So Nebraska finally delivered. No tornadoes, but they were pretty unlikey, with only one very brief spinup reported in this group of storms today. What I did manage however was a lot of firsts and some great photo opportunities.
Setting of from Valentine, we headed West to Merriman, as per our original plan. On arriving there we went North to the town of Martin in South Dakota, arriving at about 1pm. At this point, a number of storms had started to fire to our South West and started to propagate in our direction. We sat tight, unsure whether we should go east to catch any storms firing on the cold front or go South to try and catch the storms building backwards from the storms we could already see. The storm at the back end is known as the ‘tail-end Charlie’ and can often be much stronger than its neighbours.
The storm fires
distant rain
After lunch, yet another GPS fail and much deliberating we decided to go for the tail-end storm and we headed South back into Nebraska. We caught up with the storms just east of Gordon on the route back to Chadron. At this point there was a line of cells with 1-inch hail blocking our route West that treated us to a fantastic display of Mammatus clouds as well as a gust front and some strong winds. (and Tumbleweeds!)
Mammatus
Gust front
We took advantage of a gap in the hail ahead on the radar, and we pushed west through the driving wind and rain, turning left at Gordon to track the Western flank of the line of storms. We had to repeat this trick a second time as we approached the Southerly cell, again unable to take a left or right to get to the southern edge. The gap presented itself and we drove through, narrowly missing some cores of large hail. It was a good thing we did, as on the South-east edge of the tail-ender I was treated to my first ever rotating updraft.
Under the updraft
Under the updraft
Under the updraft
Weak rotation
Rain-free base
It is hard to describe what it is like to sit underneath a Supercell storm’s updraft for the first time. The rotation was clear, despite never looking like producing any sort of funnel cloud. The lightning in this storm was also spectacular with cloud to ground strikes as well as the odd anvil crawlers. The less said about my lack of ability to catch any on camera the better.
This was us just Northeast of relatively weakly rotating couplet.
Further South we witnessed the formation of a new updraft & gust front, which produced a very brief horizontal funnel, as well as some fantastic laminar structures.
Lots of structure
By this time it was getting quite late, so we decided to head to Ogallala to end the day. On the way, a new tail-ender had formed, and as the light faded I saw my first ever wallcloud from a distance, (the rotating cloud that can lead to tornado formation). This storm did actually go tornado-warned for a while, but nothing came of it, and we were long gone by then.
My first wall cloud – at a distance
Sunbeams
Sunset Supercell
So my first proper chase is over and I am stoked! I don’t have long to dwell on it though. Tomorrow is going to be the start of what looks like a major tornado outbreak in Nebraska and Western Kansas, with a much higher tornado risk. It is going to make today look like child’s play, so I’m off to get some much needed sleep.
Until tomorrow.
[google-map-v3 width=”530″ height=”530″ zoom=”12″ maptype=”roadmap” mapalign=”center” directionhint=”false” language=”default” poweredby=”false” maptypecontrol=”true” pancontrol=”true” zoomcontrol=”true” scalecontrol=”true” streetviewcontrol=”true” scrollwheelcontrol=”false” draggable=”true” tiltfourtyfive=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkermashupbubble=”false” addmarkerlist=”42.150169,-102.23053{}7-default.png{}Day 4 – First rotating updraft|42.028894,-102.133026{}6-default.png{}Day 4 – 1/2 inch hail|42.798424,-102.046509{}7-default.png{}Day 4 – Mammatus & strong gust front|ogallala, nebraska{}5-default.png{}Day 4 – Ogallala, Nebraska” bubbleautopan=”true” showbike=”false” showtraffic=”false” showpanoramio=”false”]