Dan Robinson
EF5
Surface low arc producing nicely. Just had this top 5 intercept on I-80 east of Lincoln.
-
While Stormtrack has discontinued its hosting of SpotterNetwork support on the forums, keep in mind that support for SpotterNetwork issues is available by emailing [email protected].
2024-04-26 REPORTS: IA/NE/KS/MO/OK
- Thread starter Dan Robinson
- Start date
Greg McLaughlin
EF5
Fortunately, I haven't gone empty handed today. This was just west of Fredonia, KS around 3:50pm. This tornado lasted over 15 minutes. Currently in northeast OK trying to intercept a supercell coming out of Tulsa, but it has been struggling so far. Today is going to be a day we talk about for a while. Congrats to everyone who scored.
Dan Robinson
EF5
Minden, Iowa possibly took a direct hit from this tornado. Have not been able to check on town due to closed road. Checking on impacted houses northeast of town. Everyone OK so far.
Sean Ramsey
EF4
Caught this guy near Treynor, IA. My first Iowa tor. Screen grab from live stream.
Don’t have any pictures to share because I was the one driving and storms are still ongoing. Saw four tornadoes and several houses being destroyed. Most of the people I saw that stopped to help were chasers who stopped chasing instead of continuing on. Kudos to all of you who stop and offer aid. It does make a difference. Just posting about it now because I’m old and forget things
Derek Weston
EF5
(edits, thought this was a report thread for some reason, oops)
Memorable day. Started out in Western Iowa and once I saw Eastern Nebraska was coming together targeted Lincoln, NE. That worked out well. Chased that cyclical supercell until it reached the Omaha suburbs. Got east and reposition. Picked up the Shelby Iowa area tornado as it crossed and followed it north a bit. Probably a half dozen tornadoes on a couple of cyclic supercells. Terrible to hear about all the damage done, hopefully no lives lost. An outbreak that will not soon be forgotten and a top 5 day for me.
(would have kept going long but windshield wipers failed, will figure out what's up with that tomorrow -- at any rate, what a way to kick off 2024 chase season, eh?)
Memorable day. Started out in Western Iowa and once I saw Eastern Nebraska was coming together targeted Lincoln, NE. That worked out well. Chased that cyclical supercell until it reached the Omaha suburbs. Got east and reposition. Picked up the Shelby Iowa area tornado as it crossed and followed it north a bit. Probably a half dozen tornadoes on a couple of cyclic supercells. Terrible to hear about all the damage done, hopefully no lives lost. An outbreak that will not soon be forgotten and a top 5 day for me.
(would have kept going long but windshield wipers failed, will figure out what's up with that tomorrow -- at any rate, what a way to kick off 2024 chase season, eh?)
Attachments
Dan Robinson
EF5
I have a ton of imagery to include later, but wanted to hammer this account out while it is still fresh. I awoke in Salina to pessimism about the day when looking at morning data. It appeared that the best upper support would stay well to the south and east of the primary surface low target where they typical arc of supercells was expected. Moisture also did not seem as robust as forecast, and with midlevel winds more southerly than forecast, it appeared that directional shear would also not be as good as expected earlier. Nonetheless, a deep low would have tons of ambient vorticity to help offset those problems, so I felt that it remained the best target of the day.
I stopped for coffee and to look at data for a while in Concordia, then moved slowly north to York. I was tempted to go after the early storm at the center of the low once the reports from it started flooding in, but felt that the arc of supercells farther south would have similar potential.
My target storms fired a little farther south than I'd thought/wanted, but after the lack of agitated cumulus made it clear nothing would be filling in between those two areas, I headed south to Wilber to get in front of the best-looking storm. I drove past another storm to get there that looked promising, but I felt that it was at risk of getting cut off by the Wilber storm. I arrived in Wilber as the storm's first tornado warning was issued, but the storm did not look like it was yet ready.
I stayed with the storm northeast through Hallam to Lincoln, where I lost the core's race to the I-80 interchange west of town. I did not want to risk getting stuck on the interstate by hail-spooked motorists parking under overpasses, so I went through downtown to I-180 to get on the interstate eastbound. I did not have a good visual on what was happening to my south due to heavy rain, bad terrain and traffic, so I missed capturing the beginning of the tornado on my better cameras. Once I got clear of the precip, I found a safe place to stop along the interstate (off of the pavement) to get my camera set up. Lots of motorists were also stopping (as well as chasers) as the highly-visible tornado approached.
The "waterfall" sound was clearly audible, and while the tornado was strong, it had an almost soft, graceful feel to it as it approached. This changed as it encountered a commercial structure. The tornado roared loudly as it lofted a large amount of debris. It crossed the interstate about a half-mile to my east.
I got back on the highway intending to move north once across the Platte River (I did not want to get trapped without a river crossing). During this move east, more tornadoes were visible - possibly three separate ones, including one that looked like it was on the RFD gust front and anticyclonic. I honestly don't know what happened during this time as I could not keep an eye on it from driving. It may have all just been the same tornado.
My plan to re-intercept the storm north of Gretna was a mistake. The road was congested with traffic, and long/non-timed lights were stopping me at every cross road. I finally made it to Highway 275 to see the start of a large tornado to my northwest. I did not get any pictures of this due to not being able to find a view (terrain, trees and buildings made it impossible). With more storms approaching from the southwest, I decided I didn't want to be stuck in the Omaha metro any more, and bailed to the interstates and the northeast into Iowa.
When I re-intercepted the storm at Modale, a new tornado was developing with the next meso cycle, while an old tornado emerged from the rain behind the RFD gust front. The old tornado roped out, but its circulation remained visible moving through the town.
I had to let the storm go to get gas in Logan. After this, I moved south to Beebeetown to intercept the next storm. It already had a tornado in progress when the meso became visible! I watched this approach for a short time before heading east to give it some more room, once again hearing the waterfall sound.
After this crossed I-80, I moved east to the next storm at Minden - and again, a tornado was already in progress when I gained a visual on the updraft region. The road from the north into Minden was closed due to construction, so I stopped at the crest of the last hill before town. I observed this tornado - the largest of the day - move into the town of Minden with a loud roar. As the tornado got a little to close for my comfort level, I moved north to give it some additional room and to observe it pass by to the east.
I followed behind it as it slowly shrank in size, watching it cross a dirt road about a mile ahead of me. After it had crossed the road, another tornado condensed to its south. This appeared to be a separate circulation.
I encountered a two-story house that had been struck on this road, stopping to assist. The house was still standing but was substantially damaged, all of the windows were gone. The lone occupant and his pets were OK, having ridden out the tornado in the basement. Another chaser stopped to help. We offered assistance, with the only thing he asked for was to get the garage door off of his mostly-undamaged truck. After neighbors arrived on scene, we both left.
I got back on I-80 and made the long trek through Des Moines down to Winterset where a tornadic supercell was fighting off surrounding storms. I observed a wall cloud with this storm to the southwest with difficulty, as the terrain/trees at that location were suboptimal. I decided to head down to a supercell ahead of the line at Osceola. I had a feeling of dread as the couplet was quite strong, and it appeared to be heading straight for the town. I observed a cone tornado approach the town and then vanished just prior to entering it, as if my prayers for the town were answered. I didn't see any power flashes nor did I encounter any damage when I passed through the town a few minutes later.
I observed what appeared to be a separate tornado getting started to the north of town, with multiple funnels visible under the wall cloud. This storm was moving much faster than the others, and it did not appear that I'd catch up again. I moved south to the tail-end cell in the line, which had a couplet and was tornado-warned, but had no visible structure that I could see.
I honestly don't know what my total count was for the day. Conservatively, it is at least 8. More if the tornadoes between Waverly and Omaha were separate events. Definitely a top 5 day for me. It's rare for me to hear the sound of a tornado, I heard the waterfall and roar three separate times.
I stopped for coffee and to look at data for a while in Concordia, then moved slowly north to York. I was tempted to go after the early storm at the center of the low once the reports from it started flooding in, but felt that the arc of supercells farther south would have similar potential.
My target storms fired a little farther south than I'd thought/wanted, but after the lack of agitated cumulus made it clear nothing would be filling in between those two areas, I headed south to Wilber to get in front of the best-looking storm. I drove past another storm to get there that looked promising, but I felt that it was at risk of getting cut off by the Wilber storm. I arrived in Wilber as the storm's first tornado warning was issued, but the storm did not look like it was yet ready.
I stayed with the storm northeast through Hallam to Lincoln, where I lost the core's race to the I-80 interchange west of town. I did not want to risk getting stuck on the interstate by hail-spooked motorists parking under overpasses, so I went through downtown to I-180 to get on the interstate eastbound. I did not have a good visual on what was happening to my south due to heavy rain, bad terrain and traffic, so I missed capturing the beginning of the tornado on my better cameras. Once I got clear of the precip, I found a safe place to stop along the interstate (off of the pavement) to get my camera set up. Lots of motorists were also stopping (as well as chasers) as the highly-visible tornado approached.
The "waterfall" sound was clearly audible, and while the tornado was strong, it had an almost soft, graceful feel to it as it approached. This changed as it encountered a commercial structure. The tornado roared loudly as it lofted a large amount of debris. It crossed the interstate about a half-mile to my east.
I got back on the highway intending to move north once across the Platte River (I did not want to get trapped without a river crossing). During this move east, more tornadoes were visible - possibly three separate ones, including one that looked like it was on the RFD gust front and anticyclonic. I honestly don't know what happened during this time as I could not keep an eye on it from driving. It may have all just been the same tornado.
My plan to re-intercept the storm north of Gretna was a mistake. The road was congested with traffic, and long/non-timed lights were stopping me at every cross road. I finally made it to Highway 275 to see the start of a large tornado to my northwest. I did not get any pictures of this due to not being able to find a view (terrain, trees and buildings made it impossible). With more storms approaching from the southwest, I decided I didn't want to be stuck in the Omaha metro any more, and bailed to the interstates and the northeast into Iowa.
When I re-intercepted the storm at Modale, a new tornado was developing with the next meso cycle, while an old tornado emerged from the rain behind the RFD gust front. The old tornado roped out, but its circulation remained visible moving through the town.
I had to let the storm go to get gas in Logan. After this, I moved south to Beebeetown to intercept the next storm. It already had a tornado in progress when the meso became visible! I watched this approach for a short time before heading east to give it some more room, once again hearing the waterfall sound.
After this crossed I-80, I moved east to the next storm at Minden - and again, a tornado was already in progress when I gained a visual on the updraft region. The road from the north into Minden was closed due to construction, so I stopped at the crest of the last hill before town. I observed this tornado - the largest of the day - move into the town of Minden with a loud roar. As the tornado got a little to close for my comfort level, I moved north to give it some additional room and to observe it pass by to the east.
I followed behind it as it slowly shrank in size, watching it cross a dirt road about a mile ahead of me. After it had crossed the road, another tornado condensed to its south. This appeared to be a separate circulation.
I encountered a two-story house that had been struck on this road, stopping to assist. The house was still standing but was substantially damaged, all of the windows were gone. The lone occupant and his pets were OK, having ridden out the tornado in the basement. Another chaser stopped to help. We offered assistance, with the only thing he asked for was to get the garage door off of his mostly-undamaged truck. After neighbors arrived on scene, we both left.
I got back on I-80 and made the long trek through Des Moines down to Winterset where a tornadic supercell was fighting off surrounding storms. I observed a wall cloud with this storm to the southwest with difficulty, as the terrain/trees at that location were suboptimal. I decided to head down to a supercell ahead of the line at Osceola. I had a feeling of dread as the couplet was quite strong, and it appeared to be heading straight for the town. I observed a cone tornado approach the town and then vanished just prior to entering it, as if my prayers for the town were answered. I didn't see any power flashes nor did I encounter any damage when I passed through the town a few minutes later.
I observed what appeared to be a separate tornado getting started to the north of town, with multiple funnels visible under the wall cloud. This storm was moving much faster than the others, and it did not appear that I'd catch up again. I moved south to the tail-end cell in the line, which had a couplet and was tornado-warned, but had no visible structure that I could see.
I honestly don't know what my total count was for the day. Conservatively, it is at least 8. More if the tornadoes between Waverly and Omaha were separate events. Definitely a top 5 day for me. It's rare for me to hear the sound of a tornado, I heard the waterfall and roar three separate times.
Attachments
Last edited:
James Wilson
EF5
I have so much to go through so I will post a couple now and add later. Video is here
Attachments
Blake Naftel
EF3
Southeast Kansas, Western Missouri
Cyclic Supercell and multiple tornadoes. [5-7 total observed].
The atmosphere was quite turbulent today in southeastern Kansas and western Missouri! A long-track, cyclic supercell thunderstorm produced multiple tornadoes, some quite visibly large, along a 112.5 mile path from north of Altoona, Kansas [southwest of Chanute] to approximately 3 miles east of Clinton, Missouri. I observed between 5 to 7 tornadoes, three at fairly close range [+/- one mile or less] in select open terrain between 4:15 p.m. CT and 7:55 p.m. CT.
Began the morning in Topeka with an initial FFZ [forecast focus zone] from Fort Scott to Parsons, Kansas and points east. Deep moisture return by mid/late afternoon into the early evening along a modulated dryline, with ample 500-850mb veering, forecast SB CAPE around the 2500-3000+ J/kg, Theta-e rich moisture tongue and some potential for locally backed surface winds in the along and south of Kansas-Missouri Highway 54 had my attention. After a quick lunch in TOP, the 1630 SWODY1 seemed to concur as I proceeded south on Highway 75 towards Chanute and Parsons. While in Chanute at 1:55 p.m., a rather elongated storm fired along the dryline east of Arkansas City and Winfield. 25 minutes later, a secondary storm, both of which were clearly becoming supercells, developed near Dexter, Kansas. The northern storm first went tornado warned, while the southern cell began to phase up and take on a distinct mesocyclone signature north of Longton, Kansas at 3:30p.
While I waited and watched the storms evolve on radar from Parsons, the southern storm began to go dominant and eventually absorbed the northern supercell. I headed north on KS Highway 59 and then west on KS 47 towards Altoona.
Note for anyone chasing Saturday, 4/27 in Southeast Kansas: KS Highway 59, between Highway 47 west and Kansas Highway 39, was closed Friday afternoon.
That closure allowed for a western direct B-line to the impressive supercell. Updraft and flank knuckles of cumulonimbus revealed as I neared HW 169 and 47 west of Altoona. The supercell was tornado warned by that point with reports of a confirmed tornado visually.
Eventually headed north out of Altoona to view the encroaching mesocyclone and wall cloud just at 4:09p CT off a side road just off Highway 75. Meso movement was gradually east southeast. Repositioned a mile south of the wall cloud that exhibited rapid rotation.
A tornado, observed at times as a cone vortex, soon developed to the west of HW 75 at apx. 4:15p CT and gradually became enshrouded in rain as the wet RFD wrapped. Headed east on a network of dirt grid roads as the tornado became visible again from my viewpoint looking north at 4:20p CT. The supercell cycled again [and would do this numerous times through the evening, per cyclic supercell nature], with a broad rotating wall cloud west of Chanute at 4:40 p.m. Sirens blared and many curious residents were out and about in town. I continued to meander and shift east/northeast along KS 39, taking a northward jog and then east from Uniontown. At points it did get a bit hairy with wet RFD wrapping into the cycling mesocyclone. Eventually when I cleared the edge of the hook and made it into the clear, a double rainbow cast boldly just to the east. Made it to Fort Scott, then drove north on Highway 69 as the meso/wall cloud approached, then shifted east on a dirt road grid taking the [finally] nicely paved “Valley Road” east over the Kansas-Missouri border.
On the western village limits of Stotesbury, Missouri a decent clear field presented itself just as the rapidly rotating wall cloud began to cycle up again. A lot of vorticity in the air at this point! A brief tornado first dropped down out of the forward flank of the meso. To the northwest of County Road D, the wall cloud, now with rapid rotation, produced another cone tornado with helix vortices about a mile or less to my northwest. Then it was time to shuffle east/northeast, again.
Between Rich Hill and Rockville, Missouri, the meso cycled again and produced at least two tornadoes. I stopped at 6:39p CT on County Road B and recorded additional video of another tornado to the north. Then continued the country road/highway stair step to Appleton City and Montrose. East of Montrose another tornado developed and quickly became enshrouded in rain, with the supercell often taking on high-precipitation characteristics. Headed north on KS 52 and 13 at Deepwater, Missouri, with a clear view of the cyclic meso/wall cloud to the west over the Harry S. Truman Reservoir.
At this point I was about to let the storm go, but proceeded east of Clinton on MO Highway 7 for one final wide view. Tripoded and watched the supercell and rotating wall cloud approach. At 7:35 p.m to the west of a local N/S road off Highway 7, approximately 2-3 miles east of Clinton, a very photogenic tornado developed and gravitated in my immediate direction. Between rain spurts, the environment became very still with the classic waterfall sound very audible. When the tornado was less than a mile away, I headed south and then east along Highway 7 for a dramatic rope out at sunset. A rainbow materialized soon after to the east, cast against the departing supercell. A beautiful turbulent sky sunset with mammatus concluded the scenery. Road networks and terrain cooperated surprisingly well at vital points of the storms tornado genesis during the entire day. Great chase day! Everything else is gravy from this point.
Cyclic Supercell and multiple tornadoes. [5-7 total observed].
The atmosphere was quite turbulent today in southeastern Kansas and western Missouri! A long-track, cyclic supercell thunderstorm produced multiple tornadoes, some quite visibly large, along a 112.5 mile path from north of Altoona, Kansas [southwest of Chanute] to approximately 3 miles east of Clinton, Missouri. I observed between 5 to 7 tornadoes, three at fairly close range [+/- one mile or less] in select open terrain between 4:15 p.m. CT and 7:55 p.m. CT.
Began the morning in Topeka with an initial FFZ [forecast focus zone] from Fort Scott to Parsons, Kansas and points east. Deep moisture return by mid/late afternoon into the early evening along a modulated dryline, with ample 500-850mb veering, forecast SB CAPE around the 2500-3000+ J/kg, Theta-e rich moisture tongue and some potential for locally backed surface winds in the along and south of Kansas-Missouri Highway 54 had my attention. After a quick lunch in TOP, the 1630 SWODY1 seemed to concur as I proceeded south on Highway 75 towards Chanute and Parsons. While in Chanute at 1:55 p.m., a rather elongated storm fired along the dryline east of Arkansas City and Winfield. 25 minutes later, a secondary storm, both of which were clearly becoming supercells, developed near Dexter, Kansas. The northern storm first went tornado warned, while the southern cell began to phase up and take on a distinct mesocyclone signature north of Longton, Kansas at 3:30p.
While I waited and watched the storms evolve on radar from Parsons, the southern storm began to go dominant and eventually absorbed the northern supercell. I headed north on KS Highway 59 and then west on KS 47 towards Altoona.
Note for anyone chasing Saturday, 4/27 in Southeast Kansas: KS Highway 59, between Highway 47 west and Kansas Highway 39, was closed Friday afternoon.
That closure allowed for a western direct B-line to the impressive supercell. Updraft and flank knuckles of cumulonimbus revealed as I neared HW 169 and 47 west of Altoona. The supercell was tornado warned by that point with reports of a confirmed tornado visually.
Eventually headed north out of Altoona to view the encroaching mesocyclone and wall cloud just at 4:09p CT off a side road just off Highway 75. Meso movement was gradually east southeast. Repositioned a mile south of the wall cloud that exhibited rapid rotation.
A tornado, observed at times as a cone vortex, soon developed to the west of HW 75 at apx. 4:15p CT and gradually became enshrouded in rain as the wet RFD wrapped. Headed east on a network of dirt grid roads as the tornado became visible again from my viewpoint looking north at 4:20p CT. The supercell cycled again [and would do this numerous times through the evening, per cyclic supercell nature], with a broad rotating wall cloud west of Chanute at 4:40 p.m. Sirens blared and many curious residents were out and about in town. I continued to meander and shift east/northeast along KS 39, taking a northward jog and then east from Uniontown. At points it did get a bit hairy with wet RFD wrapping into the cycling mesocyclone. Eventually when I cleared the edge of the hook and made it into the clear, a double rainbow cast boldly just to the east. Made it to Fort Scott, then drove north on Highway 69 as the meso/wall cloud approached, then shifted east on a dirt road grid taking the [finally] nicely paved “Valley Road” east over the Kansas-Missouri border.
On the western village limits of Stotesbury, Missouri a decent clear field presented itself just as the rapidly rotating wall cloud began to cycle up again. A lot of vorticity in the air at this point! A brief tornado first dropped down out of the forward flank of the meso. To the northwest of County Road D, the wall cloud, now with rapid rotation, produced another cone tornado with helix vortices about a mile or less to my northwest. Then it was time to shuffle east/northeast, again.
Between Rich Hill and Rockville, Missouri, the meso cycled again and produced at least two tornadoes. I stopped at 6:39p CT on County Road B and recorded additional video of another tornado to the north. Then continued the country road/highway stair step to Appleton City and Montrose. East of Montrose another tornado developed and quickly became enshrouded in rain, with the supercell often taking on high-precipitation characteristics. Headed north on KS 52 and 13 at Deepwater, Missouri, with a clear view of the cyclic meso/wall cloud to the west over the Harry S. Truman Reservoir.
At this point I was about to let the storm go, but proceeded east of Clinton on MO Highway 7 for one final wide view. Tripoded and watched the supercell and rotating wall cloud approach. At 7:35 p.m to the west of a local N/S road off Highway 7, approximately 2-3 miles east of Clinton, a very photogenic tornado developed and gravitated in my immediate direction. Between rain spurts, the environment became very still with the classic waterfall sound very audible. When the tornado was less than a mile away, I headed south and then east along Highway 7 for a dramatic rope out at sunset. A rainbow materialized soon after to the east, cast against the departing supercell. A beautiful turbulent sky sunset with mammatus concluded the scenery. Road networks and terrain cooperated surprisingly well at vital points of the storms tornado genesis during the entire day. Great chase day! Everything else is gravy from this point.
Attachments
Last edited:
Jesse Risley
Staff member
I ended up leaving work in the late afternoon and headed west on US 34. Getting a late start. I do that. The play for me was going to have to be southwest Iowa. I was targeting the southern cells that formed in Northeast Kansas and Southeast Nebraska and as those moved into northwestern, Missouri and southwestern Iowa, they quickly became tornadic. I intercepted a cell Southwest of Creston that produced several tornadoes and then right behind it a new cell formed not far from the airport and dropped several tornadoes as it headed towards Afton. I chased with @Ethan Schisler and we ended up seeing a final tornado south of Osceola. Just as the sun was setting. It appeared that the tornado lifted just before entering town and there may have been some damage on the southeast side. It certainly was rewarding even though I wasn't able to get to the stuff up on the I-80 corridor.
Attachments
James Wilson
EF5
Adding the life cycle of that first tornado by lincoln. I woke up this morning in Omaha and heading to somewhere in Oklahoma for today.
Attachments
-
Screenshot_20240427_095148_Gallery.jpg -
Screenshot_20240427_095144_Gallery.jpg -
Screenshot_20240427_095139_Gallery.jpg -
Screenshot_20240427_095135_Gallery.jpg -
Screenshot_20240427_095055_Gallery.jpg -
Screenshot_20240427_095049_Gallery.jpg -
Screenshot_20240427_095040_Gallery.jpg -
Screenshot_20240427_095035_Gallery.jpg -
Screenshot_20240427_095028_Gallery.jpg -
Screenshot_20240427_095016_Gallery.jpg
Pravin Gupta
Enthusiast
Left Iowa City around 11AM to Omaha. Did not want to cross the river to avoid chaser convergence as well as large hail, so stayed. on Iowa side. Caught up with this tornado near Shelby, Iowa from about a mile distance. Saw many chasers driving past me 90-100 miles/hr speed, I suppose rather risky. Glad there were no accidents or fatalities with this outbreak.
Attachments
Likely the greatest chase day I'll ever have.
Need to review the footage, but I know I caught at least 12 tornadoes on 4 separate supercells (Lincoln>Omaha, Omaha/Council Bluffs, McClelland>Tennant, and Defiance) during the day.
More footage and pictures than I can even count at this point, but below are a few of the screen grabs, pics, and videos I caught on my phone. Gonna be uploading more footage over the next few weeks including a 360 video of the Minden tornado as it hit town.
Great job to the chasers out there helping to keep the public weather aware and assisting in S&R activities! That, and it being daytime led to a remarkably (borderline miraculously) low casualty total considering the intensity, coverage, and population density of the outbreak area.
Minden Tornado Developing
Need to review the footage, but I know I caught at least 12 tornadoes on 4 separate supercells (Lincoln>Omaha, Omaha/Council Bluffs, McClelland>Tennant, and Defiance) during the day.
More footage and pictures than I can even count at this point, but below are a few of the screen grabs, pics, and videos I caught on my phone. Gonna be uploading more footage over the next few weeks including a 360 video of the Minden tornado as it hit town.
Great job to the chasers out there helping to keep the public weather aware and assisting in S&R activities! That, and it being daytime led to a remarkably (borderline miraculously) low casualty total considering the intensity, coverage, and population density of the outbreak area.
Minden Tornado Developing
Tony Laubach
EF5
April 26, 1991 was the event that made me wanna pursue storms as a career... 33 years later I had what probably will be my most intense storm chase of my career...
Chase partner Ed Grubb and I started the day in Concordia, Kansas... given the previous few events, in particular being burned on the April 16 event (running away from the surface low), we decided to make a b-line for the low north of Kearney. We had some reservations about whether this day was ultimately going to pan out (similar concerns to Dan and previous recent events). So after a lunch stop in Columbus, we shot back west as storms fired near Kearney and we rolled up to the storm east of Farwell, catching this brief little nader east of town. NWS Hastings says this was the initial stages of the Elba tornado, but this quick spin-up dissipated pretty quickly and we cannot confirm any continuous tornadic activity for a couple minutes after this lifted. I'd venture to say the main tornado was developing and this was a satellite of the big one based upon my observations.
With the storm moving north/northeast, we flipped around to Highway 11 and came up through Elba, stopping about a mile or so north of town at the intersection with Odell Road where we put ourselves pretty close to the main circulation, which had a formidable RFD wrapping around. We stopped here for several minutes as it roared away to our immediate north. We watched the power poles on Odell Road come down one-by-one in the RFD, possibly a domino effect from the tornado taking them down further up the road.
Once the RFD cleared and it was safe, we turned back around through Elba, shot east to St. Paul, then north on US-281 to make our second intercept of this storm. At the time, we thought we were observing the same tornado given the strength of the initial intercept north of Elba, but as Hastings has come out, this was a second, larger tornado southwest of Wolbach. This one we hung back about a mile or so as the visibility with this one was not nearly as good, so we opted not to chance it as close as the previous intercept. This RFD took down several trees in our immediate vicinity.
We let the tornado clear and we proceeded north, then eventually east through Wolbach on NE-22. We were going to make one more attempt to get north, but the two roads we tried were mud, and we didn't want to chance getting stuck. We did try to stay with this storm, but could never get back into view enroute to Albion. About this time, we started to take note of the cells near Lincoln, and figuring the next round of the show was about to begin. We started to passively make our way east with other storms forming to our south, but once the tornado reports starting pouring in, we committed to the east route.
While that drive was going on, reports and images starting pouring in from the Lincoln/Omaha storms, and we were plotting a way to get across the river into position where we could actually intercept them. We hauled east on NE-91, going through the town of Snyder, and we discussed the two options before us. One was the quickest route to the storms, southeast through Scribner via NE-91 into Blair and crossing the river at Missouri Valley. We were immediately concerned with the potential of getting stuck in the damage path, and never getting ahead of the storms. Our other option, and the one we opted for, was to take the northern route via NE-51. We gauged the storms were moving at a slow enough speed that would allow us to get across the river at Onawa, then take the southeast route via IA-37 to get in front. That ultimately was the decision that made the second half of our day possible.
So it was about an hour before we got into Iowa, and when we did, the target storm was the one heading for the Harlan area. We had one storm to the north that we'd tangle with enroute, but by far the most impressive storm within our reach was the next one down the line. We needed to make Dunlap for a fuel stop, so that was the main goal at that moment. Turns out, the northern storm we were gonna skirt was producing a tornado taking aim on Soldier, and when we realized we could beat it there, we made the stop and observed this tornado briefly, crossing back to the northwest to the other side of town where a less definitive tornado ripped through the trees northwest of town. We didn't stay too long; just padded the stats and proceeded with gas and got ready to intercept the 'Tornado Emergency' coming up from Harlan.
By this point, I was prepping for my 6PM live hit with AccuWeather. We were rolling through Earling just before the top of the hour when Ed got a visual on the lowering through the trees and hills to our south. We were approaching US-59, and the initial plan was to peel north to get in better position, but when we arrived at the junction and it was clear the tornado was still a ways to the south, we opted to poke south about two miles to setup on a hill with a great view of the approaching tornado. All this while we went into the live hit and crested the hill as I went on air with the tornado in full view.
For the next 25 minutes, I was giving a play-by-play of this tornado live on the AccuWeather Network as it churned its way in our direction. Once it got within a couple miles, the contrast was divine. It isn't often when you can get a view as pristine as we had coming in from the north. Aside from about 60-seconds of hail approaching 2", we were mostly precip-free til the tornado got right up on us. It made for one of the best TV moments of my career with a clear picture of the approaching tornado and great live coverage.
I'd say we were probably kissing the north edge of the parent circulation. This tornado wasn't always fully condensed at ground level, but as it crossed Highway 59 to our immediate south, I'd be lying if I said we were more than a quarter mile from the northern edge. All the while, the occasional sub-vortex would spin up and rifle right to left across the highway. I feel like it took several minutes before the circulation fully cleared the highway, all the while giving the play-by-play on the network as it did so.
Once the tornado cleared the highway, we flipped back around to the north, taking a series of county roads immediately behind the tornado as it narrowly missed Defiance to the east. Occasionally part of the main circulation would condense, all the while little vorticies would spin down, but it stayed churning on its way to Manilla.
We eventually ended up on IA-141 heading east toward Manilla where what appeared to be a satellite circulation developed in the field immediately to our south and crossed literal feet in front of the hood.
We let that storm go as more tornadic storms were coming up from the southwest. We ended up dropping south into Audubon where we opted to close out the chase after watching two storms go by the area. With darkness falling, we called it a chase. In total, six tornadoes, starting as early as 12:45PM. The most impressive without question was the Harlan-to-Manilla intercept which we had most of it aired live as it was happening.
FIRST PART OF THE LIVE COVERAGE OF THE SHELBY COUNTY TORNADO EMERGENCY ON ACCUWEATHER
The chaser in me had some brief bouts of regret with our targeting of the early storms, costing us a chance at the Lincoln-to-Omaha tornadoes. Those certainly were the most visually impressive of the bunch, and certainly had the most impact. But I was very happy that we were able to secure the early tornadoes north of Kearney and still make it east with the very wise decision to take the northern crossing, which allowed us the opportunity to document the back end of the Harlan tornado. This chase could easily rank as number 1 for intensity/experience given the close proximity to several of the larger tornadoes we encountered, and the Harlan tornado definitely was a top-tier intercept. Obviously it was most certainly NOT the result we wanted to see having so many destructive tornadoes in populated areas. It's always a double-edged sword when that happens, particularly to the extent that it did this day (more so the following night).
Definitely a day to remember... major kudos to my chase partner, Ed Grubb... we've chased together for many many years at this point, and his eyes and call outs made what would've been a very stressful solo chase much easier and successful.
Chase partner Ed Grubb and I started the day in Concordia, Kansas... given the previous few events, in particular being burned on the April 16 event (running away from the surface low), we decided to make a b-line for the low north of Kearney. We had some reservations about whether this day was ultimately going to pan out (similar concerns to Dan and previous recent events). So after a lunch stop in Columbus, we shot back west as storms fired near Kearney and we rolled up to the storm east of Farwell, catching this brief little nader east of town. NWS Hastings says this was the initial stages of the Elba tornado, but this quick spin-up dissipated pretty quickly and we cannot confirm any continuous tornadic activity for a couple minutes after this lifted. I'd venture to say the main tornado was developing and this was a satellite of the big one based upon my observations.
With the storm moving north/northeast, we flipped around to Highway 11 and came up through Elba, stopping about a mile or so north of town at the intersection with Odell Road where we put ourselves pretty close to the main circulation, which had a formidable RFD wrapping around. We stopped here for several minutes as it roared away to our immediate north. We watched the power poles on Odell Road come down one-by-one in the RFD, possibly a domino effect from the tornado taking them down further up the road.
Once the RFD cleared and it was safe, we turned back around through Elba, shot east to St. Paul, then north on US-281 to make our second intercept of this storm. At the time, we thought we were observing the same tornado given the strength of the initial intercept north of Elba, but as Hastings has come out, this was a second, larger tornado southwest of Wolbach. This one we hung back about a mile or so as the visibility with this one was not nearly as good, so we opted not to chance it as close as the previous intercept. This RFD took down several trees in our immediate vicinity.
We let the tornado clear and we proceeded north, then eventually east through Wolbach on NE-22. We were going to make one more attempt to get north, but the two roads we tried were mud, and we didn't want to chance getting stuck. We did try to stay with this storm, but could never get back into view enroute to Albion. About this time, we started to take note of the cells near Lincoln, and figuring the next round of the show was about to begin. We started to passively make our way east with other storms forming to our south, but once the tornado reports starting pouring in, we committed to the east route.
While that drive was going on, reports and images starting pouring in from the Lincoln/Omaha storms, and we were plotting a way to get across the river into position where we could actually intercept them. We hauled east on NE-91, going through the town of Snyder, and we discussed the two options before us. One was the quickest route to the storms, southeast through Scribner via NE-91 into Blair and crossing the river at Missouri Valley. We were immediately concerned with the potential of getting stuck in the damage path, and never getting ahead of the storms. Our other option, and the one we opted for, was to take the northern route via NE-51. We gauged the storms were moving at a slow enough speed that would allow us to get across the river at Onawa, then take the southeast route via IA-37 to get in front. That ultimately was the decision that made the second half of our day possible.
So it was about an hour before we got into Iowa, and when we did, the target storm was the one heading for the Harlan area. We had one storm to the north that we'd tangle with enroute, but by far the most impressive storm within our reach was the next one down the line. We needed to make Dunlap for a fuel stop, so that was the main goal at that moment. Turns out, the northern storm we were gonna skirt was producing a tornado taking aim on Soldier, and when we realized we could beat it there, we made the stop and observed this tornado briefly, crossing back to the northwest to the other side of town where a less definitive tornado ripped through the trees northwest of town. We didn't stay too long; just padded the stats and proceeded with gas and got ready to intercept the 'Tornado Emergency' coming up from Harlan.
By this point, I was prepping for my 6PM live hit with AccuWeather. We were rolling through Earling just before the top of the hour when Ed got a visual on the lowering through the trees and hills to our south. We were approaching US-59, and the initial plan was to peel north to get in better position, but when we arrived at the junction and it was clear the tornado was still a ways to the south, we opted to poke south about two miles to setup on a hill with a great view of the approaching tornado. All this while we went into the live hit and crested the hill as I went on air with the tornado in full view.
For the next 25 minutes, I was giving a play-by-play of this tornado live on the AccuWeather Network as it churned its way in our direction. Once it got within a couple miles, the contrast was divine. It isn't often when you can get a view as pristine as we had coming in from the north. Aside from about 60-seconds of hail approaching 2", we were mostly precip-free til the tornado got right up on us. It made for one of the best TV moments of my career with a clear picture of the approaching tornado and great live coverage.
I'd say we were probably kissing the north edge of the parent circulation. This tornado wasn't always fully condensed at ground level, but as it crossed Highway 59 to our immediate south, I'd be lying if I said we were more than a quarter mile from the northern edge. All the while, the occasional sub-vortex would spin up and rifle right to left across the highway. I feel like it took several minutes before the circulation fully cleared the highway, all the while giving the play-by-play on the network as it did so.
Once the tornado cleared the highway, we flipped back around to the north, taking a series of county roads immediately behind the tornado as it narrowly missed Defiance to the east. Occasionally part of the main circulation would condense, all the while little vorticies would spin down, but it stayed churning on its way to Manilla.
We eventually ended up on IA-141 heading east toward Manilla where what appeared to be a satellite circulation developed in the field immediately to our south and crossed literal feet in front of the hood.We let that storm go as more tornadic storms were coming up from the southwest. We ended up dropping south into Audubon where we opted to close out the chase after watching two storms go by the area. With darkness falling, we called it a chase. In total, six tornadoes, starting as early as 12:45PM. The most impressive without question was the Harlan-to-Manilla intercept which we had most of it aired live as it was happening.
FIRST PART OF THE LIVE COVERAGE OF THE SHELBY COUNTY TORNADO EMERGENCY ON ACCUWEATHER
The chaser in me had some brief bouts of regret with our targeting of the early storms, costing us a chance at the Lincoln-to-Omaha tornadoes. Those certainly were the most visually impressive of the bunch, and certainly had the most impact. But I was very happy that we were able to secure the early tornadoes north of Kearney and still make it east with the very wise decision to take the northern crossing, which allowed us the opportunity to document the back end of the Harlan tornado. This chase could easily rank as number 1 for intensity/experience given the close proximity to several of the larger tornadoes we encountered, and the Harlan tornado definitely was a top-tier intercept. Obviously it was most certainly NOT the result we wanted to see having so many destructive tornadoes in populated areas. It's always a double-edged sword when that happens, particularly to the extent that it did this day (more so the following night).
Definitely a day to remember... major kudos to my chase partner, Ed Grubb... we've chased together for many many years at this point, and his eyes and call outs made what would've been a very stressful solo chase much easier and successful.
sdienst
EF2
Similar stories here as everyone else. Here's some (mostly tripoded) video of the intense tornadoes near Lincoln, Council Bluffs - Creston, Treynor-McClelland, and Harlan.
