Storm Chase,
Lincoln, NE to Northwestern Kansas.
All
photographs on this page are © 1999, by Ken Dewey
We start the chase by getting a weather briefing
from Brian Montgomery at the Hastings, NE, NWS office.
We headed south and then west to a rural area about 15 miles west
of Phillipsburg, KS. Much of the area had remained cloud covered
except for this region and it was likely that convection would break
the cap in this area. Shortly after our arrival, Doppler on Wheels (DOW)
arrived and began to scan the one developing supercell.
Other storm chasers began to arrive
and set up their video and camera equipment.
With only one supercell
developing, this was the "only game in town".
After about an hour
of development, it finally began to form
a small funnel.
We then moved north and west about 5 miles.
The wall cloud was
massive and showing strong rotation,
unfortunately the
funnel was rain wrapped at this point.
The rain shield began to thin and a 1/4 wide tornado on the ground
now became visible.
Using a filter, it
was possible to more easily see the rain wrapped tornado.
.
A county Sheriff arrived and we watched the tornado dissipate.
He indicated that the tornado had just missed Almena, KS,
however, it had moved across a farm house totally destroying it.
The supercell was only moving at 15 mph and
showed potential for putting down additional tornadoes.
DOW 1 & 2 remained in the area scanning the mesocyclone.
Other chase teams had also congregated in the area. Here is team from
iowastorm.com and a chase vehicle from Omaha, NE.
The NWS radar out
of Hastings, NE radar continued to show strong
rotation within the
mesocyclone, so they issued a tornado warning
for the projected
path of the mesocyclone, which was
expected to cross
the Republican River and be near Alma, NE at sunset.
As the sun set, the
once powerful supercell fell apart over Alma, NE.
