Chasers:  Mike Umscheid, Jon Smith, Jay Antle, Rob Mitchell, Mitch Daszewski

. . .Atmospheric Setup. . .
Up to this point, we were having a fantastic chase vacation and on the heels of a near perfect chase just the day before.  Thursday, June 3 was Day 6 of the vacation, and all signs pointed toward a possible significant day.  The very strong and cold /-26C/ 500mb low was positioned over central California by midday Thursday.  A 60kt speed max from the southwest was shooting up from southwest CA to west central CO.  At the surface, forecast models indicated a surface low to develop over central Colorado as the afternoon progressed.  The ETA/RUC suggested a significant area of moisture convergence along the western KS/NE border by late afternoon/evening as a pronounced warm front intersected with a dryline which would extend from west-central KS down through W. TX.  This led to enhanced convergence along the triple point which was progged to be somewhere in the vicinity of Norton, KS.  Convective potential was very high, with Theta-E values exceeding 355K, CAPE values >5500 J/kg, and Lifted Indices <-10ºC.  ETA was forecasting significant helicity values along the warm front in northern/northeastern KS.  I remember saying that morning that if anything developed and traveled along the warm front, it would end up being one of those chase days… one you’d never forget.  ETA’s Energy-Helicity Index prog was suggesting values from 7.5 to 8.3 very near our initial target area: A triangle from Holdrege, NE to Stockton, KS to Norton, KS.  One interesting note:  ETA bullseyed the surface moisture convergence almost on top of Norton by 00z.

. . .Out the Door. . .
We left the Super 8 in Goodland around 11:30 and first stopped by the GLD-NWS office to show them our video of the “mothership” LP supercell we intercepted the day before near Haigler, NE.  We also took a quick peak at current surface data, which suggested the morning stratocu field was beginning to burn off and very high moisture convergence values were noted in the vicinity of Russell and Hays.  From the NWS office, we headed east along I-70 to Colby, our first planned data stop of the day.  We found out their public library was closed for renovation, so we headed to the library on the Colby Community College campus.  We were in luck, the library was vacant, and two internet terminals were available.  Surface analyses suggested a large area of moisture convergence still over western and central KS.  It was still early, about 2:00pm.  We had time to burn, so we did that by hitting the softball around for an hour on their baseball diamond.  During this time span, the scattered stratocu was beginning to transform into more vertical cu off to the east and southeast.  It was data time again, about 3:30pm in the CCC Library.  The hi-res visible image showed tcu development near the triple point and continuing down the dryline in western KS.  The SPC Analysis page showed CAPE values of 5-6kJ/kg advecting north towards our vicinity and LI values to –12.  We drooled over the kidney bean shaped moisture convergence axis which screamed triple point very near Wakeeney, or so it appeared.  Our three car caravan departed heading east on I-70 to Wakeeney.  At this point, I was about as excited about the prospects of this chase day as I have probably ever been.  I figured that if anything rolled along the warm front, tornadoes were a certainty.  We reached the Ogallah exit, about 8 E of Wakeeney around 5:00.  From there, we sat and watched the progress of the cu fields.  The cu along the dryline was falling apart, and one lone tcu was taking the spotlight to our northwest.  Time 5:10.  This was our target storm.

. . .In Pursuit. . .
From Ogallah, we went north on a county route (CR), which was unpaved, god forbid.  The dark red lines on the DeLorme Gazetteers don’t always mean paved, unfortunately.  Anyway, we followed this route to the town of Palco, where we met up with paved roads again: SR18.  By this time, we were watching an exploding storm to the northwest.  At Damar, we continued north again on unpaved CR’s to Logan in southwest Phillips Co.  Time 6:15.  By this time, we were far enough north to get high contrast with the sun being obscured, and as we headed west from Logan on SR9, we could identify the parent updraft base of this now very organized storm, with a very sharp updraft and crisp anvil.  As we entered Norton Co., we were eager to find another north route.  About 5 miles into the county, we continued north, but on another unpaved route, just northeast of Densmore.  This was a 12 mile stretch of road which ended at US36.  I’ll never forget this road, for many reasons.  Time was 6:30, our first stop.  A large bowl-shaped updraft base was really getting its act together about 10 miles to our WNW.  The storm was already showing signs of significant rotation from our vantage point.  Light rain was falling at our location, from the anvil region of the storm.  By 6:45, we were a bit further north, and Jay broke off the caravan, and went his own way.  We were located about 11 S Almena by this time, and we stopped again to closely watch things unfold.  A formidable wall cloud was established with very intense rotation, looking to the WNW.  The whole updraft of the mesocyclone took on an enormous flying saucer appearance with the wall cloud hanging down from the middle of the base.  This was an extraordinary sight.  The only thing different from the day before was the fact that today the LCL and LFC heights were much lower and more conducive to tornadogenesis.

At this point, I knew it was going to produce at least a small/brief tornado, but the appearance of the updraft made me also think that this could very well produce a monster long-lived tornado.  The only thing I didn’t like about the current situation was the fact that we were still on that darn unpaved road.  This time, the anvil precip had turned the dry road into a damp and slippery road.  At about 6:52, or thereabouts, the rapidly rotating wall cloud produced a brief funnel /possible tornado/ then quickly lost its shape.  We continued north, on the now poor road.  About five minutes later, only going about 30mph, I lost control, fishtailed, and went off the road hitting a barbed-wire fence in the process and coming to a stop about fifty feet later down a small embankment in some farmer’s field.  The Plymouth Breeze I drive, with front wheel drive and rather “bald” tires was really no match for this sandy, wet unpaved road.  Time is shortly after 7:00pm, and by some miracle, the people who live a quarter mile up the road in their pickup offer to help me out of the ditch.  By this time, I thought for sure, if this storm would tornado, I would miss it.

Shortly after 7:10 or so, the wall cloud produced more funnels at least halfway to the ground, and by the way it looked from our vantage point, tornadic circulation on the ground was probably certain.  Meanwhile, the fellows up the road were hooking my car up with their chain.  About 7:15, two or three vortices are visible rotating around each other for a brief moment, and this newly developed tornado was in its organizing stage.  RFD rain curtains were occurring in the vicinity of the tornado, just right of the tornadic circulation was from my vantage point.  Jon, Mitch, and Rob, having never seen a tornado before, continued north, after I insisted them to.  I didn’t want my accident to get in the way of them seeing a high contrast tornado.  Besides, the grateful people up the road would be able to get me out with no problem.  We would be in no danger at the location where I went off the road, with the bear’s cage being about 7-8 miles to our northwest, and storm motion being northeast or east-northeast.  At 7:20, the now growing tornado, was being obscured by rain from my view, and my car was successfully taken out of the ditch and back on the road.  I decided it was best to remain at this very location, as it was a rather high spot for viewing.  At 7:21, the now large tornado was becoming visible from the rain curtains.  I couldn’t believe it!  The tornado rapidly attained wedge characteristics, and at times I could make out both sides of the condensation funnel with decent contrast to the northwest.  The largest width I would see of this tornado, which was anywhere from ¼ to 1/3 mile wide, was at 7:25, about 5 or 6 miles to the northwest.

My exact location was no more than 1.5 mile south of US36 on a N/S county road about 5 to 5.5 miles just west of due south of Almena.  The large wedge was visible for about a minute or so, then became obscured in rain again about 7:26-7:27.  At this point, I thought this was the last I would see of this tornado.  At 7:28, I was shocked to observe both sides of the condensation funnel again, as heavy RFD rain curtains had moved far enough east of the tornado.  The tornado was a very large cone by this time.  The contrast was getting better and better, and I simply couldn’t believe the contrast!  Soon, the tornado was completely unobscured by RFD precip.  Still a little shaken up from the accident, I was filming the tornado without a tripod the whole time, which is something I dearly regret.  There really wasn’t any place to setup for tripod anyway, unfortunately.  I got pretty much “basic” footage of the tornado: not much zoom-in or pan of storm structure.  The whole time, I was also mingling with the people who helped me out of the ditch, watching the tornado to the north.  At 7:30, the tornado was due north of me, and I had a great view of the RFD cutting around the south side of the mesocyclone.  It was about this time when I looked at the map and realized this tornado was very near Almena, and at the time saying, “…I’m thinking really close to Almena, a little to close to comfort if you ask me.”  At 7:33, the tornado, which was due north of my location, became completely wrapped in RFD precip once again and out of view.  I also noticed new wall cloud development to my northwest.  At 7:35, both sides of the tornado were in view once again, with an awesome debris cloud looking in the direction of about one o’clock from the N/S road I was on.

At 7:37 or so, I left my viewing location, heading north and thankfully making it to US36 without anymore problems on that terrible road.  The tornado was still visible and now being backlit a gold-ish color.  The tornado still maintained a solid stovepipe appearance at this time.  I continued north on SR60 to Almena, as the tornado was roping out, around 7:45, and soon after dissipating to the north as I approached the town.  I was relieved to see that the tornado missed the whole town.  At the SR383 junction, I went northeast to keep up with the storm, now on the backside of it.  I was completely on my own, and kept my CB on in case Jon or Jay were within range.  It wasn’t until I approached Long Island when I came in contact with Jon, Mitch, and Rob again.  I met up with them and then a little later with Jay, just up the road.  We all shared our accounts, and we all had great views of the tornado, from three different locations.  Jay was the closest of us all, just on the outskirts of Almena.  Jon, Mitch, and Rob were just up the road that I was on, near US36 where Jim Cantore was stationed at.  Everybody got great video footage of the storm.  We continued the chase northeast of Grand Island and stopped to watch a new meso go up to the north, which produced a nice wall cloud and a brief funnel around 8:30.  The overall motion was much less significant than the motion we noticed in the base of the meso before the Almena tornado.  At the same time, we noticed a very gorgeous storm going up in the distant northwest, which ended up being a tornado producer in Cherry Co., NE.  This event-filled chase day ended near Woodruff at sunset, and we concluded the evening with pizza in Phillipsburg, where we met up with Fritz Kruse and his chase partner, as well as Mike Phelps.  What a wild day, and what a great “first” tornado for Jon, Rob, and Mitch!  After that, it was time for our kamikaze drive back to Kansas City so Mitch could catch his 8:30am flight the next morning.

. . .Wrap Up. . .
This would have potentially been my top chase day ever if I could have gotten closer to the tornado.  Going off the road at 7:00 was obviously a major turning point in the chase, and limited the prospects of intercepting the tornado at closer range.  At any rate, I had a fantastic view of the tornado and whole mesocyclone from the very location where I went off the road, watching the tornadogenesis after 7:10pm up through its nearly complete cycle from that one spot.  Not many times will you watch the same tornado from the same location for nearly a half hour, even though it went in and out of RFD precip at times.  As for our forecast for the day, we nailed our original target of Holdrege NE-Stockton KS-Norton KS.  This definitely adds confidence to my chase target forecasting to say the least.

. . .Stats. . .
Departure:  11:30am from Goodland, KS
Target:  Holdrege, NE to Stockton, KS
Total Mileage:  575
Hours in "chase mode":  5:15 to 9:00 (3.75hrs)
"chase mode" mileage:  102
 
 

mscheid@kc.net
last updated:  June 18, 1999

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