| 2 | 0.00" | 60 | 427 |
|---|---|---|---|
| TORNADOES | HAIL | WIND | MILES |
An upper trough was forecast to swing through the Northern Plains assuming a negative tilt as it did. A stationary front stalled from the Dakotas into Nebraska where it met up with a surface low near the NE/KS border. With CAPE values expected around 2000 J/Kg and deeper moisture in Nebraska it looked like the play for the day would be there.
I decided I wanted to play the triple point, plus mesoanalysis was plotting a nice area of vorticity overlaid with 0-3km CAPE. I took off from Grand Island around 19z and made the trek west with an initial target of North Platte where I planned to re-evaluate. As I approached at 21z storms had begun to fire along the front north of Mullen towards Valentine.
It was apparent that the front would continue to develop south so I decided to continue to North Platte where I’d be in good position to head north or south depending on what fired. Eventually a cell fired just northwest of town right before 22z. There were a couple spuds forming south near McCook so I decided to hold tight and see what the southern cells might do.
Around 23z I decided to head south to the southern cell, but as I did (as is tradition), the northern cell started rapidly developing. I turned around and started to head towards it. As I reapproached North Platte along US 83 a couple dust swirls formed beneath the storm but I think they were just dust kicked up from outflow.
I continued north on US 83 and tracked this storm for a bit while the storm south of North Platte continued to develop. I had two storms to keep an eye on.
While I was watching this storm a landspout developed on the cell by North Platte and the reports started coming in. Amazingly, while I was still up on 83 south of Stapleton I was able to get a nice visual on the tornado.
I watched this guy for a bit before it dissipated and I turned my attention back to the storm I was actually on. In hindsight, I should have just bee-lined to the landspout but for some reason I stuck with my storm.
While I continued with this storm, another landspout developed on the North Platte cell and I got another decent view from twenty miles out.
Eventually I decided to head back down to North Platte as a rather nice looking supercell was passing west of town.
I tracked this for a bit as it drifted north of town and eventually called the chase as darkness set in.
Chase Recap
| START | END | DURATION |
|---|---|---|
| Grand Island, NE @ 14/1921Z | Grand Island, NE @ 15/0343Z | 08 hours, 22 minutes |
| INTERCEPTS | CHASER ENCOUNTERS |
|---|---|
| 15/0003Z @ 10 W North Platte, NE 15/0033Z @ 10 W North Platte, NE | None |