May 12th 2004 supercell/nocturnal tornado video, KS

[Paul Knightley]

Hi all,

Firstly, apologies if this is in the wrong section - I thought seeing as it was a long time ago it's not a report as such!

Managed to finally do a little editing on some footage from May 12th 2004 in Harper County, Kansas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYUnukB5f7E

Part of the small tornado outbreak in Kansas - this supercell and tornado occurred in Harper County during the evening of May 12th 2004. The tornado part of the video has been limited to the parts where lightning lit up the funnel, and slowed down to half speed, hence the odd sounds!
Chasing with me were Helen Rossington, Stuart Robinson, and Graeme Kelly.

In another vehicle were Dave Ewoldt, with Matt Hatton and Peter in the third car. This was east of Attica.

 

[Andrea Griffa]

Interesting video,Paul.
Too bad we were somewhere in the rainy RFD without internet connection (we didn't have WX at that time) so I lost that amazing nocturnal tornado.

 

[Paul Austin]

Nice video, Paul! Lightning rarely cooperates so well in such situations. To have it both back and front lit is pretty rare. You were definitely in the right spot. We missed most of the action that day and evening due to getting stuck on the wrong side of the core with no data.

 

[Tony Laubach]

I accidentally stumbled across this tornado on the way back to I-35. I didn't have any mobile data at that point and was just listening around on the radios when I was hearing reports of a large tornado in the area. I pulled off the highway and turned the camera on to immediately see the tornado off to my northeast.

Warren Faidley and others were in the same pull-out and we were all enjoying the show after a very productive day.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

My chase partner on this day (Phil H.) and I sort of stumbled upon this tornado just before we were to make the southward turn to head back to OUN. As it was, we were just south of Anthony, KS, when we looked north to see the tornado developing. We ended up setting up shop on the north side of Anthony to watch this tornado. My video stills are similar to Tony's, though I think we were a little farther away than he was... Regardless, video and video stills from this day can be viewed on my May 12 2004 chase report page.

 

[Cameron Redwine]

Great video, Paul!

Nice video, Paul! Lightning rarely cooperates so well in such situations. To have it both back and front lit is pretty rare. You were definitely in the right spot. We missed most of the action that day and evening due to getting stuck on the wrong side of the core with no data.

Yeah, ditto here. That day was one heck of a bust for me in the sense that I didn't see a tornado. I literally got into the area about an hour too late after driving from Colorado and was unable to get to the other side of the storm from which Tony and everyone else has incredible pics and video. I was on a mean-looking t-warned sup back to the west, but it never produced as far as I could tell. Oh well, live and learn. Good job Paul!

 

[Doug Raflik]

One of my shots that night...

 

[Andrea Griffa]

Guys, anyone remembers if that tornado was the F4 of the may 12th Harper outbreak?

 

[Paul Knightley]

I believe it was the longer tracked F0 to the south of highway 160.

 

[Gene Moore]

I believe it was the longer tracked F0 to the south of highway 160.

You're correct, the F4 was the earlier blocky tornado that was at sunset, although I thought this one would at least get an F1.
Here's my set from video: http://chaseday.com/tornado-Harpernite-1.htm

 

[Matthew Fischer]

The picture below is the F-0 that was on the ground for 13 minutes, I think.

The one below hit Attica, KS

That day was amazing except for the fact that there was a lot bridge closed! Hence why the second picture was taken far away. I also was chasing with College of Dupage at the time.

 

[Paul Knightley]

You're correct, the F4 was the earlier blocky tornado that was at sunset, although I thought this one would at least get an F1.
Here's my set from video: http://chaseday.com/tornado-Harpernite-1.htm

Wow, Gene! Very nice set there...it was my 1st "proper" tornado (as opposed to brief funnels/spin ups), so it's pretty special to me...we did see the Pratt one earlier in the day just as it lifted/

 

[Bobby Prentice]

Here is my music video clip of the tornado:

2004 May 12 Haper, Kansas Nighttime Tornado

 

[Kurt Hulst]

Yeah I remember seeing that one. My partner at the time had a VHS camcorder so ares did not turn out at all. However we were standing next to Tony Labuach and Warren Faidly at the time of this tornado. that was an amazing day.

The picture in my avatar is from May 12, 2004