2006 CHASE ACCOUNTS

MARCH 12, 2006: MISSOURI (SUPERCELLS)

Everything looked absolutely perfect for a widespread tornado outbreak today, and my sister and I quickly made our way down to St. Joseph, MO by noon in order to get a data update.  Thunderstorms had rapidly developed in eastern Kansas, with the northern most cell developing near Kansas City.  We decided to move further east toward the town of Cameron, MO so that we would be in better position for intercepting the storms to our southwest (which were rapidly moving east/northeast at 50 mph).  After a radar update from Brian Thalken (who did a great job nowcasting), we decided to let the storm over Kansas City move up to us.  This cell had a tornado warning, and we were directly in its path.  Unfortunately, the warm front had not yet lifted north to our location, and this storm moved into a cooler, more stable airmass, which prevented it from producing a tornado.  After we realized that it was moving through a bad surface airmass, we were faced with the challenge of having to race south and east in order to catch up with strong tornadic supercells that were moving east along I-70.  We believed we had a chance to catch the southern most cell, and eventually reached I-70, at which point we were about 20 miles west of the storm.  This cell had the most massive back sheared anvil I have ever seen...and we had little doubt that it was probably producing a tornado.  We finally reached the rear flank of this storm at ~5:10 pm as we were entering Columbia, MO.  The storm had a very large clear slot wrapping cyclonically into the updraft.  Unfortunately, rain was cascading around the back side of the updraft as well, which prevented us from observing the tornadic region of the updraft base.  We still decided to continue east, but by this time it was getting dark and we knew that a long drive home was still waiting for us.  So, we let the storm go at around 6 pm.

As we approached Boonville, MO (~7-8 pm), we suddenly ran into a massive traffic-jam on the westbound lane of I-70.  To make matters worse, not one, but two tornadic supercells were moving east-northeast toward our location.  Luckily we had a cell phone connection and were able to constantly receive radar updates from Brian.  We got off of I-70 near Lamine, MO, and eventually decided to move south so that we would be out of the path of an approaching tornado (radio reports described it as a large tornado, about 20 miles to our southwest).  After driving south of Pilot Grove, MO we found a hill which provided a great view to the west, and we witnessed a massive, beautifully sculpted mesocyclone move past us to the north (Brian described it as having a picture-perfect hook echo on radar).  In addition, present underneath the updraft was a large wall cloud with a long inflow tail that swirled into the lowering.  We never could see a tornado within this wall cloud though, as precipitation began to fill in around the region of strong low-level rotation.  Regardless, being in position to watch this lightning-lit supercell at night partially made up for the frustration we experienced earlier in the day.  In hindsight, it would have been wise of us to target central Missouri where the moist, unstable warm sector was large instead of targeting the first storm near the warm front...another lesson learned!

For different perspectives on this historic outbreak, check out the following links: Steve Peterson; Mike Hollingshead; Weather or Not Blog (Roger Edwards)

APRIL 6, 2006: NORTHEAST KANSAS (BRIEF SUPERCELL)

After today's chase, I hope I have learned to target the surface low when a closed 500 mb low is sitting immediately to the west. Brian Thalken and myself drove down to Topeka, KS, and sat waiting for storms forming near Wichita to move northeast into our area. Cells did make it up to Topeka, but they immediately weakened as they approached. After reviewing the evening soundings, it appears that a warm layer of air, seen here on the 00 UTC 4/7/06 KTOP sounding, likely inhibited sustained updrafts as they moved east off of the dryline (note the subtle inversion just above 850 mb).

We did follow a reintensifying cell north of Topeka, which developed into a small-compact HP supercell. It developed a very low base which quickly rotated around the back side of the storms wet RFD. Observing this storm saved us from experiencing a complete bust. Meanwhile, several tornadic supercells developed west of Topeka. We considered racing west to intercept them, but finally concluded that we couldn't catch up due to their rapid northerly motion. Apparently, these tornadic storms developed in a region which closely fit Jon Davies mid-level closed core low pattern, which can be found here. I hope I will recognize this pattern the next time it emerges.

APRIL 15, 2006: SOUTHEAST NEBRASKA (TORNADO/SUPERCELLS)

I had a pretty decent chase on Saturday (4/15/06)...I made a few mistakes early, but still managed to observe a tornado at the end of the day. I left Lincoln, NE sometime around 4pm after deciding that a developing storm southwest of Beatrice, NE looked promising. As I entered Beatrice at around 4:40 pm, I was greeted with nickle size hail. I then went east on highway 136, at which point it became apparent that I was within the RFD of a strong supercell. This storm was moving northeast fairly rapidly, and had already produced a tornado to the south of Beatrice just a few minutes earlier. If I would have left Lincoln 10 minutes sooner, I probably would have been in position to observe this tornado.

It was not a fun experience driving through the RFD, with 60 mph winds surging eastward toward the rain free base, which was still displaying strong rotation (evident by the broadly rotating rain curtains on the outer edge of the updraft base). I eventually managed to drive east of the updraft; it displayed some very nice structure but I didn't have time to stop and take pictures. I continued east on 136 and intercepted a second supercell in Tecumseh, NE at 5:30 pm. This storm had a very long RFB with a clear slot notching into its southwest flank. After shooting a little video, I kept on with my eastward trek, eventually reaching Auburn, NE. I decided to drive a bit south and investigate an LP supercell north of Dawson, NE. This cell died, and the dryline was now just to my west.

I decided it was time to give up this chase, and started the northward drive up highway 75. As I was approaching Auburn, NE, I noticed a large cylindrical cloud feature sticking out of the back side of a supercell that was between Auburn and Nebraska City (~6:35-6:40 pm). It soon became obvious that this was a tornado, although I was still about 10 miles south of the vortex so I didn't bother to shoot video or take any pictures...the contrast was not very favorable. This tornado eventually contracted into a thin needle funnel and dissipated soon after. I then let these storms move east into Iowa and called it a day.

JUNE 10, 2006: NEBRASKA PANHANDLE (SUPERCELL/SQUALL-LINE)

JUNE 18, 2006: SOUTHCENTRAL NEBRASKA (ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM...POSSIBLY AN LP SUPERCELL)