04/06/06 REPORTS: KS/NE/IA/MO/OK/AR/TX

[Doug_Kiesling]

Chased in north central Kansas.

Got the Hanover KS Tornado.

 

[Adam Holle]

Ben Tucker and I chased the same Hanover tornado. Got some wild video and pics. Will post tomorrow.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Got the Hanover tornado as well. It was a smidge close when it formed(probably 1/4 mile south). It was forming too close so I went east and it went right behind me and turned into a stout tornado(larger than Doug's image of it here).

JB and Randy Chamberlain got it as well.

 

[Rob Herman]

Caught the Manchester, KS tornado, it was about seven miles away. Seemed to be very close to the rain core north of the puesudo rain free base. Looked like a lot of people were watching this, the base, instead of the tornado. Contrast was very poor from my location, you had to look for it

 

[Daniel Christianson]

Well after getting off work around 4 i headed south on 50, then at Hwy 2 and 50, i go west on Hwy 2 to 66 south , and pretty much was on gravel roads, plenty of spotters out tonight , kind of funny when the winds kicked in the firemen sitting at the cemetery entrance watching the storm, i looked at them and they look at me ,, when them winds kickedd up we both kind of said Oh Crap" it was almost a sandstorm but mroe like gravel being blown at you, i had to roll up my windows and i cant wait for the scracthes on the car to appear in the morning light ;-), also before that line came through i had been on the direct path of the beatrice storm and only to be fed up with the tornado reports from beatrice storm i get all the way down there and the storm CRAPS OUT! figures" anyways encountered some strong winds, couple of signs blown over , and it was cool to see muddy dirt getting kicked up under the mush line stuff going east, pretty cool pics of clouds but thats all i can really report... im working on pics"


Bring on the next chase im bound to win sooner or later ;-)


EDIT Pics and Account Now Up At ) http://www.stormchaserdan.com/cyclone_dan_2006_photos.htm

 

[Scott Currens]

I was able to observe about 20 minutes worth of a long-lived tornadic supercell near Clay Center, KS. The supercell raced NNE at 45 mph, so 20 minutes was all I could manage. It produced 3 tornadoes in that short time frame, two were so so, but the third developed into what appered to be a wedge as it raced away from me.

www.violentplains.com

Scott Currens

 

[Travis Klanecky]

Seemed like about every chaser in the world was somewhere between Clay Center and Marysville. It was actually quite tough to travel with so much traffic. Especially those that would partially park on the shoulder, but leave part of there vehicle on the road. My crew first intercepted the wall cloud near Abilene and rode NNE to the NE/KS border. We came across two funnel clouds to our N and NW about 8 miles NNE of Abilene. Unfortunately, was not able to get out and get any stills since we were just fighting to keep up with the storms. I did get a little video of it though. From the looks of things, the funnel directly to our north never touched down, but the one to our NW may have. We were unable to tell because it became lost in the high precip. This may have been the one that eventually got to Clay Center. Unfortunately, working through the road system dropped us well behind and we arrived in Clay Center just in time to see multiple emergency vehicles head to the west of town.

Our crew continued to head NNE into Washington Co. figuring that we were stuck in between the storm now well to the north and the one hailing on Manhattan. As we arrived in the town of Barnes, we made the last minute decision to continue to head east to HW77. Had we turned north on 148, we would have had a nice view like Doug's picture above. Unfortunately, we didn't notice what had quickly shown up directly behind us until after passing the 148 turn. Probably should have paid more attention to the 50 guys in Barnes out of their vehicles and cameras set up. I believe this is the tornado that eventually got to Hanover.

By the time we reached Marysville, there was some more activity to our west as the updraft was working hard once again. But just to the north of Marysville, a stupid train decided that it had to get going just then. So we were stuck there for about 10 minutes. Our other crew was able to catch up to us and tell us all about the tornado that they captured to the south of Hanover. As we crossed into Nebraska we eventually hit the heavy precip and we all know what happened to the storms from there.

So all in all, it was an exciting chase, but from looking at the pictures above, we just barely missed some great tornadoes. Hope next time they will be quite a bit slower. I would like to get out of the car and stretch every once in a while. Not to mention take a picture or two. Can't wait to read the other chase accounts in the upcoming days. Sounds like a lot of people got a good look at these storms. I pray that there were no injuries from the tornadoes and that every one is ok.

 

[bbarjenbruch]

My chase group and I were on the same storms, but not until they crossed the border into Gage county. Honestly would have had a perfect view of the "multi vortex tornado" near Odell, but had a smaller cell moving in for a merger at that exact time frame and it totally obscured the wall from view for about ten minutes. When we could finally see the beautiful wall again, it was due west and partially rain wrapped, but really hauling to the North (nothing new).

Followed it for a while and eventually we were located about 2 miles west of it with a solid funnel reaching toward the ground (perhaps in contact), but I couldn't tell too well as I was trying to watch the road at the same time and had a couple hills in the way. The new storm was quickly rolling in on us from the South so we booked it East, at one point, debris from the torando was falling around us which was a crazy experience. After getting out of the way of storm 2, the wall cloud became evident to our SSW and was bearing down on us this time. Inflow was great, and a large funnel was once again reaching downward but I was busy driving away from it at 80 and couldn't really stop to look back until the rotation became rainwrapped once again.

After this, yet another cell slightly farther east was headed in. We were trying to get into position, ran into bad road network suddenly, and looked up and slightly North to see a well developed meso centered almost right above us. Maybe a quarter mile to the North was a tight rotation, but it did not descent very far. Inflow into this beast was screaming, and it was warned about a minute after it developed on top of us (NE Gage County). However, with a dead end, and minimum maintenance roads going both North and South, we were forced for the second chase in a row to take the brunt of the hook echo precip. Luckily, hail was minimal. Just some heavy rain. And also, this chase, we weren't pinned due to poor map reading, but rather because the chasers had become the chased for a bit.

I hate when that happens, but I guess it's just a fact of chasing. Luckily, what we ended up underneath wasn't the wedge it could have been. For now, I'm mentally exhausted and time for some sleep. Also... next time, I'm not driving!! haha

 

[Darin Brunin]

Dick McGowan, Eric B'Hymer, Jordan Wrecke, and I managed to capture two tornadoes today in Clay Co. KS. Both were on the ground at the same time. One about a mile to our east and one a mile to our west. One was a classic stovepipe and looked a lot like the Big Springs Nebraska tornado a few years ago. Here are a few pics. These photos of the tornadoes were near Manchester,

Stovepipe

roping out

tornado to our west..will get better vid capture later

All in all not a bad chase day...might have seen a few more touchdowns near Clay Center.

 

[Shawna Davies]

Jon Davies and I chased NC Kansas near Salina this afternoon. Initially, we were on the Lincoln County storm, but let it go as it was moving away from us at 50+ MPH. We then picked up the McPherson County storm and followed it N/NE past Salina. After nearly getting munched by a fast moving meso and gust front, we followed a new meso that developed E/SE of the original one and watched what may have been a F0 type circulation pass 1/4 mile to our west in rapidly rotating rain curtains.

We followed this some distance toward Manchester (15 miles N/NW of Abilene), and saw it produce a tornado in low contrast to our north for several minutes. At one point, this had the appearance of a narrow cone or stovepipe, then began to lift and rope out. This tornado was probably located roughly 3 miles N/E of Manchester around 4:15 P.M. The storm continued moving north at such a rapid pace that we could not stay with it, and opted to intercept another supercell near Junction City that was non-tornadic before ending our chase.

Here are a few pictures of the Manchester tornado.

Wide Shot (of stovepipe, looking N/NW):

http://members.cox.net/jdavies1/ManchesterTorSH.jpg

Shots of the tornado toward the end of it's life cycle:

http://members.cox.net/jdavies1/ManchesterTor1JD.jpg

http://members.cox.net/jdavies1/ManchesterTor2JD.jpg

This was a fun chase. However, I'm now ready for the late spring SLOW MOVERS!!!!

(Links Fixed)

Shawna Helt

 

[J.B. Dixon]

A very successful chase today, but it wasn't without almost making wrong choices. Met up with Randy Chamberlain in Beatrice about 12:30 as the watch box went up. Mike Hollingshead pulls up, much to our pleasant suprise. Headed south on 81 from Hebron as the towers were going up to our SW. Which one to get to?? After heading west from Belleville on Hwy 36 and taking a look at the cell(s) ahead of the Salina cell, we weren't very impressed. THe Salina storm seemed to be the obvious play, but we had to get 50+ miles east....quickly. After Buford T. Justice gave us a scare E. of Belleville, we finally got through Washington and then south on 148 to Barnes to see what was left of the TOR warned storm coming north. THis was where things really began to take shape.

Barnes, KS wall cloud

We raced back north towards 36 parallel to the developing wall cloud. I had heard NOAA Radio mentioning a report of a chaser-confirmed tornado on the ground near Barnes.....did we miss something? It wasn't long after getting back to the 148/36 intersection that golfballs started coming down. Randy and I left Mike at this point and jogged a mile east, pausing to take a quick video grab....still not toradoing approx. 5:25ish. No more did I get back out on the road heading east when I notice W-bound traffic slowing to a stop. I knew it was ugly behind us, so I checked the driver's side mirror.....tornado! Saw it already touched down approx. 2 mi. west of us on Hwy 36. We chased the tornado paralleling it on blacktop south of Bremen. The picture link shows the tornado about 2/3 into it's life cycle before roping out NW of Bremen. It pays to put one camera down instead of trying to do two things at once......it's far from great, but.... (anyone know how I can edit out those power lines?)

Hanover/Bremen tornado

Congrats to Randy Chamberlain for officially losing his tornado virginity on this one! Huge thanks to Mike H. for letting us look in on the Baron XM out there. We all made the right decisions because of it.



One last Chaser Safety note: I don't think I would call out a lisence plate if it wasn't so obvious, but.....It is NOT recommended to come to a complete dead stop to look at a storm when you are in the middle of a U.S. Highway. :blink: Northbound, Hwy 77, 2 miles N of Marrysville, brown Chevy Blazer, MO plates 'TORN8O'. That is all.

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

Had a really fun chase today. Started out in KBIE, then scooted east to Hebron. Eventually figured the high LCLs and dry air up in Nebraska (60 Tds my foot!) weren't going to do me any good, so I dropped down into Kansas on 81. Caught the cell of the day, but got behind instead of in front of it. At one point I had to choose whether to punch it and try to beat it to Clay Center on 24 or to wait it out just west of Idana. Chose to wait it out -- talked a couple of truckers into waiting, too. Once the circulation had passed over 24, I jetted to Clay Center. Debris everywhere out by the airport. Saw at least one home pretty totalled, and metal sheeting from a disintegrated barn or shed spread out over a good half mile. Trees uprooted as well. Bopped north on 15 from Clay Center, then stairstepped NE on the county roads. Finally saw the tornado in a low contrast type deal about 5 miles away when I got near 36. From funnel to touchdown in about a minute, then from thin funnel to a stovepipe for a couple more. After that it either got wrapped in rain (remember, we're looking from the south) or lifted. Saw some more damage when we rejoined the highway east of Washington. Followed it north a bit more on 77, but there wasn't much to see from there.

Wish I could've got photos of the tube, but I needed a telephoto to do that, and didn't have one. My friend did, but he had to shoot while we were moving because there was traffic behind me and nowhere to pull off on the old county road we were on, so they came out blurry. We did have a ton of fun, though!

Shot looking north-northeast from just north of Clay Center. I wasn't going to drive much into this until I watched it a bit, as our radar wasn't updating (no good cell coverage), and I could look straight up and see the whole vault of convection rotating right above me. Man, that's quite a sight, looking straight up 40,000 feet, and seeing the base right above and the knuckles peeking out in the stratosphere and everything moving in different directions. Hope everyone in Clay Center came out of this one okay.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

Tyler, Matt, Chris and I chased SE Kansas. Didn't see any tornadoes, saw many funnel clouds and wall clouds. This is a wall cloud taken near the Mound Valley KS Recreation Area.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

It is very near Hanover in these. I'll have to get some vid caps up of the close enounter right before these.

1 minute and 8 seconds passes between the first image on here and this last one....for what it's worth.

 

[Bill Tabor]

EDIT: I just updated my website with a few pictures from April 1st and 6th. No big deal - no giant tornadoes but a shot of hail and a couple of somewhat interesting storm shots.

Hopefully this crazy year will pull a bit back into the southern plains and give me a shot of chasing in Tx or outside of the hills and trees.

http://www.tornadoxtreme.com/2006_Chases/A.../april_1-6.html

Original Post Follows:
Well I can't believe I'm posting this because I didn't think I was chasing today. I'll try and keep this short - but you know how I am. Anyway I'm sitting here about 6:00 at the house and David Douglas calls and says are you watching the Burnett storm, and I say 'What?'. Anyway about the only cell in TX (pretty large and severe warned) formed just northwest of my house in Cedar Park. I could look out my back window and see it. I had been watching all the northern stuff on radar at the time. Anyway I decided to throw all the stuff in the car and take a leisurely trip up (about 5 to 10 miles) to this apparent hail storm. This was the quickest I ever left because the vehicle is all set up. Just pick up a few things and walk out. Plugged some stuff in and away. Shot up to Liberty Hill near what is called Seward Junction where now on Threatnet the one cell had split into 3. The one in the back for awhile was indicating 3" hail. I moved around a bit trying to find the best place to watch. Finally I found a good spot on a hill just west of hwy 183 as the sun was just above the horizon with storm in foreground slightly oriented to south of due west. It was slowly approaching. I was watching the very intense light gray core just obviously dumping rain and hail. However suddenly just to the left of that feature and emerging from it I could see a much darker feature shaped basically like a cylinder and it was all the way on the ground. I was saying 'No way, it can't be'. I must have said that several times to my self along with 'What the!'. As seconds and a minute or so passed the feature got further away from the precip core and at the bottom it appeared to have swirling precipitation. This whole thing was estimated 7 to 10 miles (5 at the closest) away. I thought I could see small vortices at the ground level swirling, but it also appeared to be violent motion. I went from almost falling asleep to adrenalin pumping. I was on the phone with Bill Combes who was on his way up from my southeast but he was still pretty distant and couldn't see that area yet. It looked so possibly believable that it made me worried as it approached the urban area so I decided I better call it in - which I did. I'm sure the guy thought I was nuts. I don't think it was showing much rotation at the time, but had been a meso earlier. Threatnet didn't have anything for it at the time - even any shear. I tried to explain it to the NWS dude and just told him - I'm not positive it's a tornado, but just keep an eye on it as this is very suspicious. The whole thing lasted a little over a minute and I didn't bother to grab my camera or camcorder. I was just in awe, and was really trying to figure out if it was legit. I didn't want to miss any of it because if real I figured it wouldn't last long. It didn't either. After awhile it lifts above the ground and I can see clearer air underneath. It then takes on a wallcloud shape for awhile and finally as I'm talking with Bill Combes on the phone turns into what looks like a funnel. Anyway, I start headed over to where he is ( back to the south). I catch up and we are watching the 'feature' which he agrees is a wallcloud. Precip begins to fall and we start getting some lightning. A few minutes later I decide to head home (almost directly on intercept toward the wall cloud) and immediately Threatnet give me a shear marker for the feature (area of interest) - sure enough at 69knots. Not much, but kind of confirms the whole thing as not some outflow crap. Oh yeah, the time I saw this tornado like thing was close to 7:45, but unfortunately (stupid me) I forgot to look. Guess the NWS dude would know and I contacted him directly after it ended. If his radar was delayed he wouldn't be seeing it until about then anyway. Hmm they probably aren't delayed much. Ok, so I take it on home with severe thunderstorm warning and area of rotation approraching and suddenly the lightning starts getting intense. There are numerous cloud to ground with a few violent staccato branching flashes mixed in. It begins to look a bit intimidating. At that point hail starts falling and it was pretty much quite a bit of nickel hail.

So that's it! Excitement in Cedar Park when I thought I was gonna get completely skunked. It's a shame the feature was distant and I didn't get a vid cam on it to determine and show motion. Sometimes just somewhat ordinary storms produce tornadoes. This was actually a severe storm, and it actually strengthened and grew after what I saw was a potential tornado. No, I can't say - definite tornado, but I am about 80% sure and I've seen enough of them to have a clue. It just blows your mind when you see something like this when you had absolutely no preconceptions.

Hey if anyone has any radar around this time frame ( I think 7:45cd) I'd love to see it. I would estimate it to be the area 5 to 10 miles wsw of Seward Junction.