April 29, 2010 NC KS/SC NE Supercells
Was never real excited about this day, but I had the day off so I figured if nothing else I could get a few good lightning shots. Finally nailed a forecast and it paid off, did exceptionally well getting on the right storms considering I had no data. Before I forget, thanks to Chris Allington, and Jared Knedler for Nowcasting for me. Targeted Concordia, KS but was unsure all morning whether or not I would be going. Surface flow looked crappy and I didn't think they would back until after sunset, there was also an area in SE NE where dewpoints were rapidly dropping, which was also concerning since LCLs were supposed to be one of the main problems for tornadoes. Waited until about 1:20 and finally decided I would go. Stopped in York, NE for a quick data check, noticed a line of towering cumulus in central Kansas along the dryline, so I flew south on hwy 81 towards Concordia. Intercepted the first storm of the day IN my target city lol. Had to get gas in Concordia before following this cell.
Got back north and went westbound on hwy 148 where I got cored by the northern splitting cell. Got pelted by dimes and nickel sized hail for a few minutes. Continued west till Barnes, KS, the storm had a small lowering but disappeared. Got north to hwy 36 when I realized this storm was not going to do anything. I noticed a cell going up behind me, again near concordia. Called Mike to see where he was at, and because I didn't have data. He was giving up on the lead cell too, but said the one to the west still didn't look great on radar. I figured sticking to your target was the best idea here since the most favorable environment was forecast to occur around 7pm and it was now around 6pm. So I went west on 36 and literally minutes later could already see the base of the updraft and it had a wall cloud developing already. I come to a great overlook vantage point and pulled over to take a few telephoto shots.
Continued west watching the storm try to organize. Went north on hwy 15 just south of Morrowville, KS and pulled over where Mike H was at and took a few pictures of scud rising into the updraft forming a new wall cloud. At this point I am already satisfied with the day lol. The TIV and crew pass us going North on 15. As we looked at road options the next east option from hwy 15 was Fairbury, nearly 20 miles! I don't really want to take chances getting stuck on a gravel road, especially when I'm chasing solo.
Dropped south and east on 36 then north on 148 near Hanover, KS. Starting to get it's act together there above. I stop on the hwy as the structure is just nuts looking now, Beautiful clear blue sky to my south and a well structured rotating wall cloud to my WNW. This is why I love living in the plains!
Rotation is really picking up now. Just check out Dustin Wilcox video to see it.
At 7:12pm a tornado touched down very briefly. I took the above picture at 7:11pm. I did not see this tornado since there was no condensation. Only minutes later the storm is done for the evening.
I continued to follow it thinking the day was over and heading home. I run into Derrick Herndon and pull over and talk with him for a little bit. Chris calls me and says there is another tornado warned storm NW of Concordia! Westbound on hwy 8 is a mess of trees, could never see the horizon, got to fairbury when I decided to turn around and let the storm come to me. Found a nice vantage point on the north side of Steele city, Nebraska.
Right before this I could actually see two different storms/wall clouds which was interesting. I guess there was a tornado in Diller, NE which was about 4 miles northeast of the location I was at above. That area was occluded by the RFD from my location though. Reports of damage in Diller, not sure how bad though. Heres a shot going north on hwy 112 south of Beatrice.
Followed this storm to Auburn, NE the entire length of the chase I watched a wall cloud backlit by lightning, nearly thought I had a wedge at first, but couldn't see the ground, then later realized it was just a very low wall cloud. Here is the impressive structure looking north from just west of Auburn, Nebraska.
Now I decided to start heading home, but then I get some texts/calls about a tornado warned storm to my west lol. I was sitting just south of Nebraska city, watched the storm gust out (or at least it seemed to me) and continued home. Apparently there was a tornado reported 2 miles south of Nebraska city (exactly where I was sitting) 30 minutes after I left, Doh! On the way home encountered some VERY heavy rain and my windshield fogged up so bad I couldn't see the road and had to pull over and wait for it to defrost, took forever.
All in all a great chase, just wish it was my first of the year and hadn't wasted gas on the first three, oh well, bring on May/June with slower storm motions!
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