06/11/08: NOW: NE/IA/KS/MO

[Mike Peregrine]

Looks like initiation is confirmed to be underway within tor-watch no. 509 across parts of NW Iowa and into eastern Nebraska. Storms are firing as far south as Wahoo, Nebraska (west of Omaha).

Other storms are initiating near Sioux City and points north to the Minnesota line.

This nowcast thread will cover storm location, motion, intensity and behavior within the watch areas.

 

[Jason Bolt]

Visually, towering Cu going up quickly in eastern Edwards/Pawnee Co. KS.

 

[Mikey Gribble]

My virtual target of Fremont is looking beautiful right now with a cell firing directly SW of it and already severe warned. With quick storm motions I would start cheating downstream a bit. I think any storm that fires in this area will start to develop tornado potential in the Fremont to Tekamah corridor and then once it hits Tekamah area it should be a well developed tornadic supercell so long as it stays discrete. I would hedge my bets and probably wait on the storm closer to Tekamah. Even if that cell that just formed dies out, which it very well might, a new cell will likely develop behind it.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

A couple of nice size storms now blowing up rapidly southwest of Russell, Kansas.

 

[Jason Bolt]

Have been on a persistant wall cloud on the tail end charlie in nw barton co/ rush co. for abou 15 minutes. Cool structure but no real rotation to speak of currently.

 

[Nick Hartley]

Confirmed tornadoes on the ground in IA and MN as we speak. Most impressive cell seems to be around the Primghar area.

EDIT:
Confirmed Multiple Vortex tornado reported near Spencer, IA.

 

[Darren Addy]

GRLevel 3 isn't showing much rotation in these storms in E Nebraska until the get near the Missouri River. This is problematic since there aren't a lot of crossings over that major river. You can get across at Blair, but then it is all the way north to Decatur, NE/Onawa, IA before you can get across again.

Just as I type that, the storm approaching Wahoo has some rotation and apparently drops a tube. Fremont is a good sized town that appears to be in the path.

EDIT: New TVS on the storm midway between Lincoln, Seward and Wilber (NE). Storm path would take it well NW of Lincoln on its current vector.

EDIT2: 6:41 CDT. Last update the whole line just got a weaker look to it, but the storm behind the line that should pass near Seward looks to be strengthening and has multiple areas of rotation. The storm is currently southwest of York but looks like the most rightmoving storm of the area, thus far.

 

[Brandon Ivey]

Matt and I are on the storm southeast of Beloit right now. Driving in hail right now and witnessed a wall cloud south of Beloit about 15 min ago. Check out our stream at http://thestormreport.com/livetrack.php/

 

[cstrunk]

Rainwrapped tornado being reported near Morehead, NE by Kenny Allen (stream via SevereStudios) through WOWT in Omaha. Moorhead is just northwest of Omaha near Elkhorn.

*EDIT* Live video just shown on WOWT of Kenny Allen being hit by a tornado in Moorhead, looks to be OK.

*EDIT* NWS Valley, NE reporting a lightning strike taking down their radar.

 

[Jeff Piotrowski]

KS/NE Now

The storm in NE Barton county Kansas has strong rotation with hook moving into western Russell County heading toward and north of town of Black Wolf.

Also strong rotation just NW of Omaha NE tornado's reported with this storm.

 

[Anthony Petito]

Strong rotation has been reported as a tornado on the ground near Bennington, just outside Omaha, NE.

 

[cstrunk]

Tornado warning now for Lancaster county in NE including the city of Lincoln. Rotation noted 17 miles southwest of Lincoln moving northeast.

Not a good situation for populated areas in eastern NE.

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Kenny Allen and Kory Hartman are OK! They tried getting out of the way of a Rain Wrapped tornado and took a direct hit. There is debris everywhere! They were streamed live on WOWT TV in Omaha

 

[Van DeWald]

FYI, the KOAX radar has taken a lightning hit and is down as of 2337 UTC.

 

[cstrunk]

Confirmed report of tornado in the city of Lincoln, NE.