4/4/09: Beatrice, NE

[Lonnie Kopecky]

I just read Jeff Snyder's post about his forcast for 3/8/10 for OK, KS and TX. The part about the Dewey Co tornado that happened March 6th, 2006 while there was heavy snow just 30 miles or so to the NW reminded me of last April 4th, 2009 and the Beatrice, NE tornado. I had attended the CPSWS (Central Plains Severe Weather Symposium) at UNL in Lincoln, NE. It was fairly warm and calm that morning, but my noon it got very windy, but still fairly warm. I left Lincoln for home, Aurora, NE, about 4:00-PM and it was a very wind drive down I-80. Shortly after a got home Aurora sent out their weather spotters. I then got my 14 year old grandson and headed east out of town down Hwy-34. About 3 miles east of town we ran into light to moderate hail. We then turned around, went back to Aurora and then south on Hwy 14 to south of I-80, then drove east on gravel county roads towards the dark storm clouds east of us. On the was we visited with a farmer that was looking at his turned over center pivots. This was just before warnings were issued for York Co. Sometime during that late afternoon/early evening a tornado had been spotted near Beatrice (I don't remember the exact time). I remember seeing posts on Stormtrack about that tornado. Meanwhile, as this was happening in Eastern Nebraska a snowstorm was raging in Western Nebraska and racing east across the state. By the next morning I believe the whole state was covered with several inches of snow.

 

[Nick Biermann]

I'm glad Lonnie brought up April 4, 2009. I distinctly remember that day.

While a blizzard raged across northern and western Nebraska, a broken line of supercells developed near the KS/Neb border along an early spring dryline and rapidly moved north/northeastward toward the warm front/stationary front. With dewpoints in the 40s at the surface, the air was so dry that rain was evaporating underneath the thunderstorms and turning into virga. Yet despite the cool/dry air, low-level shear was strong enough for tornadoes. One tornado was reported near Beatrice and two others were confirmed by NWS Hastings near Fairfield and Sutton.

Around the time of the Beatrice tornado, a friend and I saw what appeared to be two brief "spinup" circulations to the SW of York, NE (near Lushton) as the storm crossed the warm front. We saw tubular swirls of dust at ground level, but were too far away to discern any cloud base rotation above them. We hypothesized that they could have been landspout-like "spinups" that formed as the storm interacted with the front, but I suppose they could have been gustnadoes as well.

Lonnie, do you happen to remember where you ran into that farmer? We were on Highway 81 about 5 miles south of I-80 looking due west when we saw our dust whirls or whatever they were. I am curious to know if our report matches up with the damage the farmer sustained.

Thanks for the post!

 

[Mark Blue]

Hey Lonnie,

Here's the thread you were talking about in your post:

http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=20128

Happy reading - sounds like it was an interesting day.

Mark