases I have been on. Some of my chases lately have been with who has become my regular customer Derek, whom I take out as part of my guided storm chase tours.

This post will be a recount of my chase on April 27th, again with my customer Derek.

 

This days chase ended up being a perfect example of why I love weather because you just never know what will happen. Originally, this day looked like there would be a huge outbreak of storms from Nebraska down to Louisiana. There was already a moderate risk issued for Arkansas and Missouri and the first day 1 outlook to come out had a fairly high risk of strong tornadoes and large hail with a possible upgrade to a moderate risk across eastern Nebraska. This was my original target leading up to the chase day. When I woke up that morning, it was raining and storming and it didn't stop until after noon. The rain and clouds killed all the instability and soon the outlook for severe storms for eastern Nebraska was greatly reduced.

I had a choice to make on where to go for a chase or whether to go out at all. There was a big line of storms that had formed late in the morning that didn't seem too appealing for tornado chances. This line went all the way from Iowa down into Kansas. Back to the west in western and central Nebraska, the skies were clear or clearing and the low pressure was sitting back there spinning. So if enough instability could develop there could be a decent chance of a tornado or two. I decided it would be worth the risk to head west.

Derek and I headed west down I-80 leaving Omaha about noon. We went as far as Grand Island and headed south on 281. An arc of storms had formed a line from NW to SE, southwest of Grand Island and had a few severe thunderstorm warnings with them. About the time we turned south though, one of the storms became tornado warned and soon had a confirmed tornado touchdown. We were still 30 minutes away though from being able to intercept it. We made it to Hastings, and a separate discrete cell had formed to our southeast now. Rather than try to go after the already tornado warned storm to our west we headed back east. I figured the discrete storm would have a better chance of producing a tornado and would be easier to track.

This new storm was heading due north about 10 or so miles to the west of highway 81. We made our way back to highway 81 and started to head back north with the storm paralleling it on the highway. The storm was pretty impressive looking, but nothing that looked really tornadic at all. It was occasionally producing hail as big as golf balls.

Suddenly in a matter of a couple of minutes a wall cloud formed out of nowhere. We were about 20 miles south of York now. This low hanging cloud below the base of the storm continued to rapidly grow. After a few more minutes it slowly started to rotate. Soon after however it fell apart. It was from this point on though that cell suddenly became a lot more interesting as it kept trying to produce wall clouds on its path north towards I-80.

We drove into York with cell still to our northwest. Again it produced a rather low wall cloud and sure enough a brief funnel and then tornado formed near Bradshaw. We jumped west a bit out of York and took a county road north to continue paralleling it. Finally at this point the cell became tornado warned.

It still was pretty impressive on radar but appeared to be slowly weakening. However at one point there was a very strong rotation signature on radar, but the area of rotation was back in the rain in the middle of the cell. We had stopped at one point just watching the storm and taking a few pics when out of the rain a tornado appeared! We were just west of Osceola, NE. It lasted only for about 1-2 minutes before it disappeared again.

We stayed with the storm for about another 30-45 minutes longer before it continued to weaken to the point where we knew it was done producing any tornadoes. We headed back home just around Columbus, NE.

 

 

 

 

 developing wall cloud southwest of York

 wider shot of storm and developing wall cloud

 another shot of wall cloud

 storm trying to produce tornado west of York

 wall cloud and possible tornado developing west of York

 possible tornado?!

 beautiful shot of storm northwest of York

 suddenly a tornado appears out of the rain!

closer shot of brief tornado west of Osceola, NE

storm relative velocity showing tight area of rotation where the bright red and bright green are next to each other between the green triangle and the circle. tornado likely occurring at this time back in the rain

 



A quick update....

It's been a long time since I have posted here on the blog. Having a little one makes it harder to find time to do things like this!! I wanted to update the blog here briefly. First off I still chase when time and the weather allows. Last year I believe I went out about 5x or so. This year(2014) I have gone out a couple of times.
I still have my "company". I have decided not to offer group tours at this point. The logistics and everything needed to be able to do that and be successful is just too much to do at this point. However, I still am doing individual tours. I plan on continuing to take out 1-3 people at a time in my vehicle for a fee. Please contact me at greatplainstornadotours@yahoo.com if you are interested. Thanks!

Video from 4/14/12 chase!

I have edited/finished the video from the first Great Plains Tornado Tours chase last weekend! As a side note, the video was recorded in HD, so make sure you choose to watch it in HD on Youtube by clicking on the "change quality" button along the bottom of the video(looks like a flower), and selecting 1080p for the quality. Looks MUCH better! Enjoy!

Solomon, KS tornado!

First company chase! 4/14/12 Kansas tornado

This day was my first guided tour chase that I did as part of my company. Mike, my first customer, an old college buddy, Jerry, and myself headed out on what was expected to be a huge, possibly deadly tornado outbreak. A rare day 2 High risk outlook was issued for the large storm system that would be moving through the Central Plains.
We left Omaha later than we wanted to, around 230 and headed west on I-80. Morning and early afternoon thunderstorms were slow to clear out and were killing instability and also the placement of a warm front that was expected to lift north through Nebraska. We made it to York, NE and then headed south towards the Kansas border. When the atmosphere still hadn't recovered by 430, we decided to keep going south into Kansas and hopefully catch one of the intense long track tornado producing supercells that were moving northeast out of central Kansas.
One cell southwest of Salina, had a tornado on the ground for over an hour as we headed towards it and I-70. We were within 30 miles or so of the storm when it suddenly started to fall apart. We continued on though hoping to get some good structure shots at least. All of the sudden, the storm re-intensified and began to look again on radar as we approached it. The base came into view and there was a large bowl shaped funnel most of the way to the ground to our southwest near the town Solomon, KS. By the time we found a good road to pull off of the highway onto, the funnel had dissipated but a rapidly rotating wall cloud persisted.
We watched the wall cloud for a while as it slowly weakened. We wanted to get closer to the storm and saw a road a couple of miles down the road to the west off of I-70. Just as we got back to Hwy 15, the storm rapidly formed a funnel, so we stopped again to take pics and video. The funnel quickly formed into a tornado that widened into a stovepipe. We stayed there and watched it move rapidly northeast for the next 5-7 minutes or so. It started to rope out as it moved away to the north and we finally jumped down to the interstate to move back west down to the next exit. We turned north at the Solomon exit and the tornado strengthened briefly before again starting to rope out. This time it roped out for at least another 5 minutes!! It was beautiful to see! We stopped for some pics after getting closer again, waiting for it to finally die. It gave us one last cool image as the middle part of the tornado dissipated but the part along the ground persisted for another 45 seconds or so.
We then headed home as it was nearly dark and dodged some more severe storms that mainly had hail and high winds. It was a little tricky at times though as these new storms were now moving at 55-70 mph!
It was a very successful first chase, as both Mike and Jerry saw their first tornadoes ever!

rapidly rotating wall cloud near Solomon, KS

structure shot of supercell

tornado just touching the ground

Mike taking pics of his first tornado

Jerry taking pics of his first tornado

tornado strengthening

close up shot of tornado near Solomon, KS

another zoomed shot of tornado

nice shot of large tornado

tornado roping out near Talmage, KS

First post

I've decided to create a separate blog for my storm chasing company. I will post updates here in regards to the company and will also put on chase recounts from the tours we provide. I also plan on putting up some of my greatest chases here from the times that I went out not on a company chase! Hopefully, this blog will stay active!!

I'm going for it!! Great Plains Tornado Tours

Most of my closest friends and family already know this news, but I thought I would make an official post here on my blog. I have decided to try and start my own storm chasing tour company!! I'm going to offer the group tours in a van, and also individual guided tours in the customer's car or my car. It's something that I have thought about doing for years now. I feel like I finally have enough experience to be able to offer a good tour to my customers. Of course, each time I go out is another chance to learn something new from Mother Nature, so I know I will continue to learn more and more as I go out.
I'm not sure what to expect out of the company, especially at first until my name gets out there more. I'm just hoping it's something that I will be at least moderately successful and at the very least allow me to continue doing what I love, and that's to chase storms!!
Here is the address for the new site. Please feel free to leave me comments about the site, and if you or anyone is interested in any of the tours let me know. Also, pass on the address to anyone you feel might want to find out more about the tours!!

www.greatplainstornadotours.com

you can email me at the following adresses: greatplainstornadotours@yahoo.com or Jeremy@greatplainstornadotours.com

7/26/11 First July chase!

Today was a day of firsts for me. It was my first chase in July, my first tornado this season, and my first tornado in South Dakota. It had been a month since I had last gone out chasing. I normally consider my chase season done at the end of June. That's when I stop trying to plan ahead for vacation anyways. The storm pattern moves north into South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana, and it has been a pretty active month of July this year. However, I don't want to and financially can't continue to chase that far on what usually are marginal chase setups. This time of year there are more strong wind events and hail than tornadoes.
This day however showed one of the better setups in the past month. I was desperate to get out one more time, so I decided what the hell, I will go out chasing! I left Omaha about 945 in the morning, and made it up to north central S. Dakota about 430. I actually ended up in my hometown of Gettysburg waiting for initiation. I stopped by home and visited with mom for a bit, but within half an hour there was a tornado watch issued and storms were starting to form!
There were two initial cells, one southwest of Gettysburg and another northwest of Gettysburg. The cell to the southwest exploded more rapidly and as I watched it, it showed up to 3" hail on radar. The storm to my north however just kind of pulsed and never really got going at first. I was in a perfect position of being able to go after one storm and not be too far away from the other one. So I went after the first storm to my southwest. However, as I headed towards it, it weakened and by the time I intercepted it near Agar, there was only heavy rain and small hail. Also, other storms had formed to its south near Pierre that were now merging with it forming the dreaded line. I was already beginning to regret my decision to chase 7 hours from home.
I sat there as the storm moved onto the east and the storm to my north did nothing. I was treated to a cool double rainbow though and for a while an intense swirl in the clouds on the back of the storm that lasted for several minutes.
The line of storms now moving south of Gettysburg strengthened again and the storm to the north still didn't look that great on radar. However, I was getting a good look at the storm visually and it seemed like it was doing pretty good. I had to head back north a bit on Hwy 83 anyways if I wanted to go east on 212. I got to the intersection of 83/212 and decided that I would go for the storm to my north since it was by itself still. Also even though the storm wasn't that mature I could see it's base from about 15 miles away and it already had a lowering.
I approached the storm from the south as it tried to form a few wall clouds. It was in the perfect spot road network wise as well as it was right near the Hwy 20 intersection that went east and the storm was moving east as well. I would be able to follow along just to its south. It finally had a warning with it and was really looking impressive on radar. Also a large, slowly rotating wall cloud developed with it. I was sure this was going to make a large tornado!
I stopped once to get pics of the wall cloud and was right on the edge of the precip and gust front of the storm. The rotation in the clouds above me was impressive. However, I soon noticed that the wall cloud looked like it was beginning to be undercut by the cold outflow of the storm. The clouds were a bit choppy looking.
I went on ahead to the east stopping one more time just west of Hoven. I looked up almost directly above me and suddenly a small white funnel formed!! It was spinning pretty good and slowly dropped lower to the ground. I snapped some pics but didn't get any video. I realized though there was no tornado warning for the storm and it was right near the town of Hoven. I thought about trying to call the NWS, but didn't have their number so I thought it would be quicker to call 911.
I gave my report and location to the operator who had me hold while she called the sheriff. He was out spotting too and was north of town about 2 miles. He said he couldn't see anything from where he was at. I told them it wasn't a large funnel and wasn't on the ground. Right about that time though, a very intense dust whirl formed in the field in front of me, less than a quarter mile away!! I had my window open and was pretty sure I could hear the tornado!! I was caught without my video camera recording and while still on the phone tried to get some pics which turned out ok. I told the operator and sheriff what I just saw again. About this time another funnel formed above me a little further to the east. I also started to get blasted with rain and the RFD winds. The operator told me that the sheriff would call me back shortly.
I headed east on Hwy 20 towards Hoven. Suddenly, a fairly large debris cloud showed up in town!!! I could see what looked like part of a roof and other debris swirling around. This last about 45 seconds and disappeared. I drove into town and saw some damage including the business that lost its roof. The sheriff called me at this point and I told him what I saw including the tornado just going through town. There was a tornado warning out for the storm now, including text of my reportm, but when I drove through town not more than a minute after the tornado went through there were no sirens going off.
I headed on south a bit to the next east/west highway, but there was construction going on and the road was only one lane with a pilot car. I had to wait about 10 minutes and the storm moved on. It did become weaker though and didn't produce anymore tornadoes. I chased after a bit longer hoping to get some good shots but it didn't work out and I headed home with a long 7 hour drive in front of me. I arrived home exhausted at 345 in the morning after a 1,075 mile round trip. I was happy I went though finally catching my first tornado of the season.
I've been in contact with the sheriff and sent him by video and pics. Apparently the local paper is going to use my pics. I know, big time huh?! I also sent my pics and video the NWS in Aberdeen. I'm not sure if they were going to do a damage survey until they saw my media. But the storm survey that came out seemed to point to the fact they used it! The tornado was rated an EF-0 with winds of 80 mph or so.

text of the tornado warning issued:
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE ABERDEEN SD
703 PM CDT TUE JUL 26 2011

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN ABERDEEN HAS ISSUED A

* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
SOUTHWESTERN EDMUNDS COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA...
NORTHEASTERN POTTER COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA...
SOUTHEASTERN WALWORTH COUNTY IN NORTH CENTRAL SOUTH DAKOTA...

* UNTIL 730 PM CDT

* AT 658 PM CDT...TRAINED WEATHER SPOTTERS REPORTED A FUNNEL CLOUD
NEAR HOVEN...OR 17 MILES SOUTHEAST OF SELBY. A TORNADO MAY DEVELOP
AT ANY TIME! DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED THIS TORNADIC STORM MOVING EAST
AT 25 MPH.

text of the damage survey:
POTTER COUNTY EF-0 TORNADO...
MEDIA AND TRAINED SPOTTER INFORMATION CONFIRMED A BRIEF TORNADO
TOUCHDOWN ON THE NORTHSIDE OF HOVEN IN EXTREME NORTHERN POTTER
COUNTY. ONE BUSINESS SUFFERED ROOF DAMAGE WITH REPORTS OF TREE
DAMAGE TO THE NORTH OF TOWN. INDICATIONS ARE THAT THIS TORNADO WAS
ON THE GROUND FOR ONLY A BLOCK OR TWO BEFORE LIFTING BACK INTO THE
PARENT THUNDERSTORM. INSPECTION OF THE DAMAGE IS INDICATIVE OF AN
EF-0 TORNADO WITH WINDS ESTIMATED BETWEEN 70 AND 80 MPH.

Outlooks issued for this day:


800 am- moderate risk

800 am tornado probs- 10% hatched area showing strong tornadoes possible

800 am severe hail probs

800 am severe wind probs

1130 am outlook- moderate risk still in place

1130 am tornado probs

1130 am severe wind probs

1130 am severe hail probs


first storm of the day southwest of Gettysburg

I love to take these closeups of storms showing the boiling sky

backside of storm east of Agar now with double rainbow

storm strengthening to my north near Akaska

I'm about 15 miles away from the storm now. Storm is growing but already has a small area of lowering developing!

closer now to the storm and can see a wall cloud developing!

closer now to the storm just west of Hwy 83 and Hwy 20

storm looks like it was starting to form an RFD notch and inflow tail

new wall cloud trying to form. area to the left was intense area of rapidly rising scud forming

tried to get a better structure shot. I need a wide angle lens!

still a small area of intense rising motion just to the right of center

wall cloud getting larger

i had driven for about 5 minutes or so east on Hwy 20 and got out to take some pics. this was the large wall cloud I was treated too!! I thought for sure at this point there was going to be a big tornado that would form. I was already thinking Bowdle! The wall cloud wasn't rotating too rapidly yet, though you definitely see rotation

gust front of storm directly above me

directly above me were these intense roll clouds! i had to watch them to make sure they didn't spin up something that would reach towards the ground

another shot of these intense spinning areas

this was just west of Hoven now near the intersection of Hwy 20 and 47. I looked up above me and suddenly this small white funnel formed directly above me!

another shot of the white funnel extending down a little further

again. it was around this point that I realized there was no tornado warning for this storm and it was heading towards a town so I called 911

shot of the intense dust whirl from the tornado on the ground in the field across from me

another shot of the tornado continuing across the field. i was relaying all this info the 911 operator

new funnel that formed just a bit further east of me. I was still on the phone with 911 at this point telling them about the new funnel forming heading towards Hoven still.

shot of the tornado going though Hoven!!

still on the ground! you could see a part of a roof swirling around in the air and other debris!

one more shot


part of roof missing! i'm guessing this was the roof I saw flying around in the air

some radar grabs:

640 pm- storm rapidly becoming severe just north of me(I'm the white circle). the original severe storm I was on near Agar is to my south

720 pm- storm moving east of Hoven now with good inflow notch on front side. a new tornado warning was about to be issued to the east of the old purple box

720 pm- storm relative velocity image showing well defined couplet(red next to green in center of image). never did see confirmation of tornado on the ground at this point


video of the tornado going through Hoven

link to youtube video(in HD quality):
HD Hoven video on youtube

route taken. I only am showing the part of the chase in S. Dakota


total miles: 1076
tornadoes: 1 (YES!!)
largest hail: .75"
strongest wind: est. 50-55 mph