2014-06-17 REPORTS: NE

[Mike Marz]

Got off work at noon hoping things would get interesting on the IA/MN border somewhere. Drove south and kept an eye on trends and models. We slowly realized that this wasn't going to be a local chase and that we would need to head to Nebraska... again... Once the first cells started to fire we were still over an hour away. Kept watching radar waiting for the mess to congeal and look more interesting. Our wifi hotspot doesn't seem to work well in northeast NE and it didnt change this time. Our last radar scan crossing the river into NE by vermillion showed unorganized non-severe cells still in the process of merging. Road options gave us no other choice but to punch south through the core. As the hills in that area started giving us a peak of the base, we saw a nice stovepipe already on the ground. As we got closer we watched the first tornado beautifully rope out. We then got in position to watch the hour long wedge go crazy. Long story short, this monster supercell gave us a terrific show basically staying stationary while grinding a stovepipe into a wedge that kept growing. Ill never forget the roar of this one or just how incredibly warm and humid the inflow to this monster was. This tornado reminded me of Bennington, Kansas last year, even though I have only witnessed that tornado through others videos. Here are a few links to our footage and some pics. We got over an hour of video but that won't be edited for awhile.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Xb7U-NtmivQ
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mHD4sfYknbc
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8iPm5EyVWHk

 

[Skip Talbot]

Jenn Brindley Ubl, Phil Bates and I hung out in Moville, IA before seeing initiation back across the river in NE. We thought the storm would mature in southeast SD so headed up toward Vermillion. That storm basically sat in one spot for its entire life, however. We furbled our way through Vermillion, which took way too long due to the goofy roads, and then core punched it from the north on gravel. Like the day before we came out of the rain while the main tornado was already well in progress. The roads didn't let us get too close, but we had amazing views of structure above the wedge north of Laurel on 15. The tornado became completely rain wrapped as the meso approached our position, while also drifting to our south, so we pulled a north escape through the forward flank and then east down the gravel we came in on. That gravel got pretty treacherous once the rain started, but we cleared the path and made it out without issue. An amazing end to our 8 day plains run.

 

[Hank Schyma]

Was on this storm from initiation until dissipation. Was hands down the most amazing storm I've ever witnessed. Here's part 1.
Watch video >

 

[Skip Talbot]

Video account of our chase near Coleridge, Nebraska including the EF-3 wedge, textbook supercell structure and dramatic lightning display that followed:

Watch video >

 

[Skip Talbot]

Finally posted my full log of this chase including photos, video, and annotated map:
http://skip.cc/chase/140617/

Photography is courtesy Jennifer Brindley Ubl

 

[Matt Phelps]

My favorite chase day by far. We stayed in Sioux Falls, South Dakota the night before after witnessing the Pilger tornadoes. We hung near Vermilion, South Dakota almost all day, when we finally saw towers exploding to our SE. We witnessed the entire life cycle of the storm and numerous tornadoes (most after dark). The first tornado had an amazing rope-out. But the roar and motion of the main Coleridge tornado was surreal. I've never seen motion like that.

Here's a couple pictures and the link to my youtube video: