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Storms getting going sw of Holdredge NE.
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I'm between Kearney and Holdredge. There were "two" storms here. They seemed to be rather attached, but at the same time there were definitely two. The north one curls around off the right side of the image. The area to the sw of it had a weak lowering with it at the apex of the rfd notch. It was wrapped around back there but never showed any signs of producing any tornadoes in that area. So there were these "two" and one fully seperated one(though not by much) to the south of them.
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As I drove north to Kearney, with the storm/s to my west, they started to become one. A deeper base with a bit of a lowering formed right in the middle of the two bases. This was before it was over Kearney. As I get into Kearney it begins to get a large, very rounded, rfd. The image here is just ne of Kearney on highway 30. I saw what looked like a hook on xm and thought, no way. The storm was soon tornado warned. It looked like the hook formed right as the southern core merged into the northern one. It looked like a rather outflow dominant process. To the north of this frame it was very shelfy and not looking tornadic.
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Yay, crashing outflow mess(not long after the previous image).
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As I drive ne up highway 30 I notice a couple cells firing right ahead of the other storm. The first one was dropping some rather large hail(likely 2 inch) but it wasn't dropping very many of them. I was squinting a bit as I was driving just incase one was to break the glass. The image here is of the next cell coming up from the south. There was some pretty strong anti-cyclonic rotation in the cloud to the north of the updraft. From here on out I was in rain, and more rain, and more rain. I was in rain for over an hour trying to get ahead of this complex. It was very annoying.
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I meet up with Stever Peterson around Central City. I called to see where he was and if he'd seen anything and he says he's about to Central City. I was like, well you must be right behind me as I'm entering the town now. It's amazing how chasing works(not really I guess, lol). Anyway, we continue in the rain trying to get east. We get on highway 92 and race east to beat the tornado warned supercell coming up from the south. We beat it and briefly drop south on 15. As was the case earlier in the day, there were "two" storms attached to each other. The southern one would rain into the north one, leaving you with short views of the base and lowerings. The north one would wrap up and then the southern one would start to organize. Then I guess at somepoint a new updraft would go up very near the south one, making it the north one. All I know is this interaction leaves bad viewing and isn't great for producing tornadoes. Right before the rain from the southern updraft of the pair blocks our view of the north base, the north base had some lowerings form extremely fast(I can't think of anything I've seen happen quicker...and not look outflowy). We lose the view of what was happening there about as fast as it formed. Then as we head north with it we see a new big lowering forming under the southern base. We quickly lose site of that just before turning east, back up on highway 15. We go a couple miles east and pull off just north of the highway. The following shots are taken from the red circle, just southeast of David City. The town of Surprise NE was hit with a tornado during this time(I thought a survey said an F2 tornado). The report of the tornado says 8:05, but that might be when the report was made. The following images were shot between 7:54 and 8:03(according to the time recorded with them). The first ones are shot to the wsw with the interesting area on the left side of the frames. This location has to be very close to Surprise.
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There were a number of wicked CGs coming down as we first pulled over. The winds weren't intense.....yet. These are all shot at 17mm.
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By now the winds are picking up and about to become very strong. Sustained at 40mph and gusting to 50 or so sounds about right...from the due east. There are a couple things to note. Note the lowered bowl shape thing near the left side, above the trees. I would think that was happening on the apex of the rfd notch and wanting to be the next area for tornadogenisis. I would think any tornado would have to be back around a bit. I don't think this area moves around to the back quick enough to be the feature down a few images. Also note the lowering in the center of the image and its location between those lights. This lowering reminds me A LOT of the lowering on the Hanover tornadic supercell, seen HERE The one image doesn't show it at all times obviously, but as a whole it's a very similar process. Both cases were moving nne.
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This was taken at 7:59 and the report was 8:05. I'm not sure what the hell that is as it very well could be rain. One thing is clear, it is in the area the wall cloud was pushing south a bit(or at least holding there) and the rfd was punching north. If nothing else it is a very good look-a-like, in a location very near Surprise, at the time the town recieves tornado damage. Looking at the mapquest map it looks like Surprise is a good 12 miles or so to our sw. I'm not sure that can be 12 miles away. At the same time I don't know what the hell else would be hitting the town at this time.
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Tigheter crop of the previous image. That one branch isn't very far above the trees!
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This was taken at 8:01 looking sw. The actual report at 8:05--http://kamala.cod.edu/offs/KOAX/0609160133.nwus53.html. I notice they round to 5s on their times. I guess it is possible the tornado hit before this and that report came out very late. I'm not sure how the reports work and if it's recorded for when it is recieved or when the person says it happened(I'd assume for when the person states since not all reports are timely). If that can be about 12 miles or so away then I'd think it would have to be whatever was hitting the town. It just seems like something would have to make that less far away as it just doesn't seem possible it is nearly that far off. At the same time it's not close either. If these storms weren't so odd, having new updrafts always forming to the south of the old ones, I'd know this was it, but the way things were it is possible it could have been something south of this immediate area--or even something happening before this and the report time was just a bit off. I don't know. I don't care if it is a tornado or not, knowing ain't going to change anything I saw so it's a bit pointless. I am however interested in knowing if it was the same thing going through Surprise or not.
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8:02 now. The east winds were raging now. That big wall cloud is now a long, strung out, tail cloud. The rfd is very curled and lowering around to the back as it does so. I think the lights on the right must be David City.
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The majority of the CGs shifted to the north soon after we stopped. This view is a bit different than the previous ones. I pointed it to the nw for a couple shots. So now the lights that must be David City would be left of center, with the rfd coming up towards the town. The tail cloud is much easier to see here.
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Well that moved north and we moved east, letting it go. It would be pretty ironic if I got the SURPRISE NE tornado in my stills having never had any visual of it. Anyway, as I neared the now line at Elkhorn, I noticed the cool shelf with it. Shelfs over cities are awesome. So, I had no choice but to go east from Elkhorn into Omaha. At this point I'd only eaten a rice crispy bar the entire day. I was soooo ready to eat something. No time for Burger King though! This was taken west of Irvington in nw Omaha.
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I must thank Bob Matzen for telling me about the 911 memorial lights on all week. I thought, I have to beat this shelf over to Council Bluffs so I can get it with the lights. No time for Burger King!
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These two were taken in the parking lot of Harras Casino. You can barely make out the shelf in them. I tried to get a lightning bolt, but the convection was just too far north, out of the shot. I would get my revenge the following night, though it was no easy task. |
