1999-06-04: Nebraska Sand Hills Tornadic Supercell

June 4, 1999 - I ran across Al Moller, Mike Foster and John Monteverdi in northern Kansas earlier in the day, and drove across southern Nebraska expecting storms to form farther west. One did form in northeastern Colorado, and moved NNE into the Sand Hills of Nebraska. At first, the storm was poorly organized and didn't appear to be capable of much. Al, Mike and John, apparently frustrated after a long drive to only see an apparently weak storm, stopped on the interstate for supper, but I decided to stay in pursuit of the storm. As it moved north of the Interstate and into strong, gusty east-southeasterly moist inflow, the storm exploded, eventually producing at least six tornadoes after sunset, accompanied by awesome storm structure, and continuous lightning.

During the evening, I passed Howie Bluestein's crew, briefly visited with Gene Rhoden at one stop along the highway and later passed the VORTEX armada. Here's a freshly reworked image of the storm structure that was shot when the storm was south of Thedford.

http://www.k5kj.net/19990604bw.htm



More images are at:

http://www.k5kj.net/990604.htm