COVER: Dryline storm near Tahoka, Texas on 6-13-92 about 8:30 pm. The southeastmoving storm produced at least three tornadoes varying from F0 to F3 intensity.
Photograph by Martin Lisius.
Storm Track is a non-profit publication intended for the scientist and amateur alike
who share an avid interest in the acquisition and advancement of knowledge concerning
severe or unusual weather phenomena. It is published bi-monthly in Lewisville, Texas.
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Persons are encouraged to submit articles to STORMTRACK. Papers should be doublespaced and contain proper english. Photographs should be loose or lightly taped. High
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HURRICANES OF THE 1980's --LIVE ON VIDEO: A fast-paced, live-action compilation of the
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TORNADO SEASON WAITS TILL JUNE
I. COMMENTARY
If David Hoadley said that last year's chase season had "obedient storms" then this season
had "disobedient storms". I mean chasers were literally sent into the desert in May in
search of the elusive beast. Sure, there were lots of tornadoes --in southwest Texas --in
no-mans land --where there were few roads. Almost every evening in May there were tornado
boxes around Sanderson, Fort Stockton over to Pecos. I lost count of how many tornadoes
were being observed from Sanderson, Texas this year. Some of these right moving storms
crossed the Pecos River into Mexico, not my idea of great chase country. Tornadoes finally
made it into the Texas Panhandle by the end of May when a monster tornado struck Fritch,
Texas on the 27th. Not many chasers saw it as this storm was one of about two dozen storms
in west Texas that day. Talk about a nut-and-shell game!
June brought cloaked tornadoes embedded in heavy precipitation (HP) supercells. One of the
best storms of the year occurred on June 15th in northern Kansas. Over 15 tornadoes were
spawned from this storm. But you were hard pressed to see many tornadoes unless you had Xray vision and could see through the precipitation. Many chasers like myself were left out
in the cold. "Mother Nature owes me", I cried out. I only saw two tornadoes this year, and
you had to squint to see them. Many chasers called to tell a similar story. I was left
thinking of opening a "chasers crisis hotline". The bottom line is obvious: we'll have to
wait until next year.
II. CHASER NEWS
WILL COUNTY TORNADO: A Diary of Destruction. A popular account of the late summer killer tornado
that struck Plainfield, IL. The $6 price per copy includes postage, handling, and sales tax.
Royalties are being paid to the families who lost their homes in the tornado. Make checks payable
to C. F. Boone, P.O. Box 1977, Sun City, AZ 85372-1977. Or place your order toll free: 1-800-5355057. Foreign countries add $2.50 extra postage.
MASA: Milwaukee Area Skywarn Association is looking for a few good chasers. This newly formed
group is open to anybody with an interest in severe weather. We have a newsletter. Join us.
Write: Skip Voros, MASA, 1537 S. 81st St. Milwaukee, WI 53214.
BIZARRE WAVE HITS DAYTONA BEACH: It was a typical moonlit evening at the drive-on beach at
Daytona until a dark cloud band appeared on the eastern horizon. The line was no cloud but a 15
foot high wave that pushed cars inland and scattered beachgoers. Sailboats were left atop
vehicles and cars were shoved underneath the boardwalk. The rouge wave was about 27 miles long
and 250 feet wide. Seas were generally 1 to 2 feet at the time. Scientists theorize an underwater
landslide set up the wave.
FIRST TORNADO IN PANAMA IS A KILLER: A tornado descended from the clouds on July 6th surprising
many people in this "non-tornado" country. As electric power lines were severed, many people ran
out into the street to see a low hanging cloud and debris flying everywhere. Workers at a garment
factory ran back inside their building as the tornado approached. The poorly constructed block
and steel structure (columns spaced 50 feet apart!) was no match for the tornado and collapsed
killing nine workers and injuring scores. Fellow colleague Dick Madison of Haag Engineering
Company surveyed the damaged building shortly after the storm. See photograph on next page.
Tornado damage at garment factory in Panama City, Panama. Photo by Dick Madison.
III. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
DONNA LAVERGNE grew up in California and has had a fascination for severe storms all her
life: "As a little girl, I remember vividly a funnel that touched down near our farm with
tremendous wind. My parents told me to kneel in the hallway with pillows covering our
heads. I was terrified, but after that, I began an avid interest in severe storms. My
parents couldn't believe there were tornadoes in California. So, I started keeping a
scrapbook of newspaper articles and pictures of tornadoes in the 1960's. Now the scrapbook
is overflowing. Amazingly, after every tornado, the newspapers still say how extremely
rare tornadoes are in the San Joaquin Valley. In March, 1982, I filmed a funnel that
stayed aloft for over 30 minutes. I followed it almost 25 miles from Exter to Tulare.
Compared to the wonder other chasers have seen, my funnel was child's play. But for me, it
was the wonder of the world to have been at the right spot at the right time. Never have I
felt such thrill and excitement. Not many people have seen tornadoes in California."
DAVE FREEMAN, Chief Broadcast Meteorologist for WHIO-TV, Dayton, Ohio: "I must object to
your commentary in the May 31, 1992 issue of STORMTRACK. You blast the media for painting
all storm chasers with the same lurid brush, and then you turn around and do the same
thing by claiming that all reporters are cut from the same lousy cloth! Of course, neither
accusation is true. Yes, there are irresponsible chasers; and yes, there are irresponsible
journalists. Not everyone with a video camera is a "chaser", and not everyone with a
notebook is a "journalist" (the National Enquirer and Inside Edition, for example). But,
by and large, both groups are made up of decent folks trying to do the best job they can
in their chosen vocation or avocation. You must remember, however, that when a general
assignment reporter or producer is told to cover a story such as storm chasing, they are
approaching it as novices. I believe the most constructive response for chasers is to view
each of these encounters as an opportunity to educate the public (and the media) about
severe weather, the joy of learning about meteorology, and perhaps most importantly, about
storm safety. I've had the privilege of chasing with the folks from NSSL for a series of
reports and found the crew --without exception-- to be helpful, courteous and
knowledgeable. My station supplied NSSL with a copy of our video, and, when asked, we
agreed to allow limited duplication for educational purposes. I think both parties had a
good experience, and the public interest was served as well. Certainly caution is advised
when you are approached by a reporter, but no more than if you were approached by an
unfamiliar chaser who wanted to tag along."
PHIL MILLER experienced a nasty hailstorm in Wichita, KS on June 19, 1992 : Around
12:05pm, a shelf cloud passed overhead turning noon hour pitch black. Rain and golfballhail fell at my location. My car only got a few dents, however, my parents house in
Riverside had hail up to tennis ball-size which covered their yard, broke windows, screen
doors, and damaged their roof. The storm moved northwest to south- east cutting a swath of
destruction through west and south sections of Wichita. Mid- continent airport, located on
the west side of town, reported 2.75 inch diameter hail. McConnell Air Force base, located
on the southeast side of town, reported hailstones up to 1.75 inches in diameter. Attached
is a storm map from the Wichita Eagle news.
GREG STORY works at the National Weather Service in Shreveport, LA. "My boss Ernie
Ethridge wants to inform you that all storm chasers are welcome at the NWS here in
Shreveport! Consider this a formal invitation. I realize that not many of you travel this
far east, but we do get our share of severe weather here."
RICH PUHR says a tornado struck close to his house in Detroit, MI on April 26th: "At
4:09pm the National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado damaged several barns in
Salem Township. It moved east-northeast into Plymouth Township and damaged or destroyed 28
mobile homes and injured 4 people. The tornado damage path was 4 miles long and 160 yards
wide. It appeared light grey in color and was a truncated cone with debris below."
GREG STUMPF from the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman, OK got to see his first
tornado of 1992 on March 17th without having to look at a weather map. "I was on my way
back from a ski trip in Colorado driving from Pueblo, CO to Dodge City, KS. I expected to
chase today and was heading for the National Weather Service in Dodge City when I lost a
two-month old alternator belt 9 miles east of Las Animas, CO. After a 2.5 hour delay, I
was back on the road and drove out of the gunge behind the cold front. I made it to Dodge
City just in time to see a supercell storm near Pratt, KS on the WSR-88D display. I
immediately bolted out of the office and headed for Pratt. Although too late to catch that
storm, I managed to catch another supercell east of Coldwater, KS that produced a shortlived tornado around 6:15 pm.
JOE WYKA had an unfortunate encounter with a vortex that was not as pleasant as he had
hoped. "I had just received the last issue of STORMTRACK and was eagerly awaiting the
contents when a most unfortunate mishap occurred. My mother took it into the bathroom and
as luck would have it, my unread STORMTRACK fell into the wrong place and was carried away
by a small, but very intense suction vortex. Please send me a replacement." Editor:
Complied.
TIM KENNY had some excitement near his home in Niles, MI in July. "On Monday, July 13th, a
downburst and/or tornado struck four miles north of Dowagiac, MI, about 15 miles northeast
of my home. I was at the southern edge of the storm and saw considerable cloud-to-cloud
lightning. The next day, a tornado touched down at Kendallville, IN which is about 60
miles east-southeast of my home. The tornado did F2 to F3 damage to several fairly wellbuilt homes and narrowly missed the fairgrounds where about 5,000 people were in
attendance. This close call reminded me of your account in STORMTRACK where the 1987 West
Memphis, AR tornado missed a dog track filled with about 9,000 people."
IV. ROSTER
The ST Roster lists names, addresses, and brief biographies of those persons interested in
or willing to correspond with others about storms and storm chasing. Send in your
biography for the next issue today. Now is the time to get your partner!
DEAN ENOS, 1640 Lexington, Wichita, KS 67218: I'm 29, blind, and a ham radio operator.
Call sign is N0OFL. Looking to correspond with someone, especially other handicapped
chasers. You can reach me at 316-685-2934. Please call.
TIM PREGON, 9125 Desmond Dr., St. Louis, MO 63126: I am a meteorologist with Surface
Systems, Inc. in St. Louis looking to chase with someone when I'm off work. Please write
or call (314) 843-9225.
DAVE SLAYTON, 1275 S. Garfield St., Denver, CO 80210: I'm 35, and don't have much
experience. I would appreciate an opportunity to go storm chasing with some chasing
experts. I have a Toyota wagon to haul lots of chase equipment. Phone: 303-758-5982.
PATRICK FREULER, 7214 S. LaRosa Drive, Tempe, AZ 85283: I work in the admissions
a small community college in Phoenix. I've always been a severe weather buff and
view a tornado from a safe distance. An admitted novice, I'm seeking information
advice, and ready to make a trip into Texas/Oklahoma during prime severe weather
the spring of 1993. Please write.
office of
want to
and
season in
TAHOKA, TEXAS CHASE: JUNE 13, 1992 by Martin Lisius
[ unabridged for CD-ROM ]
"One of the brightest gems in the...weather is the dazzling uncertainty of it." - Mark
Twain, 1876
I think that Mr. Twain must have just experienced a spring similar to ours of 1992 when he
spoke these words to a group of weather enthusiasts back in 1876.
Evidence of an especially uncertain spring showed itself in the vast number of storms I
witnessed with tornadic tendencies that could not produce a funnel. These storms were
always one small ingredient away from fruition.
It had become, for me, the spring of the northwesterly flow event. Many storms had to be
force-fed their inflow by that same steering wind as they were pushed into a moist but
weak southeasterly wind at the surface.
The co-star of the season was the hailstone. I had heard hail described in almost every
shape and size this spring by storm spotters. They included: nickel, dime, quarter, pea,
egg, marble, ping-pong ball, golf ball, baseball, softball and grapefruit size hail. There
was enough variety of "goods" that fell from the sky within 5 miles of my house that I
could have opened my own grocery or sporting goods store with significant venture capital
to boot!
An interesting thing was that many of the days that were supposed to be "big" only
produced big ice. As it turned out, some of the best days did not have "big" forecasts.
June 13 was one of them.
At 10:00 a.m., winds over most of Texas were from the south or southeast. And, from calm
to 12 mph, with 16 mph at Amarillo and 20 mph at San Angelo. The air was warm and humid.
Surface temperatures were in the mid to upper seventies in West Texas. Midland was
reporting a moist 69 deg F dewpoint. No problem with thermodynamics. Upper level support
was provided by, yes, you guessed it, a northwesterly flow. The subtropical jet was
clocked at 100 knots and was positioned between Midland and Lubbock. A dryline was
situated just west and parallel to the Texas/New Mexico border and was predicted to move
east into the panhandle by afternoon.
I called Mike Mach at the NWS who shared his interpretation of the situation. We decided
on an area somewhere between Midland and Lubbock as the most favorable region for tornadic
development later that day. Lamesa became my initial target. I left DFW at 11:00 a.m. As I
approached Big Spring, at about 3:30, I could see a long anvil stretching from a point to
the northwest, apparently somewhere west of Lubbock. I headed straight for it. Meanwhile,
just south of Lamesa I noticed numerous very strong dust devils kicking up fine, red West
Texas sandy loam, obviously a result of a rising thermometer and accelerating anemometer.
At 4:00 p.m., the instability at Midland was 89 deg F over a 71 deg F dew point! Winds
were south at 17 mph with gusts to 26 mph at Lubbock. At 4:30 p.m., radar indicated a
storm near Plains moving east at 10 mph.
As I approached Lamesa at 5:00 p.m., I could see a new storm shooting up to my northwest.
I got into position and it quickly became high precip. Warning tones went off over the
weather frequency. Tornado sightings northwest of Lubbock'
I hastily headed north to Brownfield where I could see a storm to my north blocking my
advance on the tornadic storm further away. I positioned myself about two miles south of
the updraft. The inflow was warm, moist and gusting to about 35 mph. The telephone lines
above me began to sing. There was no need to continue north. I was apparently on the right
storm.
I chased to the east-southeast staying south of the updraft. By about 7:00 p.m. the storm
base was hugging the ground. Dark gray clouds began to rotate counterclockwise. And, then
it happened! Small funnels with sharp points formed instantly from the ragged updraft and
began to spin around a common center. A pointed funnel reached to the ground and
disappeared a few seconds later leaving a dust cloud behind. Lightning bolts pulsed from
the lowering, about a a mile away from me. I looked around and noticed that I was one of
the tallest objects out on the table-flat prairie. A good time to get back into the car! I
followed the storm as it moved further east. A few minutes later it produced a small
wedge-shaped tornado about three miles east of my position. It soon became obscured by the
red dust being kicked up by a strong rear flank downdraft.
I came upon a farmer and his family who said that they saw the twister coming and decided
to flee their farm in his truck. We all watched together as his farm disappeared behind
the black and red cloud about two miles away.
I raced to the southeast to the town of Tahoka and stopped along the highway a mile west
of town. The storm had come to a screeching halt about a mile to my northwest. The inflow
had calmed to about 15 mph. The huge black cloud continued to spin just above the ground.
An occasional rise of dust could be seen below. Tahoka's sirens were wailing to my east.
Several of its residents had gathered alongside the road to watch the event as their town
waited anxiously in the storm's path.
Mother Nature had decided not to make June 13, 1992 the day of the "destructive Tahoka,
Texas tornado". The cloud hung just above a field outside of town spinning, for almost an
hour into a beautiful, flying saucer-shaped dryline storm. Just after sunset, it
dissipated into the atmosphere.
After dark, a tornado was reported on the ground near Ackerly, the area south of Lamesa
where I had seem the dust devils earlier. As I drove east, I could see brilliant flashes
of lightning reflected in my rearview mirror long into the night.
For me, tornadoes had waited through March, April, May and half of June to come. It felt
good as I headed back home with my window open, the sultry air blowing into my car. I
thought about what little storm season was left and figured it would be just about as
uncertain as the rest.
Funnel NW of Tahoka, TX around 7 pm (Martin Lisius)
Tornado NW of Tahoka, TX around 7:10 pm (Martin Lisius)
TORNADO VISUAL CLASSIFICATION by Tim Marshall
Tornadoes are like snowflakes in that each one is different. However, I have seen a number
of similar tornado types over the years. In an effort to better describe what tornadoes
look like when you're talking to others or writing about them, I thought it would be
helpful to classify tornadoes (excuse me Dr. Doswell) by their size and appearance. After
all, not all tornadoes are "wedges". So, I developed the following chart as a general
guide to use when visually describing a tornado. This by no means includes all tornadoes,
hut it is a start to an even larger project that I have in mind. I welcome any additions
or suggestions.
Tornado sizes are listed simply as small, medium, and large. Small tornadoes are: wire,
rope, and needle-shaped. Medium-size tornadoes are: V, cigar, cylinder, and cone-shaped.
Within the medium-size tornado category there are various appearances which include
concave-sided, straight-sided, convex-sided, and truncated-cone. Large tornadoes are:
bulb, bowl, and wedge-shaped. I've also included some unique appearing tornadoes in the
chart such as flared-base and hourglass. Pairs of tornadoes in most blocks represent
stationary and translating modes.
Naming each tornado type was difficult. There are a lot of descriptive words for tornadoes
and they are used interchangeably. To me, for example, pencil is the same as needle, rope
is the same as snake, cylinder is a pole, column, tube or hose, and concave-sided looks
like an elephant trunk. I'm sure you have your own preferences.
In an extension of the tornado visual classification chart, I've also classified
subvortices into two main groups: 1) Ground-based and 2) Air-based (airborne). All of us
use the term "multi-vortex" to describe many different sizes and appearances of multiple
vortex tornadoes. Ground-based subvortices are classified as small (vortlets), medium and
large. Airborne subvortices are classified as attached (to cloud base), detached (from
cloud base), and upward moving (translating). Hopefully, this chart will help us get to
some "common ground" {rather than confuse everyone) when we talk or write about tornadoes.
THE NIXA-SPRINGFIELD, MO TORNADO: NOVEMBER 29, 1991 by Tim Marshall
"I just got home from work. It was Friday, the end of a work week. Dinner was cooking, so
it was time to catch up on the news. My son and I were sitting in the den watching
television; my wife was upstairs. The rain was really coming down hard, but then it
stopped suddenly. Somehow I knew this wasn't an ordinary storm and asked my son to find
the flashlight just in case. He found it in the kitchen drawer and we sat back to catch
the end of the news. It was 6pm. Just then, the power went out. I yelled to my wife:
"Honey, we'd better go to the basement. I don't like this". By the time she reached the
bottom of the stairs, we could hear a rumbling sound approaching. I knew it was a tornado.
The sound increased rapidly, and I could hear trees and homes snapping. We went downstairs
and just closed the basement door just as the front door and windows blew in. It was over
in less than one minute."
The above description was portrayed to me by a Springfield, MO homeowner who was in the
path of the tornado. It was interesting how he sensed the impending danger. His rational
thinking gave him and his family just enough time to get to the basement, about 20
seconds. In retrospect, he said the loss of electric power warned him and his family to
seek shelter. Fortunately for them, the main electric trunk line was located about two
miles to their west. More than one dozen homes were levelled, and several hundred were
damaged by this late fall tornado. Two people were killed. Paul Maranto, 68 died when his
home collapsed. Mr. Charles Beaty, 54 was killed when his truck was flipped and landed
upside down on a highway frontage road. Twelve people were injured seriously, and 52
people sustained minor injuries.
I surveyed the damage path two days later. The tornado began two miles west of Nixa, MO
where minor damage occurred to a wooden barn. The tornado continued on a steady
northeasterly course and struck an older residential area on the north side of town. Many
of the homes were small wood-framed structures on concrete block foundations. The worst
damage I saw was F-3 on the Fujita scale. The damage track was narrow, varying three to
five houses wide.
The tornado continues northeastward crossing a heavily wooded area near Lake Springfield
and then entered two subdivisions (Woodbridge Estates and Natural Bridge Estates) on the
southeast side of town. The tornado damage path was still narrow, about five houses wide.
However, it was quite intense, actually levelling five, well- built, two-story homes in a
row. The worst damage I saw was on the high end of F-4. There were a lot of wooden
missiles scattered on both sides of the the damage path.
Some interesting features of this tornado was that it passed directly over an earth
sheltered house. Grass on top of the house was shaved to the ground and pointed towards
the centerline of the path. A few exterior windows in the home were all that was damaged.
One home that I inspected had the roof shifted slightly from the house. Bottoms of the
wooden braces in the attic had punched through the ceiling sheetrock along the southern
end of the house closest to the tornado path. The roof structure had lifted approximately
14 inches along the south end of the house but remained attached at the opposite end.
Damage to the ceilings was caused when the roof did not set back down exactly in the same
position. I figured the roof was just one or two seconds from becoming airborne.
As the tornado crossed a creekbed, trees were uprooted on each side of the damage path and
pointed towards the center of the path. Trees along the centerline of the tornado damage
path remained upright.
What was left of a new, two-story house. Owner had just moved in. (Tim Marshall)
Panoramic view of tornado damage path looking south. (Tim Marshall)
Tornado center passed over earth house.
(Tim Marshall)
Lawn chair and tree art. (Tim Marshall)
Shaved grass on top of earth house. (Tim
Marshall)
Wood missiles imbedded in ground. (Tim
Marshall)
Tornado track
Line of levelled homes in the Springfield,
MO tornado (Tim Marshall)
Wooden board through brick wall (Tim
Marshall)
More damage in Springfield, MO (Tim
Marshall)
BELOIT, KANSAS SUPERCELL: JUNE 15, 1992 by Kevin Polston
The 1992 severe weather season had been a slow one in the central part of the country,
certainly compared to the last two years which saw major outbreaks of severe weather. The
Kansas University Severe Storms Intercept Project (KUSSIP) had traveled further this year
than ever before in pursuit of tornadoes. We had some early season success with a couple
of systems that moved into the central plains in March. The only problem was that the
tornado we saw occurred at night (near Anthony, Kansas) and we were about 8-10 miles away.
Our prime months of April and May came and went with very little severe weather. In fact,
May had NO recorded tornadoes in Kansas at all! While we have gone on several storm chases
this year, it was not until June 15th when it turned exciting.
We were watching a large storm system developing over the western part of the U.S. the
weekend before the 15th. We were hopeful that the long range progs were correct showing a
significant event. Two days before the big day, Larry Wilson at the Severe Local Storms
unit (SELS) in Kansas City, MO issued the second day severe outlook calling for "strong
tornadoes" with a widespread outbreak anticipated. However, the next night at SELS, Larry
thought that June 16th was going to be the big day. With this in mind, I thought the 15th
would he a preparation day and I didn't leave SELS until 4 a.m..
I had only gotten a couple hours of sleep when the weather radio warning alarm woke me up.
A morning supercell had developed just west of Topeka and was moving towards me in
Lawrence. I called other team members and found that SELS had upgraded today's outlook and
issued a public weather statement highlighting the possibility of damaging tornadoes.
Also, I was notified that the Weather Channel was coming to Kansas City, so we invited
then to come over to Kansas University (KU) if they wanted to get the latest weather
updates. The morning supercell didn't last through mid-morning and evaporated. Thus, we
went into the "waiting mode" for the expected development later in the day.
By early afternoon, the parameters were looking very favorable for severe convection from
western Nebraska into north-central Kansas. Satellite pictures showed clear skies with
just a few cumulus over the area. The Weather Channel crew had arrived and we were all
getting a little impatient at mother nature. Finally, the 182 satellite picture showed
towering cumulus. Within 15 minutes, a tornado watch was issued for most of north-central
Kansas. Two of our chase teams along with the Weather Channel were already out the door!
We had been on the road for about 45 minutes, between Topeka and Junction City, when we
saw well defined mammatus clouds extending to the northwest. These were some of the hest
mammatus clouds I've ever seen. We headed north to Concordia to get closer to the storm.
Shortly after 7 p.m, we arrived in Beloit, KS and heard of tornado reports approximately
8-10 miles west and southwest of town. We decided to head for that area despite the fact
that it was on the northern side of the supercell. The closer we got to the storm, the
stronger the inflow winds became from the east. We stopped and viewed a well defined dark
edge in the rain area. It was a tornado! After a few moments, we made a hasty retreat.
When we later saw the tornado on videotape, we realized we were closer than what we
originally thought.
As we drove back south through Beloit, we saw this massive mesocyclone (about 8-10 miles
wide) spinning wildly to our west. I have never seen such an impressive sight. Inflow
winds continued to blow hard into the storm. A low-level inflow cloud band was observed to
the north, wrapping into the north side of the columnar supercell updraft. A very dark,
heavy curtain of rain obscured our view to the west. We continued south about 5 miles and
met other storm chasers as well as one of our KU teams. All of us watched very rapidly
rotating rain curtains to our west. Then, suddenly we spotted a tornado. We headed towards
it closing from
about five miles. The tornado was fairly good in size assuming a classic funnel shape. As
we got closer, we had to go through a couple of light to moderate rain curtains, but we
could see the tornado at all times. We became concerned over the rapid spinning motion in
the clouds just above us. So, we stopped within two miles of the tornado and could see a
large debris cloud at the ground -larger than the funnel. The tornado stopped moving
northeast and turned east directly towards us. We fled southward on a dirt road and then
stopped to take some footage.
As the tornado began to rope out, we saw multiple vortices at the ground. Soon, the rain
wrapped completely around the tornado and obscured our view. We made it back to the main
road and encountered one of our chase teams again. We saw several cloud lowerings and wall
clouds, but it was not until nearly dusk before we saw another tornado. This one was
located on the north side of a newly developed supercell and rotated very quickly around
to the west side of the parent mesocyclone, out of sight behind the heavy rain and hail.
We drove south as night fell and stopped in Lincoln, KS where we saw several storm chasers
including Jon Davies. We spoke briefly about the day's events and the next day's
potential. For me, the tornadoes were a tremendous sight -one that I won't ever forget.
One of several tornadoes from the June 15th supercell in northern Kansas (Doug Hesse,
University of Kansas News)