04/15/06 Reports NE KS IA

[Scott Olson]

Targetted Beatrice and saw the un-mistakeable Cone from a distance and then managed to find a decent viewing angle as the ground circulation seemed to weaken. After which the whole area got wrapped up in rain, their were some very omnious signs like cloud material moving into the rain curtain towards where the tornado had been. Also, a WC stubby tail was sticking out of the curtain for a while as well as a strange lowering to the side for about 10 minutes. There was at least one more funnel with this storm as I followed it NE and then as I saw the upcoming southern cell on radar (and it's strong convergence) I went east between the two cells and hit slightly larger than pea size hail. I went through Nebraska City and then east through Waubonise State Park (about a 4 minute drive which made me nervous since it's hills and trees) as I emerged to flat plains I heard the report of a tornado south of Nebraska City. As I neared Riverton I stopped and could just barely see a dinky little rope moving near I-29 and into IA.

About ten minutes later the cell attempted another funnel but by this time was becoming increasingly high based. I followed it for another hour and it as it cycled across the spectrum of structure.

 

[matt patterson]

PostPosted: Sun Apr 16, 2006 10:27 am Post subject: Reply with quote Edit/Delete this post Delete this post
Here is an actual chase report from yesterday.
We started out in St Joseph and decided to head west towards Marysville KS to get a better idea of how far we wanted to go, do to the moisture situation. We sat there for a couple of hours and waited for initiation. some stuff started popping by Grand Island NE. We went north after seeing some towers go up. We watched 2 or 3 storms go by, waiting on one to deviate and root. Finally the plan panned out, and the storm which had gorilla hail started moving toward us on the East side of Beatrice. The initial wall cloud was huge and fairly high based. It started to lower in and the low level rotation was very strong. The tornado lasted about 3.5 minutes. The storm became very rain wrapped and started moving right towards us. We pulled up to a little farm house and prepared for the RFD. This was the scariest part of the day. There was Debris and road gravel being thrown around everywhere. Our windows were pulsing and the back end of the 4 runner was trying to lift off the ground. We then tried to get next to a large barn, figuring that it would shield us fdrom the flying debris. At this point we all were starting to really worry as to whether we were in another tornado, which seemed possible because the meso that occluded from the original tornado moved right over us. Bob then stated that we had "2 options, we are either going to die or we are not going to die." For some reason that made us feel a lot better, knowing that we had no control over the sitution. Bob will post all the HD video and audio of the situation later. anyway after 4 minutes of shear terror, we moved on. We looked at a couple of storms after that and everything looked to be outrunning the instability we then preceded back to St Joeseph and intercepted the storm that had a tornado about 5 min before we got there. All in all it was one hell of a chase. the rfd video will be up later.

SEE YA

 

[Verne Carlson]

Mileage: 1350
First Chase into Iowa!

Well yesterday was a bit frustrating but you make your forecast pick your target area and roll the dice and hope you come out within range of a tornadic supercell. With all the talk about a Cold Core setup I think I had this firmly in my mind when we left Grand Island, NE and headed northeast to Central City on HW30. It looked as if the 'string of pearls' storm chain would setup but wiser heads prevailed and we continued to keep our eyes on development to the south. We did our best to get east and south and did we ever! We ended up three counties into southwest Iowa - first time for many of us chasing in Iowa. Still I can say it was a fun chase getting to be out again with most of the Colorado Gang as well as new friends from CSU!

 

[fplowman]

Ok,

I will have to say this was the most memorable chase day I have experienced, Because of how the event unfolded. . I am at a loss for words and all the images are still vivid in my mind. It was INCREDIBLE!

I was there! At the point of initiation for the Tornado SW of Beatrice, Yes, I was there. It formed right over my head! I was looking right into the inside of the tornado as it formed!

I have the images, I have the video.

I left KC at around 10AM My target was SW of Beatrice. I went I 70 and then up through Manhattan. Ate lunch in Manhattan then went N. to Beatrice.. Took some friends who wanted to see a storm.. Boy did I deliver.. lol :blink:

Went to the Super 8 for Internet data. Met Kurt Silvey, Chris Wilbur. Which was nice. Great folks! Also met Jim Cross and we found each other at the same target "point of initiation" while he saw the same thing I did.. If you look on the target board you will see that he and I picked the target. Anyways.. Me and my crew left and decided to head SW after everyone started to scatter for the cell moving towards us from the SW.

I set up outside of Beatrice on WPF road and SW61st. I have the pic to show point of initiation and my spot I set up at. at approx. 4:39 it began and then by approx. 4:54 it was all over.

The Meso as it approaches

And another w/ considerable RFD

Pic inside the eye of the Tornado as it is forming, over my head!
Think i should have been in a safer spot?? lol

One of it forming to the ground after it passes overhead.

Another of it as it completes its form and structure.

Call it luck. But im getting better at this Stormchasing thing. Baron Helps alot .. lol

And I have to say, it would be unfair to not share this same experience with everyone else.. So I decided to take the time and give you the video. So you can relive it as I did.. Of course its not the same.. But hey its the best society can offer as a re-creation. Oh it was all shot on my DVX100A Panny.. What do you think?

**** Wanted to add.. A strange anomoly: The smell of the "Fresh Earth" that the tornado had picked up in the debris cloud was unmistakeable.. Nice touch by Mother Nature.

Warning: Some strong language!

Link to video of April 15 tornado

 

[Benjamin Sipprell]

Chase Team: Car #1 (Jeff and Kathryn Piotrowski) Car #2 (Sean McMullen, Katie Lade, Dustin Wilcox) Car #3 (yours truly)

Quick Notes:

From Douglas, NE we ran east to Nebraska City where the RUC model had some fantabulous output of convection along with backed winds near the surface and slightly aloft ... looked like this was the area to be for tornadic storms. Saw elevated convection breaking out towards Topeka and then suddenly storms were breaking along the dryline just south of Beatrice (my feeling is that the capping inversion was cooled and the boundary layer moistened by the elevated convection to the east). So the group raced towards Beatrice, I making it last because a patrol officer felt I floated through a stop sign, gave me a warning, then questioned me on the weather.

The Chase:

Came west on 136 and then south of Beatrice 2 miles on US 77 where the meso was coming up from the southwest ... and I was completely shocked at our position because the developing tornado was coming straight at us. I was scared out of my mind as the debris cloud could be seen to be rotating stronger and a wedge was coming down out of the meso ... It was awe inspiring and crazy at the same time as it was approaching us.

As the meso came right at us at the same time it started to become rain wrapped. I was wiping my camera a bunch, Jeff was getting fantastic footage over a fence (shown on CNN ... see caption "We're in a *bleep* tornado!) while Sean and crew shot out the window of their car. I was dancing around taking pictures. But things were getting nuts and the storm was moving way too close. I started yelling that we had to move and get out of there. I jumped in my car and raced south a mile and Sean to the north ... looking in my rear view I saw Jeff still filming but he later went north.

Heading south I gripped the wheel and had the steering wheel tilted I'd say 15 degrees to the left as the tornado passed right by me in the field about 50 to 100 yards away ... and my car was going straight. I was scared as ever and I really thought I was going to die. At the same time a whole line of 5 to 8 storm chasing cars led by police moved north on US 77. I pulled a U-turn to see the tornado pass over the road and hit the barn that was sitting right behind us where we initially pulled off on US 77. If I had sat any longer ... who knows.

Trying to keep up I felt personally the storm was too rain wrapped and too dangerous, and the same went for the storm down by Falls City later in the day that I tried to intercept. With my whole body tense, all alone and lost from my group, scared out of my mind that I just nearly missed being hit by a tornado, I gave up when trying to punch through golf ball sized hail and headed back to camp in Douglas, NE.

Keep an eye on Twisterchasers.com for video from Jeff and Sean (I know their video was on CNN and TWC).

Here are my pics: (just some notes: the pictures aren't great contrast-wise because things were happening so rapidly I wasn't much bothering into changing lenses and/or fiddling with my D10. I just kept it on easy and so I'm not worried about copyrights ... there are much better pics out there.

There are multiple picture pages, so be sure to use the arrows at the top of the page ... some images are blurry but are added for chase account purposes)

http://www.atmos.uwyo.edu/~sipprell/beatrice_ne/index.htm

 

[PeteMcConnell]

I left Hastings, Ne at about 11:30 a.m. to meet fellow chaser Tim Blaco in Nebraska City. We met there at about 3p.m. After a short review of the situation, we left right away to go after the Beatrice storm. We took Highway 2 west and then bolted south on Highway 43 out of Bennet toward Adams. As soon as we got to Adams, we went east on Highway 41 a short ways and stopped for some footage of the mothership. Roger Hill and his crew were there as well. Never did see a tornado(congrats to those who did), but plenty of excitement. After seeing what could be seen of the Beatrice storm, we crossed into Iowa and chased until dark. After chasing these faster moving storms, it should be a lot easier when we get some that don't move as fast. Good amount of chaser convergence as well.

 

[afischer]

I missed the Beatrice tornado by a narrow margin too (3 minutes)... maybe we can start a bust club. I came in from the northeast side... the paved roads were not good, so I used gravel which happened to be extremely hilly (making it nearly impossible to finally find a good viewing position). The storm wrapped up into a truly gorgeous HP as it moved toward my location southwest of Sterling.. some of the best structure I've seen this year. Stuck with the storm until Syracuse (a town I'd been sitting in earlier getting data)... then I observed three more supercells along I-29 southbound. The first was near Mound City MO... the second was a tornado-warned HP with a nice sloped wall cloud within the notch, looking west from Amazonia MO... and the third was a tornado-warned supe that tracked very similarly to the 05-04-03 KC storm, ultimately 10 blocks or so north of my current residence (luckily no serious damage with that one).

 

[Shane Adams]

Chase summary: http://www.passiontwist.us/41506chase.htm

 

[Mikey Gribble]

I left Wichita at 10 for Concordia. I moved to Beatrice after the dryline started to push through and got on the supercell SW of town. The storm had good structure during its early stages and I could tell the storm was about to go tornadic, so I moved West to get in close. I ended up driving North (on a North-South road) when the first signs of ground circulation started. It was only about 200 yards to my West at this time. At first I thought it was the gust front(and it might have been) that was kicking up dirt, but then it rapidly began strengthening. I had to haul butt to beat it to the intersection where I could turn East to get away and I just barely beat it. Here is a video grab looking back right after I turned East.



A funnel took shape and the broad ground circulation tightened up shortly after the last image. Here is a video grab of the tornado as it began strengthening.



For a two minute period, the tornado was quite strong. I would say high end F2 low end F3 based on the circulation at the surface. I am not aware of what structures were hit and where they were located so I don't know that the rating will reflect the true strength of the tornado. Here are a couple video grabs from when the tornado was at its strongest.





I got one more weak rope tornado 2 miles North of St. Marys at approximately 5:28. I am not sure whether or not it got reported, but I will check on that today and report it if I need to. The tornado caught me by surprise and it didn't last long, so I only got about 10 seconds of video from it. Before I got the camera on the condensation funnel was about two thirds of the way down with a debris/dust cloud at the surface.
It was an awesome chase and more importantly it got me out of my tornado slump I have been in for the last couple of weeks. Congratulations to everyone else who was on the storm. BTW if you want to see my video it has been playing on CNN.

 

[Tom Romero]

I also made it out today from Denver. Missed the Beatrice tornado by 5 minutes, but the structure was magnificant! Caught the cell down the line south and observed a gorgeous white tapered cone tornado as it moved into Otoe county, near Julian. I'll have an account and pics on line later today. Right now, it is 5:30 and I JUST got home! Mike H, I agree, the St Joe storm didn't hold a candle to the Gage county storm.

Roger Hill
[/b]

We were with Roger on the tornado near Julian. I'll wait for Roger's description (36 hours in a vehicle and...well..I...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz). Here are some pics.

 

[Edward Ballou]

My wife and I and another couple only made it down to Norfolk to meet the line there. Broke through the line and followed it north. Not much else seen. Got a couple pretty shots. Full account at my blog.

 

[Jerry Funfsinn]

A love hate day of chasing in Nebraska Saturday. No access to data except for radar all day due to major equipment failures. Very frustrating to say the least. I was in Beatrice most of the afternoon but I did drift west when the storms fired thinking I would intercept some fast moving north bound storms. I quickly realized the southern storm of the cells near the KS/NE border was the show so I headed back from the NW of Beatrice and manage to catch the Beatrice tornado just NE of Beatrice. What a beatiful storm and some great structure. I followed it for a few hours as it transitioned to HP and then to the MO border and then dropped south sampling two more storms in the line before calling it quits near St. Joseph. Great chase day in the end.
[attachmentid=147] [attachmentid=146] [attachmentid=148]

Jerry Funfsinn

 

[CraigFisher]

I was at the same spot as fplowman at PWF Road and SW 61st RD, in fact my girlfriend and myself are in his video - marroon cherokee. Pretty much got the same video footage as he did, in fact you can hear him yelling "Go baby go" in the backround. Wish we could have stuck around and talked....

My afternoon pretty much started at 1600 as I saw thunderstorms popping up in Jefferson County - west of Gage. Drove to the area of US 136 and SW 61st RD, was going to wait for more info from local spotters before I made my move.
Located wall cloud and moved S on SW 61st to Oak RD, approx 2 miles N of wall cloud. Saw dust starting to pick up in the area strait S. I then moved 2 miles S to PWF RD where I met up with fplowmans group.
As he said, the tornado formed right in front of us and grew......it was awesome.
From there, headed towards Holmesville as a tornado was being reported 2 W of there. That came up sith nothing as the storm was rapidly moving N. Met up with another convoy of chaser from MO. Led them to Hi-way 77 and through Beatrice to E 136.
Had to stop at some friends houses E of Beatrice due to damage, roofs torn off garages and barns, bins down and lots of tree branches through windows. My girlfriends brother house got hit, he said that when he was in the basement he could hear water being sucked UP through the sewer pipes as the tornado passed over.

Thats all for now

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

See Benjamin Sipprell's above account for early part of the chase. I'll just start where he left off, although Ben stopped chasing after our exciting encounter we continued to chase. We tried to beat the Meso East but were unable to do so as a rain rapped tornado crossed the road 50 yards in front of us at which time we observed many small debris. After that encounter we finnally get E of the storm. As we continue E the storm would keep trying to develop new area's of rotation and for a while we would see funnels form but they would quickly get rapped in rain and we would loose our visual. The storm tried to put on a show one last time just SW of Stereling but it was never able to produce agian (atleast that we could see) at this point we let the storm go as Jeff and Kathy raced S to get to Falls City and we went to get Sean's video to KETV.

 

[Dean L. Cosgrove]

April, 15, 2006 - Chase Report

I also caught the tornadic supercell near Beatrice, NE. I was Northeast of the storm and the tornado was rain wrapped as it moved towards me . I did see the tornado a few times looking SW as I drove E. I was unable to stop and shoot much video since I needed to be far enough E by the time the storm reached my location to let it pass safely to my NW. Caught the funnel from another storm later .

Dean Cosgrove
http://chasetours.com/