I wasn’t sure if it was worth chasing Saturday, but decided around 11:30 to give it a go. My 17-year-old daughter came along as my chase partner. She loves chasing, but we struck out on her three or four previous chases with only funnels. As for my wife, she isn’t exactly excited by it!
We had to decide on whether to chase the Kansas/Oklahoma border or the Kansas/Nebraska border. I picked the latter as I have family in N. Central Kansas and thought I’d stop by to say hello if the day was a bust. I targeted the Washington, Ks to Fairbury, Ne area. We arrived in Washington around 3:00 but storms had already begun forming along the front in south central Ks from Kinsley to Great Bend. There were also severe warned storms around Hastings, Nebraska. It was only a matter of time before the line filled in.
We headed west on 36 Hwy through Belleville and past US 81. Severe storms had built all the way up to Beloit so I decided to push toward Mankato then decide to go north or south on 14 Hwy. Once I reached 14 Hwy, I decided to go north to chase the south end of the Nebraska storms as they back built into Kansas. I called a fellow chaser, Jared Orr, to get his input. Although he wasn't able to chase Saturday, he was a good go-to for me and really helped me make the right decision to head north.
As we headed north on 14 Hwy, I began to see great rotation on the newly formed cells paralleling the highway. I didn’t see it at the time, but when I reviewed the footage, I saw a gustnado. It was 3 miles northwest of Lovewell Reservoir. I had only seen the wall clouds and funnels while driving. The video is easier to see as it is so far off, but you can see it to the right of the stop sign.
We had several funnels on the west side of the highway as we crossed into Nebraska. I lost sight of all the funnels entering Superior, Nebraska due to all the trees and onset of very heavy rain. The storm became Tornado Warned at this time so I elected to just push a few miles east on 8 Hwy and re-evaluate the data on my computer. After all, I had my daughter with me and wanted to be on the safe side. The storm had been moving VERY slow. What I didn’t know was the tornado made a hard right turn on the south edge of Superior, greatly picked up speed, and was right behind me!
After driving a few miles, I noticed a strong rotating wall cloud only ½ mile to my south. Knowing the storms had been pushing north and the tornado was somewhere behind me, I increased my speed driving east and decided to outrun the wall cloud. Here is when I realized the situation was not good!!!
Just before Hardy, Nebraska, with a rotating wall cloud now showing a loose funnel only a ¼ mile to my 3:00 position and me driving 80 mph, debris suddenly appeared in the field 150 yards in front of me, only 50 yards right of the highway! Never seen that before… A tornado moving rapidly east/northeast and the ground contact 500 yards ahead of the wall cloud.
I stopped within 100 yards of the tornado which still did not have a visible condensation funnel. I put the car in reverse and began backing up the highway, but moved into the westbound lane as I sped back. Then my back window exploded as small debris was being pulled in by the inflow winds. I was completely shocked at what I saw next… A County Emergency Management Suburban came flying past me at 60mph, and then he slammed on his brakes as he entered the tornado! That was the luckiest guy in the Midwest yesterday as he came away unscathed!
My daughter wanted to keep chasing the tornado, but with no back window and glass all over the inside of my Tahoe, we called off the chase. On the way home, I had some beautiful skies and time to thank God that my daughter was safe, she had seen her first tornado, and my wife didn't know how bad I screwed up!
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