- March
28th Northwest Kansas
- A thunderstorm rapidly
organizes into a supercell West of Oakley, KS at
~6:50PM . Eventually I intercepted this supercell
east of Colby, KS. (Looking W)
- Updraft base near
Brewster, KS at 7:25PM (Looking SSW)
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Modest rotation over I-70 east
of Brewster, KS left me with a tough decision.
Stay with this supercell that has looked decent but
not exactly over achieved given the setup or try to
intercept a tornado warned supercell 50 miles away
in Wallace county KS. I rolled the dice and went
after the Wallace county storm. (Looking WSW)
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After listening to 30 minutes
of NOAA weather radio telling me about a large
tornado near Sharon Spring I popped out of the core
to this view. I first observed this mature tornado
8:09 CDT 7 miles north of Sharon Springs, KS.
(Looking SSE)
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The tornado appeared to be
weakening throughout the time I observed it. It
began the roping out process only a minute or two
after I first observed it. (Looking SE)
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Rain and hail made it
difficult to shoot the tornado for several minutes.
(Looking ESE)
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- As the tornado passed
within 1/2 mile of my location I entered the Bear's
Cage and was able to get tripodded video of the rope
out stage. (Looking E)
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- As the tornado continued
to weaken interwoven vortecies became visible. To
date this is probably my best footage of an
interweaving or braided vortex structure. (Looking
E)
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- Visible condensation went
away as the interwoven voticies appeared to unravel
from the ground up. (Looking ENE)
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- The tornado roped out and
dissipated at 8:15 CDT 10 miles north of Sharon
Springs and 1 mile east of HW27. (Looking ENE)
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- The next 20 minutes were
spent in and out of moderate to heavy rain and hail
as the updraft moved east of HW27. During this time
I heard a few more spotter reports of tornadoes via
GLD NWR but was unable to see them. I believe the
funnel in the above image was the dying remnants of
one of these tornadoes. (Looking south 7 miles south
of Goodland, KS at 8:38 CDT)
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- At 9:04 CDT my second
tornado of the day developed in fantastic lighting
~1 NW of Edson, KS. (Looking NW from 1/2 mile south
of Edson)
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- Tornado #2 roped out at
9:08 CDT ~1 north of Edson, KS. (Looking N)
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- Tornado #3 developed
shortly after tornado #2 dissipated and was north of
Edson by a few miles. (Looking N from Edson, KS at
9:09 CDT)
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- I last observed this
tornado #3 at 9:14 CDT but was unable to continue
chasing because I had to be at work in Leavenworth,
KS the next morning.
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- This final shot of the
chase is looking NW at a supercell North of
Goodland, KS.
