| 1 | 2.00" | 80 | 540 |
|---|---|---|---|
| TORNADOES | HAIL | WIND | MILES |
The Wellfleet day didn’t seem like it the day before. After chasing in Central Montana I had driven to Spearfish for the night with the intention to drive to Minnesota to play the low today. However, when I awoke, and looked at the forecast it looked like I’d probably have to go to Central Minnesota, at a minimum. I don’t really like chasing north of I-94 there. With a moderate in Kansas for Day 2 I decided to try and find a secondary target to keep me closer to Kansas.
With the low expected to translate into Central Minnesota, I would need to look for a target along the sagging cold front which was forecast to arc from the low into Nebraska then back up into Montana. With a strong LLJ south of the front and large instability, it seems probably that supercells would fire along the front in many places. Morning model runs were sort of nebulous for a target but I ended up looking along the Cheyenne to North Platte corridor as a place to head.
I took off from Spearfish at 16z and made the decision to do some sightseeing through the Black Hills on my way south. I took a drive through Spearfish Canyon along highway 14A then along Tinton Rd beside Little Spearfish Creek to Highway 85. At this point I made a critical error in deciding to bias towards Cheyenne as I went south on US 85 into Wyoming. As I entered Newcastle at 18z I stopped to look at data.
After looking at satellite, two areas stuck out to me: the front sagging through Cherry County, but there was also an area of convergence in a still capped area down by North Platte and I was also intrigued by the backed flow there and 69°F dewpoint there. I made the decision to start making my way southeast towards the North Platte area.
A bit before 22z, SPC issued a mesoscale discussion along and ahead of the front that was sagging south from Ogallala to Yankton. When the discussion was issued I was in Alliance and I started to worry if I was going to be late to any show that developed.
As I was passing Lake McConaughy, a storm started to develop south of North Platte just north of Wellfleet. That was my target, now the only question was would I get there in time.
At 7:08pm the first tornado warning was issued for the storm as a confirmed stationary tornado was reported by spotters. I was just passing Paxton at the time and I figured there was no way I was getting there in time. I turned south on highway 25 at Sutherland planning to hit highway 23 and pull up behind the storm. Still seven miles out from Wallace I finally got a glimpse of the tornado.
I kept shooting photos despite the distance just so I would have a record despite my late arrival. As I turned east out of Wallace, I got a better visual of the tornado and it was still holding on strong.
I didn’t despair and just kept driving towards the storm hoping it would hang out for me. Little did I know, it would and I was about to witness the show of my career. The approach to the storm was amazing, a very strong RFD cut with billowing bright white clouds where the sun was shining through while a stationary carrot played in the fields.
I finally found a spot to pull over and take in the spectacle. While I sat here for a minute I noticed the tornado was barely moving, if it was moving at all. I decided to get closer and take advantage of the situation and I got the closest I’d ever been to a photogenic tornado.
The tornado finally roped out at 8:07pm. So even though my misguided decision earlier in the day to meander through the Black Hills and head into Wyoming cost me being on the storm at initiation I was still witness to 37 minutes of some of the greatest tornado visuals I’ve seen in my career.
I tracked the storm for a bit longer and got into some 2″ hail as the storm tracked towards Hayes Center. It never did drop another tornado, but I did break my windshield. All in all, a top notch chase day and one for the record books.
The following day, the North Platte Office surveyed the damage path. There were actually two tornadoes during the event, the first was a landspout which others had photos of, but I missed. The second was rated EF-2 and was on the ground for 45 minutes and only covered 3 miles damaging only power lines and trees.
I called the chase and made the decision to attempt to play the Kansas target the following day so I spent the night in Colby.
Chase Recap
| START | END | DURATION |
|---|---|---|
| Spearfish, SD @ 16/1608Z | Colby, KS @ 17/0401Z | 11 hours, 53 minutes |
| INTERCEPTS | CHASER ENCOUNTERS |
|---|---|
| 17/1220Z @ Dickens, NE | None |