When Jim Tang, a storm chaser based in Oklahoma City, set out to follow a promising pocket of weather in southwest Nebraska on Monday evening, he didn’t expect to find the tornado of a lifetime.
All he knew was that the signs of a storm were promising.
“I think that's part of the allure of storm chasing for me,” Tang told Cowboy State Daily. “You want to give yourself the best chance possible to see something, but at the end of the day, the weather does what it does. It’s unpredictable.”
The forecast indicated a tornado could touch down, which was enough to get Tang on the road to chase it.
That evening, he witnessed what he called “a once-in-a-lifetime storm” that surpassed everything he’d seen in a decade of storm chasing. It was almost like the tornado was an attention hog, posing for photographs.
“As a storm chaser, that kind of tornado is your career goal,” he said. “I had never been on such a long-lived, photogenic tornado before. It was quite astounding.”
Don't Know Until It Happens
It’s tornado season across the Great Plains. The combination of low-hanging summer air and cooler air aloft means the atmosphere is primed to turn storms into funnels of destruction.
Tang was following a series of storms developing over North Platte, Nebraska, when he decided to drive to the vicinity and see what he could see.
Being a storm chaser requires constant monitoring of the weather and atmospheric conditions to pinpoint the right time and place to see a storm, but there are no guarantees.
“At the beginning of the day, I don't think anyone in the storm chasing community expected anything,” he said. “I only went to Nebraska because it looked decent. It looked like there might be a storm, and maybe the outside chance of a tornado.”
Tang hopped in his car and drove south of North Platte, watching the skies as the storm started getting “pretty stout” overhead. He was cautiously optimistic as he tried to position himself in the best spot to see whatever occurred.
“First, there was a little dust whirl,” he said. “That was the initial sign. About 10 minutes later, the main tornado started dropping, and I was right next to it.”
The tornado touched down on empty farmland near Wellfleet, Nebraska. Tang was one of several storm chasers in the vicinity who stopped to capture the terrifying and awe-inspiring spectacle of nature.
“Honestly, it was once in a lifetime,” he said. “As a storm chaser, it’s the kind of storm you want to see. Really tall, photogenic, high contrast. It’s rare to see that combination in one storm.”
Experienced And Dangerous
Cowboy State Daily meteorologist Don Day was in awe of the images and videos of the tornado. He commended Tang and the other storm chasers for their skill and artistry in capturing the incredible storm.
“I think the lighting is the thing that made a lot of those photos so spectacular,” he said. “It gave the tornado a lot of contrast. There is a huge reason why so many people have gotten into storm chasing, especially folks trying to capture the moment.
“The right time, the right place, and the right lighting are critical.”
Another remarkable thing about the tornado was that it
mostly stayed put. Rather than blazing a trail across southwestern Nebraska, the funnel didn’t move far from where it touched down.
Day said that’s the luck of the draw when it comes to tornadoes.
Most professional storm chasers are experienced enough to assess their risks, but their passion means constantly placing themselves in potential danger.
“You can observe tornadoes safely, but it’s still very dangerous,” he said. “There was another tornado that touched down in Nebraska in May that was a mile and a half wide. But it was out in the Sandhills and didn’t hit anything. But people have died chasing storms.”
As far as tornadoes go, Day agreed that this was one of the best he’s ever seen.
“I oohed and aawed at it myself,” he said. “If you’re going to have a tornado, that’s the way to have one. It was pretty gorgeous.
The Stats
Rachel Kulik, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Office in North Platte, said there were actually two tornadoes reported in southern Nebraska on Monday evening.
The smaller tornado only manifested as a landspout, which rotates within but doesn’t descend from the clouds, so what Tang and the other storm chasers saw was the larger of the two.
“The landspout was an EF-1, and then the regular tornado was an EF-2,” she said. “That means the larger tornado was swirling between 111 and 135 mph.”
“EF” refers to the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which is used to rank the intensity of tornadoes.
Tornadoes that reach EF-5 are swirling at more than 200 mph.
Kulik said the Monday evening tornado moved three miles from where it touched down to where it lifted. That’s a “pretty small” amount of ground for a tornado to cover.
“This tornado was only moving at about 4 miles per hour when it touched down,” she said.
“It was moving so slowly that it was pretty much stationary.”
The cherry on top of Monday evening’s tornado was that it was mostly harmless. Some tornado damage was reported in the communities of Wellfleet and Dickens, but outside of some snapped power lines and fallen trees, Kulik said the storm did not cause widespread destruction.
“Based on the reported damage, the tornado was only 50 yards wide,” Kulik said. “That’s around half a football field. Luckily, it touched down in a rural area, so there weren’t any houses or buildings it could damage. If you're going to get a tornado, that's where you want to have it.”
Tang captured “my favorite photo I have ever taken” as the tornado reached its most violent stage. He described the experience as “one of the most wonderful things I’ve ever seen.”
“I consider myself very fortunate to have witnessed that, and was really glad it didn’t hit anything,” he said. “That’s the kind of experience you want as a storm chaser.”
The best tornado of Tang’s career endured for over an hour before losing its momentum and dissipating. But Tang had one more trick up its funnel for the finale.
“There was a rainbow on the western side of the storm, so I was able to get shots of the rainbow with the tornado,” he said. “That’s also a pretty rare combination. I was very grateful to be there.”
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
