June 9, 2001 SD-NE Chase

This is the northern end of a line about 40 miles long. It was moving se around 40-50 mph. It just so happend that the highway I would be on was situated nw-se. The storm on the very northeastern end was really looking pretty nice. Thanks to the frequent lightning I could view it. The striations really got going the further ese it got. The cloud tags underneath were changing and moving quite a lot. This is one of those storms you'd have loved to see during the day. I did my best to try and capture some of the striations at night. They are fairly evident here.
I noticed that every time this road would turn I was getting closer and closer to it. I figured at some point we'd meet up. My plan was to get gas in Norfork and continue on. The biggest reason I decided to stay with it at its speed of around 50 mph was that I was extremely tired and it was keeping me interested and awake.
I pull into Norfork to get gas and right after finishing I stopped at this car wash to view the storm as it approached. I found out later there was a tornado warning with this storm while it was in the previous county. One was never issued for Norfork though. I didn't call this in because it was pretty short lived and this area seemed to be pretty undercut by outflow. I'm so greatful for this one lightning strike. This funnel is only about a block nw. This is at 2:00 a.m. I thought this was crazy....the 2:00 a.m.thing(that I'm still chasing).
It's just too bad it was dark and the rotation could not be viewed other than the various places lightning was lighting it up.
Before this lightning strike, it seemded to be elongated. In this pic it has shrunk up quite a bit and became fat towards the top. I tried capturing a pic about 20 seconds after this but it wasn't working out. It elongates again and finally blows outward to the east up into the cloud base. That was the last I saw of it. Right before that happend the winds started cranking, sending dirt into the air.
I love extreme winds. I was parked to the right(east) of that big billboard and felt maybe moving was a good idea. These winds blew for about 10 minutes and seemed to be sustained between 40 and 50 mph with gusts likely over 70. Capturing highwinds to a still at night in rain and not dust is hard. You can kind of get the idea if you look above that red topped vacuum and the stream blowing east(right). This was fun as hell to be in. I did notice something come off that vacuum but am not sure what it was. Some grocery carts and a plant stand did not fair well back to the west by the gas staion. I finish the chase back in Blair shortly after 4:00 in the morning.