StormSkies.com - May 24, 2010 - Central Nebraska Squall Line

May 24, 2010 - Central Nebraska Squall Line
by Benjamin Tillotson
Tuesday, May 25, 2010, 11:13am

Targeted North Platte yesterday. Cells were starting to form north of North Platte when we arrived. They didn't look very organized though and I decided to head south and catch the cells coming out of Kansas. Bad choice... The cells North of North Platte were soon tornado warned and our storms in Kansas were quickly dying. Storm motion was fast today so there was no chance of catching the stuff up north. We waited around North Platte for a while to see if anything could fire up in the area. Nothing did. It seemed like we were in a big hole and all the action was somwhere else around us. A cell fired at Broken Bow which was a good 40-50 miles east of where we were. That cell raced north becoming tornado warned as well. It was just too hard to intercept and keep up with any individual cell. So we went west to Arthur closer to the dryline and basically followed the squall line it produced back to Kearney.

The rain bands were one of the coolest things to watch here. We really needed a video camera to capture this. There was deffinitly some strong straight line winds in parts of the storm.

It quickly formed a whales mouth type of deal.

Micheal unknowingly lost his cell phone at this point in the tall grass across the road...

Group photo! The storm chasers: Michael Tillotson, Benjamin Tillotson and Kristin

Group photo. I just had to insert this photo into Benjamin's blog post. :) -Michael

...and this is where we realized he had lost it. Amazingly we found it probab;y within half an hour. I wasn't sure if we would be able to catch up to the line but we did by the time we got to Stapleton.

The contrast is always cool with these things.

Over next to that power pole is where we found Micheals phone. It survived the torrntial downpour and boots up just fine.

Back ahead of the line in Stapleton.

Very cool.

The sunset colors were incredible. I even managed to get some lightning with it.

I included this last photo just to prove how bad I am getting at photography. I used auto focus to focus on the horizon/ininity. Forgot to check to make sure it was on infinit. It was actually on 1.4ft or something like that. They would have been really good shots otherwise. I even remember looking at them on the camera LCD and thinking that these are probably some of the best storm/night shots I have ever got.

Tue, May 25, 2010, 12:01pm
Sarah

Those are really cool! I really like the sunset ones. You're not getting worse at photography... haha everyone makes mistakes! :P Those clouds are so amazing!

Tue, May 25, 2010, 12:25pm
Kristin

It was a very fun chase! We stayed in the storm for 5 hours. I loved the rain bands on the prairie and the colors...wish we had video of that. It was SO beautiful! And finding Michaels phone was truly a miracle. :P

Tue, May 25, 2010, 1:12pm
##;1

We definitely need a video camera ASAP. The cloud motions are amazing, and still photography can't capture that. This was the first chase this year that I was able to go on. Besides the fact that I am still getting over a cold and I got motion sickness from Benjamin's driving while working on my laptop, it was great! :)

Tue, May 25, 2010, 3:26pm
Sarah

Motion sickness from Ben's driving.... lol

Tue, May 25, 2010, 5:03pm
Kristin

Ben drives 80 with his head upside down staring up at the clouds out the front windshield. ;)

Tue, May 25, 2010, 5:54pm
Sarah

haha... I want to see that. Video tape it next time. ;)

Wed, May 26, 2010, 12:14pm
Addie

You should post the picture of the pretty farm! :)

Wed, May 26, 2010, 10:06pm
Seth

Meanwhile... I was stranded at the office at the mercy of the storm chasers... :D

Thu, May 27, 2010, 8:24am
##;1

Yes, Addie, the farm and also our "group photo". :) I'll add a couple more to the post. Hopefully you were enjoying yourself, Seth. It sounds like you were hoping you would spend the night at the shop. ;) As soon as we get our video camera, Sarah... :P

Thu, May 27, 2010, 9:16am
##;1

Now I am afraid that the Benjamin will be angry because I messed up his blog post with more photos. People photos do make the post more interesting. We will look more professional once we all are wearing our TCS t-shirts. :)

Thu, May 27, 2010, 12:04pm
Joanna

Yes Addie I agree the farm is pretty:) and the other pics. are cool Ben!

Thu, May 27, 2010, 1:31pm
Sarah

I love the group picture! :D

Thu, May 27, 2010, 6:00pm
Addie

Actually I never saw the farm picture until now... Kristin told me to say that! ;) But I REALLY like it! :)

Thu, May 27, 2010, 9:44pm
##;1

Haha, I was wondering how in the world you knew about the farm pictures. :)

Sat, May 29, 2010, 12:16pm
Les

Okay...I *love* the group photo! You all look freezing! It was fun to get all of Kristin's texts...made waiting in the airport for 8 hours less boring! I got to ride along with you. :) VERY neat pictures!! I like them all! :)

Sat, May 29, 2010, 2:23pm
Les

Btw Benjamin - did you know you spelled your brother's name wrong? :)

Mon, May 31, 2010, 8:55pm
##;1

Haha, I don't know if that was a typo, or if he really forgot how to spell my name. :)

Tue, Jun 1, 2010, 4:39am
Gareth Fei

Pretty cool pics. I was shocked by the amazing scenes before stormy since I never observed before.

Fri, Jun 4, 2010, 1:12pm
Les

We'll give him the benefit of the doubt, Michael, and say it was a typo. :)

Mon, Jun 21, 2010, 12:25pm
Aileen

Can I join you guys storm chasing next time? this is soo interesting! God bless you!