Oregon, MO Supercell

Chase Recap:

After a bust on the 6th in Nebraska City, we went and got some great BBQ, and then returned back to Scott’s house in Omaha. Sunday was looking like a great day for us to hit the road yet again. Scott and I drove seperately because we knew we would be chasing things eastwardly, and it made no sense for me to return back to Omaha to go back to Michigan.

Scott and I went to Lincoln, and got some Raisin Canes. Tasty chicken fingers. Then it was south out of Lincoln. We stopped by Hallam to take some pictures. The town has rebuilt pretty nice since it was completely destroyed in 2004. After a quick run through Hallam, it was back south into Kansas.

We stopped off in Marysville, KS before heading east. Brandon Sullivan was in Hiawatha, and we needed stop and drop off his keys, so we headed east. I immediately departed and headed up north and then west towards the cell going up just northwest of Marysville. Scott didn’t follow along, so I ended up being on my own at that point. I got on the cell just before it went Tornado Warned, and observed some decent rotation from just west of Pawnee City.

I had to relocate east a couple of times due to hail, making it to Pawnee City. I went south and sat along route 65 observing a rotating wall cloud. My camera started acting up, and so I didn’t get great footage on anything but the dash cam.

I went south and then east, running into the TIV and the rest of the Discovery armada. I kept going back towards Route 8/50 when I ran back into Danny Neal and Adam Lucio. I parked my car and walked across the road to talk to them when the TIV and Discovery armada including the TVN SRV came down the road. It took me at least 5 minutes if not longer to get back to my truck waiting for all of the cars to pass. Oh well, it was cool to see all of the cars involved with that.

After that, we headed south and then east on the paved option, going to 105 and then north, going all the way up to Humboldt. The storm started producing a spectacular wall cloud again while I was north on 105. I decided to go after an intentional hail core, going up US75 right into the core. I never encountered more than hail the size of an inch or so in diameter.

Danny Neal and Adam Lucio had caught back up to me, and passed me while I was screwing around with a camera on the side of the road, so I followed them for most of the rest of the day.

We went to Brownville to cross the Missouri River, where I had to fill my tank up. We shot back down I-29, where I observed the beautiful structure on the back of the cell which was producing softball sized hail at the time.

Danny and Adam got off at US 53, but I kept going to almost St. Joseph. Scott Bennett magically appeared on the freeway again just before I exited, and we caravaned across a dirt road to US-169, which we took back north towards Union Star, MO. Scott opted to follow the TIV and everyone else while I kept going east on County Road E/Y. I encountered 1.25-1.75 inch hail at that point plus a beautiful green sky which can be seen in my video below.

I continued way east, and then south, getting out of the hail and back down towards Weatherby. The structure pictures I was able to capture in a parking lot at MO-6 and Road Y/D were amazing.

Eventually the line of chasers started catching up, and I headed further east, stopping just before I-35 and watched most of the chasers go by. Steve Miller OK and Hans Schroeder stopped by, and we decided to head down and get some dinner. We headed towards Cameron, MO and ate at the Pizza Hut where Scott Bennett and Lanny Dean joined us. It was good to finally meet Lanny. The pizza was great, and we got some photos of Steve and Scott holding their 31st server for ChaserTV.

Eventually we all headed out, Steve and Hans going south towards Oklahoma City, and Scott returning back to Omaha. I decided to head north on I-35, which was a mistake as a Tornado touched down near Cameron about 30 minutes later. I stayed the night in Bethany, MO after meeting back up with Danny and Adam.