William Reid
EF2
A quick SUMM---maybe some images later...
The Lincoln County, NE, tornadic supercell was quite the treat this day, though it fell short when it came to easily-viewed tornadoes. Chuck Doswell and I are leading the tempest Tours group this week. By early Tuesday afternoon we liked the high CAPE values which had developed near LBF, coincident with easterly surface flow with dews near 70F. Moisture convergence was good along the outflow boundary near I-80 by mid-afternoon. We had lunch at Merriman and dropped south to I-80, and by then the strong updrafts were going up north of LBF.
A major RFD-cut/wrapping meso process took place in the vicinity of Stapleton and Gandy. We watched first from the SSW side of the cell, N of Stapleton, and had a wet RFD hide the action area just as it got really serious. Then, just east of Stapleton after dropping south about 5 miles, we saw what looked to be a large tornado that was obscured by precip, to our north or NNE. South of Gandy, the north meso was heavily wrapped in precip, and a new meso just to our east tightened up rapidly with strong rotation and wild up and down motions. We were being blasted by dusty RFD winds during this time frame as we watched the wall/wide funnel rotate above the fields a mile or so to the east. Again, rain wrapped around and forced us south. About 20 minutes later we were SSE of the meso, south of Arnold, but the cell was undercut severely by its own cool outflow.
There were about half a dozen different tornado reports. A couple of the later ones seem dubious, as the cell was undercut, but the earlier reports of a large tornado are quite believable, given the general look of the cell. We were close at the right time, but a bit cursed by the wrapping precip and sketchy road network. Structure from inside the RFD was great during tornado time.
Bill Reid
The Lincoln County, NE, tornadic supercell was quite the treat this day, though it fell short when it came to easily-viewed tornadoes. Chuck Doswell and I are leading the tempest Tours group this week. By early Tuesday afternoon we liked the high CAPE values which had developed near LBF, coincident with easterly surface flow with dews near 70F. Moisture convergence was good along the outflow boundary near I-80 by mid-afternoon. We had lunch at Merriman and dropped south to I-80, and by then the strong updrafts were going up north of LBF.
A major RFD-cut/wrapping meso process took place in the vicinity of Stapleton and Gandy. We watched first from the SSW side of the cell, N of Stapleton, and had a wet RFD hide the action area just as it got really serious. Then, just east of Stapleton after dropping south about 5 miles, we saw what looked to be a large tornado that was obscured by precip, to our north or NNE. South of Gandy, the north meso was heavily wrapped in precip, and a new meso just to our east tightened up rapidly with strong rotation and wild up and down motions. We were being blasted by dusty RFD winds during this time frame as we watched the wall/wide funnel rotate above the fields a mile or so to the east. Again, rain wrapped around and forced us south. About 20 minutes later we were SSE of the meso, south of Arnold, but the cell was undercut severely by its own cool outflow.
There were about half a dozen different tornado reports. A couple of the later ones seem dubious, as the cell was undercut, but the earlier reports of a large tornado are quite believable, given the general look of the cell. We were close at the right time, but a bit cursed by the wrapping precip and sketchy road network. Structure from inside the RFD was great during tornado time.
Bill Reid
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