Simply Exhilerating!

Yesterday, the TCS team, heard reports that the ingredients necessary to produce tornadoes existed in several places throughout Nebraska. So we packed up and headed out east to Hebron, NE. I offered to drive, so that Michael could work on streaming our video live through our website, and Benjamin could get the radar, GPS, anemometer, NOAA websites, Stormtrack, Twisterdata, and Google maps fired up and ready for action! Stopping at a gas station, we noticed TornadoVideos.net (more affectionately nicknamed, shakyvideos.net) had brought their armored SRV (Storm Research Vehicle) on the chase.

By now, it was about 4 p.m. The weather outside was quite warm and had very high humidity. Benjamin took the wheel from me, and to the West, we saw an enormous thunderhead that was slowly expanding. After driving for awhile, we stopped again and waited for the storm to develop. Since NOAA updates most of their weather data every 30 minutes, we wait anxiously for the updated data.

By 5, the radar and Benjamin concluded that we had better hightail west FAST! After we made the decision to head west on I-80, we again see the SRV headed that direction too. Again, we decided that we would take the Wood River exit, and then the SRV again stole OUR idea!

By now, above us we could see clouds rotating slowly, and we found a suitable gravel road to sit back and watch the show. :)



The wall cloud in front of us produced several small funnels and two of them managed to touch the ground for a couple seconds. The two that did touch the ground unfortunately took out a couple small farm steads we later found out. :(





When there is a major storm brewing, you see a different crowd on the road. Foreign vehicles with antennas,satellite receivers, and anemometers sticking out of their roof and trunk were everywhere! There were at least 100 storm chasers around this storm, and the main roads were crowded.

After the wall cloud disintegrated, we headed back to the highway and took some pictures of the storm structure.





Turning onto a gravel road to avoid the precipitation, we noticed a dust storm ahead of us. Being the brilliant people we are, we decided to drive straight into it and get some pictures. Dust swirled about our car, and when we exited, the gravel being thrown around, felt like needles constantly scraping our skin. It was incredible! The highest wind speed with our anemometer measured 53m mph!



Seeing another wall cloud forming, we found a paved road and began following it. Seeing rapid rotation directly above us urged us onto Highway 34 out of Grand Island. Highway 34, is a two lane highway, and right about now, both lanes were going the same direction! There were lines and lines of storm chasers on the roads. Everyone that was going to flee apparently already had long ago. :)

Wishing to see the storm structure, we began rapidly heading away from the high precipitous regions of the storm. After going several miles, Michael notices a funnel beginning to form a couple miles behind us in the sky.



Alas, the funnel quickly disappears into the sky and we continued on. Seeing some dust swirl around behind us, we stopped again and took more pictures. :)



After driving towards Aurora on highway 34, Michael frantically yells STOP! Benjamin slams on the breaks, pulls off to the side of the road, and we watch a large funnel descending about a half mile behind us. Radar tells us that it is traveling about 30 mph. We declare this an easy tornado to chase, and continue snapping photos.



The tornado began increasing in its intensity and growing steadily larger until it was more than a quarter mile in diameter!





To keep ahead of the tornado we would squeal to a stop, get out, take pictures, get back in and hit the accelerator HARD! Our pursuer was less than 500 yards away at several points, and Michael could get full frames of the tornado without much magnification! We could feel the inflow jets yanking us towards the swirling funnel, and at one point the car began shaking!

At one point, Benjamin forgot he had turned off the ignition, and was frantically trying to switch it to drive and nothing was happening! We were getting worried with the tornado less than 500 yards behind us and gaining rapidly. Thankfully, Michael was calm, and reminded Benjamin to turn on the ignition and we were fine again. :)

After a few more minutes, the tornado began tapering off and losing some of its intensity.



We stopped again, and were startled to see it gain more strength than it ever had previously. In dismay, we watched several farms sucked up in its path and wondered about the storm chasers behind us almost encompassed within the rotation!



Without witnessing their inevitable fate, we continued on towards Aurora. By now, the tornado was becoming rain wrapped and it was too difficult to see it without being directly adjacent to it. We found it really strange to be in Aurora, NE and not hear sirens blaring! After waiting a few minutes, however, the sirens began their shrill call.

Looking behind us, we could see the storm from a distance and noticed that, after being on the ground for almost 20 minutes, the tornado had finally dissipated. By God's mercy, Aurora was mostly spared from the tornado's fury, but many businesses and farms outside the town had much damage. We found out later that a train had derailed, and early reports said that no injuries had been inflicted.



We stopped and tried to get a few lightening photos, but after the excitement our camera wasn't functioning very well. We reasoned too much sand from the dust storm, and moisture had disabled much of its functionality. It still took pictures however, just very few focusing options were available. :(





After struggling with the camera for awhile, we decided to head back and take some aftermath photos. By the time we got to the other side of Aurora, emergency vehicles had blocked every possible entry into the destruction zone, so we had to take a long detour around it all. The night was dark, but when we reached the crest of a hill we could literally see flashing lights all around us!

Noticing a cloud formation that had lightening spewing from its midst, we stopped and took the last few photos for the day. It almost resembled a mushroom cloud after a nuclear bomb!





After a long day, and the first successful TCS tornado intercept, we headed back to Kearney, NE. We were absolutely exhausted that night, and went to bed as quickly as possible! Higher resolution photos are available on the TCS.net blog!