Reports & Pictures Chase Day 3

[Paul Sherman]

Started the Day in Norman (Ok) with a chase target of Salina (Ks) which was pretty bang on seeing as the Storms fired about 15 Miles to our West. After tracking a few of the early storms which were struggling at about 6pm they finally got Tornado Warnings on them. First Supercell we got on was East of Concordia, we got underneath the base of this but just could not keep up as it was travelling at 50mph. Went back West and got on another Supercell Near Bellville, this had numerous Rotating Wall clouds and needle funnels, then went back west and North to intercept a Supercell that was literally 400yds inside Nabraska near Fairbury. This had the most amazing Structure I have seen and when you see the pictures you might agree. After this we went West again and treated the guys to the 150 Mile Squall Line, now in Concordia and watching the Lightning Show.

I think the guys are pretty happy with how today went :lol:

Paul S

[John Hanrahan]

A few from me. Too tired to comment further except awesome day. John sleep now....

Edit: wait till you see harry's shots of the above

Edited April 30, 2010 by John Hanrahan

[Mikel Nimbus]

What a great first chase day. 3 Supercells and one 300 mile long trough line!

Due to the large dew point spread we started off with some very high cloud bases before more moisture was pumped up from the Gulf. The jet stream must have been very strong considering the speed of the storms. Gradualy the supercells formed some neat shelf cloud structures. We were even lucky enough at one point to have a mesocyclone go firing above our heads.

[Harry]

Echo Paul's comments - was an awesome 1st chase day - in total saw 3 supercells, followed by an approx 300-400 mile long squall line stretching from Nebraska down through Kansas.

Started off and watched the first cumulus clouds start to bubble around 3pm - multiple Cu towers began to rise and crumble, growing in beastliness as each cycle continued. Saw the first punch through the cap to form what initially appeared multicell but later appeared to develop supercellular characteristics. It took off north at silly speed (between 40 and 50mph). Immediately behind the next tower punched through the cap, developing into a nice LP supercell, before lining out. We chased about 5 miles and sat up camp briefly watching the nice looking base and flimsy anvil drift North. UKStormchaser (who joined us today/tonight) noticed a sudden microbust, and we thought the cell was done for.....

ALAS, how wrong were we. As the downdraught eased, a wall cloud began to form while at the same time the anvil became robust exceptionally quickly. At the same time a new supercell began developing to our West - we chased North briefly to Concordia (KS) and pulled over for a quick discussion. UKStormchaser maintained that we had to try and chase the Northbound supercell which had just intensified, despite it fleaing at 40-50mph and already being over 10 miles to our North. Eventually UKStormchaser got his way and we fled North hot on the heals of the Northbound supercell, with eyes checking W at the next developing supercell.

After 15 long minutes we pulled level with the Northbound supercell while noting a very encouraging wall cloud, amazing anvil and then, a tornado watch being issued. We found a road East and fled about 10 miles East right towards the wall cloud which had multiple strongly rotating scud dangling beneath. We then could find no North road and the storm raced away....when....

The other supercell to our West also became tornado WARNED - u turn and flea towards the West with a very large wall cloud, much lower than the previous high based wall clouds. After much faff we eventually found a Northbound road which took us right alongside the supercell (and into our 4th state since Tuesday, Nebraska) - by this time it was immense and firing out lightning bolts about 3 per second, including amazing anvil crawlers. Barons was throwing out multiple areas of rotation, quickly verified by our eyes as more than wall cloud became apparent, with even other areas showing strong rotation.

Bit further down the road, came the moment of the day - a shelf cloud came racing towards us at silly speed, throwing powerful bolts in all directions. As the shelf approached the rush of wind through the trees became apparent, as it slammed us, slamming the open car doors and leading us fleaing to a bit of shelter (behind the immense 6L chevrolet tahoes we're travelling in).

As it passed, Smokes flicked up Barons to reveal and several hundred mile long squall line which was erupting behind the supercells. As night fell and we eventually picked a road back West, we were treated to an awesome lightning display across 180 degrees of sky. Along the way, a powerful +ve bolt landed about 50m from the car with an almost explosion.

We decided to head back to Concordia to find a hotel and watch the line pass - for well over an hour we were treated to torrential downpours and v frequent lightning. Perhaps a weak squall line (relatively) but incredibly lengthy and nice visually.

Tomorrow there is a much higher tornado risk which may see us head into either Missouri or Iowa (or both - states 5 and 6)

Thanks to amazing foresight and predicition by Paul, we saw EVERY notable storm of the day, from the three supercells to the lenghty squall line! HUGE credit must be given to him for that, in which we out chased pretty much every chaser in the area, including TIV 2!

Look forward to sleep after a long day and hopefully more fun tomorrow - enjoy the pics all, night!!

[Paul Sherman]

All bow down to the Harry!

This is Harry's Picture of the Bell Shaped Shelf Cloud

[icbinb]

A slow and relaxing first chase day. When we were having lunch! After that it was manic. 3 supercells, a shelf cloud and some of the heaviest rain I have ever seen. If anyone is in any doubt about coming on a tour, you must do it. Just incredible.

[gpspete]

hope you dont mind me putting this on watched live cam till late,

heres the NWS report

Note: All data are considered preliminaryTornado Reports (in CSV format)

TimeLocationCountyStateLatLonComments

00124 N WASHINGTON WASHINGTON KS39889705(TOP)

03575 W GLENWOOD MILLS IA41059584CARS OFF ROAD ON I-29 MILE MARKER 32 (OAX)

04273 SSE DUNBAR OTOE NE40639601TORNADO TOUCHDOWN (OAX)

04271 S NEBRASKA CITY OTOE NE406695863 DIFFERENT SPOTTER REPORTS (OAX)

cant wait till 8th May

Edited April 30, 2010 by gpspete

[the storm fisherman]

hi all

wow what great shots nice to see the quailty weather is there this year i hope for many more pics like those as i am heading to Norman and the guest inn tomorrow my self with cloud 9 tours hope to meet up with you all under a meso sometime.

paul

the storm fisherman

[pottyprof]

Fantastic start !! I bet you guys are over the moon with the outcome.

[Aunt Sally]

Morning all,

What an amazing day for you all!! John and Harry your pictures are incredible and show how amazing storm chasing can be

Paul is the bees knees for getting you in the right place at the right time to see the storms!

Hope you are as lucky today.

Tammy

[nsrobins]

A great start to the tour. I did think moisture wouldn't be sufficient further north than SC KS but you got some brilliant structure by the looks of things. In my target position I would have probably missed these as 55mph vectors really require good starting locations!

Now on to Friday which looks quite lively.

[dogs32]

fantastic start guys...love the pics...

lovely shelf cloud

good luck friday

death ridge for T2...so got my sun tan lotion ready and been sharpening my skills on Ten Pin...

only kidding!!

Harry,,,are these clouds better than the Thunderstorms here

enjoy the next threat..look forward to more of your

posts..

well done Paul/Tom for yet another spot on target for superb Supercells

Edited April 30, 2010 by dogs32

[Tom D]

I'd love to do this one day... it's just a shame the dates clash with Uni!

[SteveB]

Great first day guy's.

Some great photo's already, looks like some more action today too.

[NL]

Great start for tour 1 and pretty impressive images of that long, long shelf cloud, infact 'Top' shelf cloud as thats propa storm porn..!!! Hoping to see more of the same with a tube or two. Good chances of a tornado today (10%) shame its a bit far east over crap chasing territory Misery and Ar'kac'sas...!!!

[user700]

Hi, great photos! stayed up late watching the live stream which was also great.

Today looks good also!

Edited April 30, 2010 by Danny Watson

[TornadoJo]

Amazing pics guys. Glad to see you're getting off to a good start!

Happy Hunting x

[Coast]

All bow down to the Harry!

Nice work H!!! Don't see that in Kent much!! :winky:

[NL]

Heres a time-lapse of the storm cell that the team where on yesterday and along with plenty of other stormchasers. This time-lapse shows spectacular wall cloud lowering and a very brief tornado taken by Scott Bennett/Ben Holcomb.

[Arron]

Well I'm absolutley goosed! just gonna add a few more pics into the mix and hopefully get some film sorted (laptop playing up at the mo zzzzzz)

[Paul]

The team have uploaded some video highlights from yesterday:

http://www.netweather.tv/index.cgi?action=storm-chase-highlights;sess=

[craig1uk]

Great job guys, right place right time eh ! Loving the pics, that must have been quite something to look up at, I can't wait to come over !!!!!!

Good luck with today

[dogs32]

Well I'm absolutley goosed! just gonna add a few more pics into the mix and hopefully get some film sorted (laptop playing up at the mo zzzzzz)

lovely Arron...cant wait to see these clouds again...

[multi cellular thunderstorm]

Great photos everyone, I can't wait to get over there.

Great to see the Barons again in that photo, looking forward to hearing 'You are approaching a twisted storm'

Good luck for today too.

[Ross B]

Yes, excellent report and photos all. I'm jealous already