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Sticking to your target area even when a supercell is in progress 100+ miles to your northeast does exhibit good patience, but in hindsight I wish I would have made a run for the border and caught the spectacular show that so many others did. Albeit decapitated (too much dry air entrainment), this TCu near Ainsworth was some good reassurance and a signal of things to come. |
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Not more than 30 minutes later, this Cb skyrocketed
to my east. The chase is on! |
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I
wasn't too impressed with its base and it refused to organize with time.
I aborted this and started to wish I had made the haul into SD. Shortly thereafter, I called back to work to inquire what the Cbs near LBF were doing and was told they were still supercells embedded in a line. Hastily, I headed back
west to Basset to shoot south on HWY 183 for an intercept. |
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I
saw a firm wall cloud to my SE from a rather messy cell, but this was the
action just to my southwest. I've noticed some CGs can be very
smooth at times...almost like liquid. This was one of several that
greeted me as I skirted south through the FFD. |
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Finally out of the
FFD and a bit surprised to see this to my west...a nice meso with a funnel
cloud. Earlier on, I had observed a cone funnel that rapidly dissipated
in this area, but the video doesn't show much evidence of it. I'm
about 12 miles north of Rose, NE at this point. |
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The funnel
decayed, but the meso was still intact. The RFD continues to wrap
around the meso while maintaining the HP structure. |
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A decent tail cloud evolved to my NW keeping any hopes alive. |
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About 10 minutes
had passed so I chose to head up the road to get to a distant east road. Looking very HPish right now. |
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Well, I at least stopped to observe the
meso (directly overhead at this point...not the most intelligent move of
the chase) and had my spine tingle as I saw a new funnel take
shape. |
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I didn't even
waste time doing a Y-turn on this narrow HWY and instead drove hastily
north. The storm motion was reported as being NE at 20, though I
felt it was more easterly. Either way, I was wisely moving away from it. |
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Crossing HWY 183. Still a funnel with
no debris observed. |
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Looking SE now as condensation builds
surfaceward. Note that the powerlines are now on the other side of
the road! I can't get a good shot without a powerline somewhere in
the photo! :( |
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Tornado! The video shows condensation
80% of the way to the ground, though here it's only about 60%. Either way, the 50% rule is met. The wet RFD blasted in immediately after
this shot with estimated gusts to 55 knots. An eery howl accompanied this and I soon lost all visual. I wouldn't have had much
better luck had I gone south since there are no east roads that are paved
along this stretch of HWY 183...and there's no way my car's going through
mud! Thankfully, the warnings were out well in advance of this
tornado. |
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I observed at least two other HP cells
while pulled over near Basset after the tornado, but there was little
structure of significance. So I headed south to Broken Bow for a
motel later on and had an area of intense electrical activity catch my
attention to the WNW. Another supercell! This one was about 10
miles north of Brewster moving ENE. |
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The exposure time on most of these was 5
seconds. It was a classic strobe light in the sky. |
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Wall cloud begins to take shape. Note
the vault region with precip obscuring some of it. No TVS at this
point via the NWSFO updates. |
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A more comprehensive view. |
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|
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Even though it's underexposed, I like this
shot for its eeriness. |
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This was one persistent wall cloud!
After this shot, a sub-meso circulation (TVS) developed resulting in a tornado warning for Luke Cty. I watched this HP for a good half hour after this, but nothing
stood out as far as poignant features. Overall, I was a bit surprised to see
just how many people did end up in SD...congrats to all! But I'm
still more than satisfied with this
chase. |