10 June 2004 Storm Chase

June 10, 2004 Storm Chase | Western NE Tornadic Supercell
All photos copyright © Matt Ziebell

An interesting day to say the least. I left Sterling, CO for Ogallala, NE and on the way witnessed a minivan overturn ~200 yards in front of me on I-80 near Brule, NE. After pulling over w/other concerned motorists, we assisted the occupants away from the vehicle, though a female had to be extracted by the EMTs. I haven't heard on her condition yet, but after the police were done questioning me they sent me on my way. After that scary moment, I made tracks to Ogallala for a data stop and some lunch. Thanks to a negative tilt upper trough, diffluence today would be optimized over W NE and w/sfc dewpoints in the mid 60s, it really came down to watching the satellite for any interesting trends along or ahead of the dryline. Around 1300 MDT, a few TCu had fired along the dryline just east of Sterling, CO and minutes later a soft Cb unfolded. The image on the left is the view of this Cb looking to the WSW at 1408 MDT while stopped east of Chappell, NE. A decent base w/inflow and a meager wall cloud.

Another wall developed and the inflow remained, but overall it wasn't that impressive looking at this point. However, something was evolving within this Cb quite rapidly as NWS-LBF had issued a TOR warning minutes after this photo was taken. Rotation was very slow in the base after reviewing the video. 1428 MDT

While heading east on HWY 30, I looked back at the wall cloud and was shocked to see a laminar funnel building down! Seconds later, a compact debris cloud was kicking up. Note the diffuse dust pillar to the right of the tornado. This was a secondary vortex that merged with the tornado a minute or so later. It may have been a gustnado along an RFD surge or possibly a satellite vortex revolving around the meso. 1446 MDT

I was debating whether I should stay and continue to get tripoded footage or head further east down the road to keep ahead of this. After observing the debris cloud's path and motion, I decided it would be "safe" to remain in place and let it cross the HWY to my southeast. A local farmer then pulled over and asked which way this was headed and if I wanted to take shelter in his home, but I declined the offer and remarked it would pass to our south. After more talk, he departed south directly towards it as it was crossing the dirt road! I'm thinking to myself, Holy cow Mister!, as he must be insane thinking he can drive through it, but he turns less than 100 yards from it into his driveway. More images: 1, 2.

I knew I'd have to be battling some hail since I let the vortex pass to my east, though the tennis ball size stones were a bit of a surprise to which I promptly headed eastbound on HWY 30. Here I'm looking WNW just after the tornado exhibited a series of compact multiple vortices as it passed over a plowed field. Also of interest during this time was the precip wrapdown in the RFD helping to increase condensation throughout the remainder of the vortex and ultimately intensify this creature. 1501 MDT

Some items worth mentioning about the above series:
* Note the inflow tail in the 4th image emanating from the wet RFD opposite the tail cloud. I've seen this in a couple other chaser videos - care to call it an RFD tail cloud?!?
* Also note the magnitude of the occlusion and the subsequent skeletal core. Also, the green tint to the outer updraft core is authentic and not faked.

After this shot, the tornado became heavily masked by a hailshaft and hidden from my view. I shot east and then north (missing the rope stage) to get back ahead of the supercell. This tornado was rated an F1 and lasted almost 30 minutes!

While driving northbound, I snapped this shot of the flanking towers under a high sun angle. 1525 MDT

Now back in the game, either the same or a new meso is visible to the west along HWY 26. 1533 MDT

This new meso would produce a brief waterspout over Lake McConaughy a short while later. 1541 MDT

The biggest challenge navigation-wise was the lake which put me out of range of the supercell for some time, but I pressed on like so many others and almost got burned by the RFD precip northeast of Lemoyne. I turned around to let it pass and then I turned back again to continue in pursuit. It was now transitioning to full HP mode, but I followed it all the way up to between Arthur and Tryon before calling it quits as the supercell cut loose into the Sandhills. 1732 MDT

Looking southeast, I noticed new Cbs exploding not far from North Platte. I shot south and east and ended up crossing through one of the cores along I-80 near Lexington, but the structure wasn't that great. I then booked a motel in Grand Island (hoping for a short drive on Day 2) and arrived just before 2200 CDT as a supercell crossed the NE/KS border to my south. I hadn't eaten a meal for almost 10 hours by this point and settled to watch the supercell on the NOWRAD channel w/my meatball sub. When NWS-GID switched to live broadcasting later on, I knew I missed my window of opportunity. Good to see the WI folks were down there to watch the incredibly photogenic nighttime supercell and tornado unfold.

The next day I missed my chance to see more tornadic supercells after getting data at probably the only library open in all of Nebraska--Offutt AFB (all public libraries were closed Friday in honor of President Reagan). I quickly realized I was too far away to get to northwest IA for the best target. Hey, ya can't see 'em all!

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