4/15/06 DISC: NE/KS/IA

[Mikey Gribble]

I have a real hard time believing the tornado was on the ground that long as well. I saw it rope out. Visibility wasn't good, so maybe I missed something, but I don't think I did.
Does anyone know the number for the NWS office in Omaha. I need to call in to report the other tornado I saw North of St. Mary and the number I got off the website doesn't work for some reason. Please PM me if you know the number.

 

[JHadorn]

I didnt see any damage on the footage and the tornado I was on that may have been over F0 - F1.. Heading east out of Beatrice I did see a roof damaged on a metal building.. that may have been possibly F1 damage.. Otherwise just some sheet metal and limbs is the most of what I seen.. All homes and outbuildings seemed "still standing" No serious damage I could see..

Now what was most interesting was the strong unmistakable smell of "fresh earth" in the air after it had passed
[/b]

A buddy of my brother's lives just a few miles east of town. His house had substantial damage to the roof, partly moved off the foundation, and it picked up a grain bin and threw it a good distance away. It also moved a truck about 40 feet and blew out most of the windows in it.

 

[fplowman]

A buddy of my brother's lives just a few miles east of town. His house had substantial damage to the roof, partly moved off the foundation, and it picked up a grain bin and threw it a good distance away. It also moved a truck about 40 feet and blew out most of the windows in it.
[/b]

Im not contesting it.. As I assume proffesional damage assesments were made. Im just confused as i didnt see any damage as being described F2 when driving behind the storm. Obviously there were some spots I didnt see.. lol

 

[CraigFisher]

Alot of the damage was about 2 miles east of town, in a sw to ne line

 

[Scott Olson]

Did anyone see a ground circulation approaching anywhere near 1/2 mile??
It only looked a couple hundred meters max when I saw it but there came quite a rain curtain around then as well. Michael, can you post the picture of the St. Marys tornado? I remember seeing a funnel on the back part as I was NW of St. Marys. Im suprised at the 34mi length and the fact the damage path was rated as a single tornado.

 

[fplowman]

Did anyone see a ground circulation approaching anywhere near 1/2 mile??
It only looked a couple hundred meters max when I saw it but there came quite a rain curtain around then as well.
[/b]

I know it is hard to see in the video but i would say that a half mile was pretty accurate for a width on that monster..

If you watch my video closely you will see debris being sucked into it far from the east and west of me as it went overhead and formed.. Its width was several hundred yards as it developed. It seemed to have crashed into like a berm about a mile out from me and thats when it like "exploded" and really grew from the debris it created. Thats from my best memory anyways.. It all seemed sureal and quick..

I remember after it was all done I was thinking 1/2 mile wide..

Fred

 

[CraigFisher]

Local news out of Lincoln said that officals gave a F2 to the Beatrice to Sterling tornado

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

I know it is hard to see in the video but i would say that a half mile was pretty accurate for a width on that monster..

If you watch my video closely you will see debris being sucked into it far from the east and west of me as it went overhead and formed.. Its width was several hundred yards as it developed. It seemed to have crashed into like a berm about a mile out from me and thats when it like "exploded" and really grew from the debris it created. Thats from my best memory anyways.. It all seemed sureal and quick..

I remember after it was all done I was thinking 1/2 mile wide..

Fred
[/b]

It was defently atleast 1/4 mile. We watched it form just S of Beatrice where part of Jeff's video seen on CNN was shot although that was prior to it crossing the road. Once it got too close we headed north and by the time it crossed hwy 77 it was very large at this point it was only about 300-400 yards away from Myself Sean and Katie to our S; and after looking over my film it appeared to be about 5 times the width of hwy 77 as it crossed (that's just the visible funnel) After it crossed 77 it appeared to loose its condensation funnel however debris was still being picked up and sent airborne and every once in a while a very quick and small condensation funnels would shoot down and dissapear just as quick. It almost was as though there was a very large but weak tornado and every so often a stronger more concentrated tornado would form within the larger area of circulation was any one else just S of Beatrice close enough to notice this?

 

[Kurt Silvey]

Did you see the tornado dissipate? The damage survey shows only a single tornado (it only notes F2 damage E of the Beatrice area.)
[/b]

I have video of the truncated cone dissipating south of 136, about 4 miles east of Beatrice. I can say for sure, that the cone was no where near ½ mile wide south of 136, the meso maybe, but not the cone. The meso continued to spin and move to the ne. If you read Valley’s report they say it was one tornado on the ground for 34 miles, I would have to disagree. They say the widest path was north of 136 to just west of Sterling, this was when it was heavily rain wrapped, and you could not see. I traveled north from 136 on Sterling road and had to bail east 2 miles north of Sterling as the storm was going to munch me, at this point I thought I could make out a circulation/funnel/tornado, but it was hard to tell, as it was in my mirrors. I would say a lot of damage was due to very strong RFD. About 4 mi east of Beatrice a large cotton wood tree split in half and fell to the north right next to me, this was from very strong winds coming from the south.

EDIT:I suppose it’s possible the meso was putting down a weak ground circulation for the entire path, but I wouldn’t call that a continuous tornado.

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

EDIT:I suppose it’s possible the meso was putting down a weak ground circulation for the entire path, but I wouldn’t call that a continuous tornado.
[/b]

I think that maybe exactly what was occurring from what I observered just about 4 miles E of Beatrice, and I think the video on CNN by Randy Hicks displays this occurring

 

[Mikey Gribble]

Yeah Scott. I am at work now, but when I get home tonight I will post some video grabs of the tornado North of St. Mary.
As far as the path length being 34 miles, I think the mesocyclone must have been producing a weak circulation at the surface because there certainly wasn't a condensation funnel that I could see up until the one North of St. Mary. I was right in front of the mesocylone, so I don't know how I could have missed it.
I think the same thing happened with the Hallam tornado. The survey team said it was one long track tornado, but I have video of one tornado roping out and a new touching down.

 

[Scott Olson]

Yeah Scott. I am at work now, but when I get home tonight I will post some video grabs of the tornado North of St. Mary.
As far as the path length being 34 miles, I think the mesocyclone must have been producing a weak circulation at the surface because there certainly wasn't a condensation funnel that I could see up until the one North of St. Mary. I was right in front of the mesocylone, so I don't know how I could have missed it.
I think the same thing happened with the Hallam tornado. The survey team said it was one long track tornado, but I have video of one tornado roping out and a new touching down.
[/b]

Thanks Michael, Im interested to see if this is the from the same funnel I saw near 1 mile west of St. Mary's as this would have been a two or three minutes prior to to your witness. From my own observations and that of others it does appear that there was a larger ground circulation and that the strength cycled through many stages. It does appear as if the tornado became rain-wrapped during it's strongest phase just as it passed the highway and moved NE of Beatrice. I followed parallel all the way to N of St. Mary's and believe I caught I couple glimpses of it as I moved with it.

 

[Mikey Gribble]

It is a pretty crappy video grab, but it is the best I can do. The tornado was roping out right as I saw it and I didn't get the camera on until right before it vanished. You can see the dust cloud near the ground and the little nub of a funnel that is still left (It is right in the middle of the screen).When I first saw it the funnel was probably a third to half way to the ground.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

The DeKalb Co. tornado Saturday that I intercepted from a distance has been rated F2 and more information is found on the EAX page here. It ended up having an amazing 14-15 mile track and a width ranging from 25-50 yards.

Another group of chasers caught the storm as it moved into Maysville, where it became multi-vortex (the image they have is VERY interesting ... three distinct vortices spinning around a common axis.) In my distance shot, you can actually make out what appear to be additional funnels extending down ahead of the tornado.

What I'm actually wondering is whether the tornado I caught was either a first touchdown, which then occluded (it really looks like the RFD is wrapping hard around the funnel if you look close at the image) ... or was taken at the end of the tornado's life span - just appearing to be a single vortex from my perspective. It's tough to tell ... I'd have to go back to my exact position and then move straight over the terrain to where the tornado was at the time to figure it out. May be a project for this weekend.

One other thing that is really intriguing me this year is the shear number of tornadic storms that appear to be producing tornadoes on either side of the KC metro area, but failing to produce as they move over the city itself. It happened in a storm on Saturday, with a touchdown just west of the metro, and then three additional touchdowns to the east. But none over the city itself. The same thing also occurred several times with the storms on 3/12. I'm wondering if the environments have been such so far that the heat island effect has managed to actually interfere with the storm-scale environment somehow. It seems reasonable that an extra degree or two of separation between temps and TDs could result in a serious alteration in storm behavior. Of course, with the right storm it makes little difference. But it could be in these early spring setups that Kansas City has been luckily spared due to its own sprawl and influence. It may not be so fortunate with the differing storm environments of May, however. (heck, may not even be so fortunate tomorrow for all we know ...)

 

[Mike Peregrine]

Decided to move my reply concerning the Andrew Co. storm to the DISC thread -

Concerning the report of a tornado in Andrew County mentioned by several in the report thread - - - I also saw this feature, from very close to the location of Dick, Darin and Garry. It ended up moving to the northwest of Savannah, near 71 highway (not that far from the Fillmore tor a couple weeks ago). From my viewpoint it appeared to be a well defined funnel. I couldn't confirm ground contact at the time (and the rain punching in from behind was ridiculous), but after seeing the confirmation from EAX I'll have to review my video as well ... I'm still a little hesitant to call it a tornado myself yet at this point. This is what my original report mentioned about it:

"I caught the remnants of the Brown Co. storm north of St. Joe, with a great horseshoe that was close to producing north of Fillmore (poor Fillmore) ... it didn't quite seem to make it, and then I got clobbered by rain as I decided to go ahead and try to keep chasing northeast of Savannah."[/b]

I can tell you this for sure ... at that point, the storm was perfectly well developed. The RFD was highly organized. But this storm was super HP ... like in a big way. As soon as the meso blew by me, I got drenched. The funnel was located on the north side of the horseshoe. I should have some pretty decent video of the entire structure that I'll post later.

By the way ... after this storm passed ... I believe the precip that hammered me was actually a new core on another cell that had evidently formed, possibly from the southwest flank of the parent storm. I actually sat out the rain and suddenly it cleared to reveal an entirely new mesocyclone on a new storm about 15 minutes later. I called Mike J., who verified that the second cell was indicating rotation as well. Actually, this storm also became very well structured. And it's what provoked me to continue following northeast of Savannah, eventually ending up on 169. It appeared that this second storm was also very close to organizing itself into becoming tornadic as it moved just north of Savannah. From the looks of it, I wouldn't be surprised a bit if the second storm had a spinup somewhere along the way out in the rurals of Andrew Co.