Determined to watch this storm for a while longer, I was amazed when a nice beaver's tail emerged from the distant haze and the RFD gust front slowed considerably (possibly due to strengthening SSE inflow winds).   The eastern edge of the updraft core also became better defined with frequent in-cloud and cloud-cloud lightning in its vault.  A bit surprised, I began snapping photos and taking video not entirely sure what this supercell had in mind.  Approximately five minutes after having brought the cameras out of the car, I was presented with a subtle wall cloud (visible on left side of photo) to my NW that exhibited *weak* rotation.  From here on is where I still question what exactly I was witness to.  I watched a distinct dirt plume kick up to the NW of the wall cloud and move south all before a shallow gustnado-like vortex ensued very close to, if not directly under the wall cloud.  This vortex soon grew much taller and became better defined before dissolving in less than a minute.  The wall cloud was nearly two miles to my NW during this time, so depth perception issues were still valid; however considering just how quickly this vortex dissipated I was convinced at the time it was a gustnado and not worth calling in.  This whole time the initial RFD push was still advancing well SSW of the wall cloud.  A short while later I observed another dirt-filled vortex...this time directly under the wall cloud!  This second vortex had a much greater shock and awe factor than the previous one, so I made sure to capture it fully on video.  Although this latter vortex persisted for maybe two minutes, I'm not convinced that rotation extended to cloud base...therefore I'm not about to label either of these as true tornadoes.  However, I can't simply call them gustnadoes as these redeveloped in the same general area instead of propagating with the RFD gust front.  The fact that both of these vortices developed either in the proximity of the wall cloud or immediately under it and did not surge away makes me believe that these were valid tornadogenesis attempts that ulimatey failed for whatever reason.  So to keep this short, I'll call these hybrid vortices as they shared similarities to both gustnadoes and tornadoes.

Back to the chase, a separate Cb eventually erupted a few miles SSE of the supercell and would later display a modest wall cloud, although my storm of interest was still showing promise given a new wall cloud to my north.  I eventualy dropped south to Claytonville with my eyes focused on the rotating storm to my west.  A few hailstones up to quarter size did fall at my location during the drive south, but the HDA's output of 3.5" stones at times had me convinced that there'd at least be some golfballs in the area.  The faint glow of fading daylight was then replaced with darkness, so I navigated southeast to Floydada and then south as the convection grew into a QLCS structure.  I stopped occasionally for lightning photos, but overall wasn't too impressed with the results.  One final stop near Cone provided me with a surprisingly detailed view of what was most likely the original supercell on the western end of the convective line.

After ditching the teaser storm near Pine Bluffs, I became interested in a storm organzing rapidly west of Arthur, NE.  From my location about 60 miles southwest of this storm, there was little doubt this storm was rotating considering its stout updraft and curling convection up to the anvil.  I met up with this southward-moving supercell northeast of Chappell, NE and was treated to a classic wall cloud and occlusion, however rotation at cloud base was pretty minimal at this time.  Minutes later, plumes of dirt began launching skyward signaling the presence of another RFD reinforcement, but whatever horizontal voriticity there was along this new RFD never interacted favorably with the weakly rotating wall cloud.  Regardless, this storm continued south and actually turned a bit SW near Julesburg resulting in a much closer view than I would have preferred.  This SW push may have been caused by a broad, precip-laden RFD that ultimately transformed this once classical storm into a spooky HP.  NWS-BOU issued a TOR for this supercell during this transformation, although all I was able to observe from here on was a low wall cloud w/weak rotation and a pronounced tail cloud.  Shortly after this I had to retreat south to an area just north of Holyoke, CO to avoid being munched by a growing hail core, so my once decent view of the supercell's base was now compromised by greatly reduced contrast just a few miles away from the storm.  This supercell then appeared to grow multicellular/linear, so I let it go while driving back north to document several hailstones up to 2" along the east-west portion of HWY 385 between Julesburg and Holyoke.  A very nice chase day overall capped off with a long telephoto shot of a distant Cb later that evening.

While pressing south of Phillip, SD, I entered the outer perimeter of the southern-most supercell's FFD and immediately discerned a faint outline of a wall cloud well to my southwest.  About ten minutes later a well-molded circular updraft base came into view just to my SSW, but I was already on the receiving end of nickel size hail and had to continue south out of the FFD to avoid damage to the rental car.  To keep this account short, I chased this beast of supercell for the next SIX hours before calling it quits about 20 miles north of Thedford, NE.  It's worth noting that the inflow to the second supercell increased markedly as it neared Norris, SD with gusts easily approaching 50 knots at times.  If that wasn't enough, by later in the evening while south of Valentine, NE, seemingly unreal inflow gusts of perhaps 60 knots or higher ensued and began rocking my rental car as it lay parked near the highway.  At this point, the supercell was nothing short of a mothership showboating its laminar base and ground-hugging beaver's tail.  I did document several impressive meso occlusions and two narrow funnels over the course of this memorable supercell's life, but never observed its few and brief tornadoes.  Night in Thedford.

As luck would have it, the cap was compromised around 1500 CDT west of Cimarron and a half hour later I was observing a decent storm blossom west of DDC.  What really captured my interest was the fact this cell was producing nearly constant thunder and eventually showcased a circular base.  Always a bit hesitant to jump on one of the first storms of the day, I could not convince myself to let this storm go and thankfully I didn't as it soon attained supercellular characteristics WNW of DDC.  I followed this storm north of DDC before eventually pulling over on a hilltop to document an impressive rotating wall cloud a few miles to my WNW.  The next RFD resulted in the storm's base turning quite anemic, but as the supercell approached Spearville the base of the meso wasted no time developing an ominous rotating wall cloud with an attendant tail cloud.

With the supercell now having turned east, if not ESE at times, I had to race east to Kinsley to find the nearest south road that crossed the Arkansas River to keep ahead of this beast.  As Murphy's Law would have it, road construction on HWY 183 with a stop light halted my progress south as the supercell and rotating wall cloud loomed to my northwest.  Thankfully traffic was moving within five minutes and I continued south before stopping to see the RFD blast out ultimately transforming this classic supercell into an HP monster.  During this time, another supercell was rapidly evolving back to my SW near DDC, but I initially dismissed its tornadic potential as the lead supercell's outflow boundary appeared to overtake the inflow to the new supercell--wrong!  This southwestern supercell produced a tornado near Fort Dodge which I was eventually able to photograph from some distance during its rope out stage.  Naturally this storm lined out as my initial supercell attained an incredibly strong low-level meso courtesy of another strong RFD.  Fully HP by this point, I began the drive back home knowing that somewhere in that cell's wet RFD was a potentially significant tornado.  Upon entering the OK Panhandle, I took interest in a splitting LP supercell in the northeast TX Panhandle.  This was not the previously tornadic LP, but instead a photogenic LP split northwest of the earlier supercell.  I must have pulled over a half dozen times over the next hour to photograph the overturning turrets at anvil level and crisp updrafts, but in the end I still made it back to LBB at a reasonable hour that night.

Before reaching La Grange, WY, the southern-most storm became SVR warned only to be followed a short while later by a TOR warning!  From just east of La Grange, I could already discern a blocky lowering and RFB at least 15 miles to my WNW, but it wasn't until I was just west of La Grange that the structure improved dramatically.  A classic visual vault loomed over a multi-segmented beaver's tail and the wall cloud was now showcasing rather vivid rotation.  As I drove west on a narrow paved road (Bear Creek Rd), I realized the meso would eventually end up passing south of this road.  The dense, hail-laden FFD to my northwest convinced me that I had to bust south, so I broke off to motor down Road 221.  It was here that I stopped twice to document a textbook occlusion that initially produced this funnel before creating a very brief tornado.  After this tornado dissipated, I pushed about 1.5 miles south to yield the right of way to this already tornadic meso.  Just as I stopped the car once again to get a view of the rain-wrapping meso now to my NW, a fully condensed tornado quickly appeared just beyond a small ridgeline to the NW.  Aside: since the latter touchdown was from the same circulation and only within a few minutes of the initial touchdown, I have to label this sequence as one tornado and nothing more.  This tornado wasted no time in attaining more splendor and girth, but my eyes were immediately distracted from this brilliant sight as an oncoming Vortex2 minivan slid off the gravel road only about 30 feet behind my vehicle ending up stuck in the ditch.  I ran over and helped them try to push the vehicle out, but with every push the front end of the minivan only dug further into the ground.  Considering the tornado was still widening about a mile to our NW (movement was ESE), the Vortex2 guys became more concerned for their safety.  Long story short, three (possibly four?) guys crammed into the back of my Saturn sedan and we drove a short distance south to build some precious space between both the tornado and large hail within the RFD.  After stopping, I realized I left one of my D-SLRs on the ground back by the minivan!  The situation *appeared* safe, so I sprinted on foot to spare the camera from the rain and small hail.  The camera was wet, but still powered up and operated perfectly--kudos to Canon despite their lackluster weather sealing.  Wasting no time, I snapped off several shots as the tornado grew into a large cone just before crossing Road 221 EXACTLY where I was stopped earlier filiming the occluding meso!!!  One of the Vortex2 members then drove my car back to the minivan to make another attempt at rescuing their vehicle.  They eventually succeeded and we all proceeded south to avoid the giant hailstones that were still falling farther north (at least one Vortex2 minivan did not escape the barrage of hail).  During this entire dramatic sequence of events, I thought my camcorder inside the car was turned off, but instead it captured every moment including much of the tornado early on when I had my back turned to the vortex while helping push the minivan out.

With the tornado and meso now fully hidden by rain and hail to my ENE, I thought there might be a chance the tornado would eventually kick out of the precip shield as I drove SE back to HWY 85.  Nearly 15 minutes had passed since I last observed the tornado, so I basically gave up thinking the show was over.  A few minutes later I was amazed to see the tornado reappear from the now fully-occluded meso!  Although the vortex was a mere fraction of its former self, it was still very stout, becoming sunlit and pushing over 20 minutes of duration!  Instead of moving north on HWY 85 and rolling the dice with large hail, I opted to shoot south to catch the next east road option.  During the drive south I was frantically searching for a hill with enough prominence to photograph the rope out, but for a bit I could only observe it using the driver's side mirror!  I eventually stopped and fired off ~30 photos with my telephoto zoom lens during which time the once slender vortex became contorted and spiraled wildly.  Of all the rope outs I've witnessed, this one was definitely up there with the best especially considering the sunlit aspect.

Thereafter this supercell exhibited several cyclic mesocyclones, but in spite of classic structure, none resulted in additional tornadoes.  I only observed one funnel from north of Bushnell, NE that occurred with a new meso all the while the occluding meso showcased a large tornado lookalike farther west.  This supercell pulsed down quite a bit after this, but by early evening it was back to its original intensity NW of Dalton, NE.  I stayed with this supercell for the next hour and a half or so observing some great structure and a menacingly low wall cloud north of Dalton that did exhibit rotation at times.  Having pushed my mental and physical endurance to the test this day, I was relieved to find vacancy at the Super 8 in Ogallala, NE late this night.  Driving for nearly 16 hours straight, trying in vain to push a mini-van out of a ditch, and sprinting on foot for 200 yards towards a tornado to save your camera from the elements will wear you down!

The supercell's structure was now becoming more classic with a visual vault now complementing a circular updraft.  As the tornado was roping out, a more impressive wall cloud began developing to its east.  I continued south on HWY 6 south of Rule before pulling over to get a time lapse of the structure.  The wall cloud seemed to have a hard time maintaining rotation, but once a wet RFD wrapped around it pulled together much more and *may* have produced a second, brief tornado partially obscured by rain.  I recall seeing what I believe to have been a narrow rainshaft that could have been mistaken as a vortex, but from another angle it may have looked more convincing.  Regardless, the next meso ensued nearly overhead so I shot south again to build some distance and take in a wider perspective of the supercell.  As time went by, I falsely assumed the supercell was turning due south so I took a dirt road south of HWY 380 and encountered some minor flooding that my car easily handled.  About a mile later I noticed a downright nasty stretch that was still covered in water from rains two days earlier!  Unwilling to throw the Saturn into that muddy abyss, I reluctantly turned around and forged my way back to HWY 380 just before the wall cloud passed nearby.  The storm did not look as pristine by this time and the updraft base was quickly narrowing, so I expected the show to eventually wind down--which it did near Stamford as the RFD undercut the final wall cloud.  There was another brief funnel at this time, but from my vantage point (south of the storm) it didn't appear to be tornadic despite a wealth of dirt being lofted from the RFD.  I then drove northwest to Sagerton to hopefully see the softball size hailstones that were reported (the largest hail I've ever witnessed was 3"), but I only found 2" stones at best with no larger craters in the fields nearby.  The softballs were out there somewhere, but I couldn't waste much more time as another supercell was dropping south well north of Throckmorton.  This latter storm had a nice columnar updraft for quite some time, but as I neared Throckmorton it was readily apparent the storm was dying as the convection softened and withered away.  Not intrigued about the next day's chase setup, I drove back to Lubbock and punched the core of some linear SVR storms along the cold front in Rule.  Nickel hail was the best I could come away with from this line, but the frequent CGs made it worthwhile.

I initially drove to Lockney, TX near the more prominent of the outflow boundaries and was soon greeted by well-molded pockets of moderate cumulus.  A TOR-warned cell eventually developed farther northeast in Hall county, but I drifted west towards Plainview as a compact cell around Olton was showing signs of promise on radar.  As it turned out I didn't even make it to Plainview as two robust cells exploded in my rearview mirror shortly after 1615 CDT.  Alarmed, I stopped and compared these storms to the distant storm west of Plainview.  The storm west of Plainview was still high based with meager structure, so I gambled with the eastern cells and shot back to Lockney figuring that if the newer cells didn't amount to much, I could wait for the approaching Plainview cell.  I targeted the northern of the two storms and upon arrival in northeast Floyd county I was really impressed with the low LCLs, easterly inflow and presence of a circular RFD on the backside of this storm's updraft.  A lowered, rotating extension later emerged from the broad updraft base and at 1713 CDT I observed a brief tornado with condensation extending about 70% to the ground.  I stayed with this supercell for the next half hour, but in spite of copious inflow, the supercell was losing its character so I proceeded southwest on FM 97 to intercept the now more promising Plainview cell approaching Cedar Hill.

Around 1802 CDT, I observed a brief needle tornado from the eastward-moving Plainview supercell located to my southwest.  Considering how many chasers were on this supercell at the time, only a very few caught this and only one chaser snagged a photo (see Dave Chapman's photo here).  After the rogue narrow tornado, I continued SW on FM 97 and within a few minutes an elephant trunk tornado appeared!  It's possible the needle tornado redeveloped into this or these were two separate circulations all along.  The tornado quickly morphed into a fat cone before the new meso just to its northeast became tornadic!  This sequence of events resulted in a remarkable presentation shown in the video grabs below.  I stopped occasionally for photos, but ended up with more video than I intended.  The first tornado then proceeded to rope out to my SSW as the second tornado struggled with an apparent linear surge in the RFD outflow.  FM 97 veered west at this point, so to avoid being swallowed by potential tennis ball hailstones, I drove east then south on some super-slick dirt roads (still saturated from early morning rains).  After extensive fishtailing and successful counter steering (reminded me of winter back in WI!), I somehow managed to avoid the core of the supercell as it veered southeast to Matador. I chased one additional rotating cell west of Matador that appeared to develop on the western flank of the previous storm's cold pool, but aborted this with time as cloud base rotation never materialized despite radar having indicated prominent rotation just aloft.  Exhausted, I called it a day and raced back to Lubbock for a precious two hours of sleep before my final midnight shift of the week.