Had a really fun chase today. Started out in KBIE, then scooted east to Hebron. Eventually figured the high LCLs and dry air up in Nebraska (60 Tds my foot!) weren't going to do me any good, so I dropped down into Kansas on 81. Caught the cell of the day, but got behind instead of in front of it. At one point I had to choose whether to punch it and try to beat it to Clay Center on 24 or to wait it out just west of Idana. Chose to wait it out -- talked a couple of truckers into waiting, too. Once the circulation had passed over 24, I jetted to Clay Center. Debris everywhere out by the airport. Saw at least one home pretty totalled, and metal sheeting from a disintegrated barn or shed spread out over a good half mile. Trees uprooted as well. Bopped north on 15 from Clay Center, then stairstepped NE on the county roads. Finally saw the tornado in a low contrast type deal about 5 miles away when I got near 36. From funnel to touchdown in about a minute, then from thin funnel to a stovepipe for a couple more. After that it either got wrapped in rain (remember, we're looking from the south) or lifted. Saw some more damage when we rejoined the highway east of Washington. Followed it north a bit more on 77, but there wasn't much to see from there.
Wish I could've got photos of the tube, but I needed a telephoto to do that, and didn't have one. My friend did, but he had to shoot while we were moving because there was traffic behind me and nowhere to pull off on the old county road we were on, so they came out blurry. We did have a ton of fun, though!
Shot looking north-northeast from just north of Clay Center. I wasn't going to drive much into this until I watched it a bit, as our radar wasn't updating (no good cell coverage), and I could look straight up and see the whole vault of convection rotating right above me.
Man, that's quite a sight, looking straight up 40,000 feet, and seeing the base right above and the knuckles peeking out in the stratosphere and everything moving in different directions. The tornadic part of the storm is actually well behind the new convection in the picture. We eventually caught up with it.
Hope everyone in Clay Center came out of this one okay.
