On May 21, 2024, the Storm Prediction Center (SPC) issued a “moderate risk” for Minnesota and Iowa. This hazard is mainly damaging wind speed, but a 15% tornado chance increases the chance of seeing a tornado.
SPC issues codes like KNMI. Instead of code yellow, orange and red, SPC uses marginal, minor, enhanced, moderate and high risk. Where there is less opportunity and more opportunity at the edge.
Having arrived from Colorado the night before, we had a long drive ahead of us. That meant, after a long chase, another 7 hours of driving east to set us up for the next day. Luckily, we still had some time to get a few hours of sleep by booking a hotel that night.
Once the day started, it started as a fun chase in Omaha. We were ‘greeted’ by a tornado siren on the highway exit and had to make several detours because the rain the night before had caused some ‘flash flooding’.
The rain moved very hard. It is impossible to keep up with the rain at a speed of almost 100 km/h. After seeing the first rain disappear in the north, we soon noticed that the rain south of us was getting more interesting. Eventually, the cell was even issued a tornado warning.
We went to that beautiful cell where we saw a beautiful wall cloud with some circulation in the shower, but this shower also passed quickly and we could not continue any further due to the roads and speed.
We’re going to leave to be prepared for rain in Texas the next day, where the rain will move a little slower. Until… suddenly we saw a clear funnel at the back of the shower.
We saw the funnel disappear again soon with excitement, but this gave us new hope. Trying to keep up with the rain, but now had a plan from behind. It doesn’t make for the prettiest photos, but we had to catch a hurricane during our 3.5 weeks in the US.
After the storm and storm chasers indicated a few times that a tornado was on the ground we drove on. This soon became clear as we drove past the damage caused by the hurricane. Damage from a small tornado made the less-than-realistic side of the chase.
By that time the emergency services were already there, so we continued. We drive further and Angelique suddenly sees something… it’s a tornado! I try to take some quick pictures from the car, but with the car moving on the not-so-good roads, the results are not good.
We see a mountain in the distance, we stop the car and I climb on the roof of the car to stand a little higher. This resulted in the plates below. What a wonderful experience.
The first tornado was captured and enjoyed at “Red Oak.”
This was one of the whirlwinds of the day. Storm chasers who were more experienced and closer to the hurricane saw another tornado. The cyclone even destroyed a windmill. Reed Timmer made a video of this tornado where you can see the incredible power. Great video if you ask me.
