This was a tough day of chasing after seeing what friends bagged less than hour ahead of us. I’m not sure there was anything our group could’ve done other than leave an hour earlier to get up in time to see these storms. We missed the first tornado by less than an hour and barely made it across I-90 in South Dakota in time to catch the dying second tornado after it destroyed a farm house. Unfortunately whatever condition that was in place before we got there disappeared quickly

after our arrival (our absence, perhaps), so there were no more tornado reports

after that til well after dark. It was a fun and epic chase as we ended up as far as Pipestone, Minnesota before turning around and giving our forth storm of the day a final chance before sunrise. We ended the night in Sioux City, IA over a Chili’s dinner and celebrating a good day. Verne Carlson and company had the shots of the day as they were within a couple hundred feet of the first tornado. His report is linked above. After a quick night’s sleep, we made the long journey back to Colorado where we arrived home over 1,600 miles later.

Some notes, this was my first chase ever in the month of September and now makes it that I’ve chased every month between March and October. This chase was also 4th longest chase to date.

The 0600z, 1200z, and 1630z tornado progs from SPC showing an increased threat over a larger area.

As you can see, the threat area shifted northward and made for a further drive which ultimately cost us.

Sunrise over I-76 as we began our epic journey, leaving the Brighton Park ‘n’ Ride at 6:15am.

Horseshoe funnels over extreme Western Iowa mid-afternoon. We were heading north on I-29 out of Omaha.

Jon Van de Grift was behind the wheel of the van as I shot at these features near Sioux Falls, SD between the first and second big tornadoes.

Approaching the tornado which destroyed a farm house. The constrast was adjusted to show the debris cloud.

Low hanging turbulent clouds over extreme Eastern South Dakota on SD-34 near Egan.

Me trying on Verne’s video probe at a railroad track south of Pipestone, Minnesota on MN-23.

Chris Collura in the background as we sit off MN-23 south of Pipestone, Minnesota.

Dark clouds roll in from the tail-end of a now developing line of storms. This was the second storm we intercepted on the day.

Heading back to I-29 in South Dakota on SD-34 as the sun begins to set through the blinding rain.

Gorgeous sunset through dying storm clouds south of Brookings, SD.

A hole in the clouds looking west from I-29 south of Brookings, SD.

Hard towers from the MCS developing to our east in Minnesota.

A cool color to storm clouds at sunset.

Fizzling lowerings from clouds to our northwest. We’re off an exit ramp on I-29 south of Brookings, SD.

Another cool sunset shot.

Cool shots of the anvil of the MCS to our east.

Golden cu illuminated by the setting sun.

The gang at Chili’s in Sioux City, IA enjoying a well deserved dinner!

Tom Dulong, Michael Carlson, Chris Collura, Verne Carlson, Allison, Jon Van de Grift, Tony Laubach

Filling up the next day for $2.39 in Missouri Valley, IA; crossing the bridge, gas was nearly a quarter higher.

The Missouri River bridge along I-680 as we head home the following Sunday.

The traditional sleeping shot; Allison catching some Zs.

Polish Road Block on I-80.

Apparently a horse trailor crashed on I-80 in Nebraska here at MM-224; the horse was okay.

Crossing back into Colorado on I-76 around 4:00pm; I pulled into Lakewood just over 1,600 miles in 36 hours.

The SPC reports from this day, click the image to view the details.

I left Denver this morning at about 5:30a and made great time and gas mileage into Amarillo where I filled up my 3/4 tank after over 400 miles of travel. I then continued south through Lubbock where I was aiming to make Midland. However, storms firing in New Mexico had me thinking heading that far south wasn’t needed. I elected to turn west into Andrews where I met with Jason Boggs and shot the breeze with him til we elected to head north to Seminole to intercept the storm coming out of Hobbs.

What happened next is by far the most incredible chasing experience of my life to date. The storm was heading east/northeast at this point just north of the highway. When I got into town, I met with Amos Magliocco, Eric Nguyen, and Scott Eubanks and we headed west out of town. We elected then to get northwest of Seminole to get a closer view of the storm.

The storm suddenly made a violent and quick turn almost due southeast. Hail began to fall; marbles at first, then growing to quarters, then golfballs. Eric and Amos (in Amos’s truck) headed back southeast into town while Scott E and I hung back. Things looked like they were lightening up a bit. All of a sudden, a few baseballs started coming down. We were going to head back in to town when we heard Eric and Amos over the radio advising us NOT to head south cause the hail was bigger.

We then elected to stay put; the stones weren’t falling too furiously, so it looked as if the storm had wrapped itself around us and we were going to be spared. *Insert a long incorrect buzzer here* More stones began to fall, then hell rained upon us in the form of 3 and 4 inch diameter stones. My vehicle didn’t stand a chance; the back windshield exploded as I was filming (camera away). I ironically enough had just began to say how thankful I was to get the damage waiver on the rental when the back windshield exploded.

We then tried to find cover as the back windshield continued to crash in. The sunroof never stood a chance and was beaten to a pulp as well. The windshield held its own, but soon became a shattered, spidery mess. Scott and I found shelter along side an aluminum building northwest of town and rode out the rest of the storm from there. His car suffered numerous big dents and a cracked windshield. I lost the back windshield, sunroof, and severely damaged front windshield.

We left my car at the police station and I jumped in with Scott for the remainder of the chase. We eventually intercepted the tornado southeast of Patricia, but were looking in toward the meso from the north and had poor contrast. None-the-less, it was the first tornado of the season for me.

Many thanks to Scott Eubanks for allowing me the seat in his car after leaving my car in Seminole and allowing me the chance to continue chasing. Also thanks to Amos and Eric for their concern and offer to ride with them. Its always nice to be in good company, and while I was in a hole, they all offered help even as it may have cost them parts of the chase.

This was the car before it all occured!

Marbles up through quarters fell first followed by golfballs. These shots were taken during a lull in the storm.

The ground as the stone’s began to fall again; starting at quarter to golfball size and growing.

Round 2 began and this would be the big show of the day.

Baseball sized hail was as big as I dared to get out of the car to get. The softballs came next and I wasn’t eager enough to get clocked in the head with one of these.

The softballs reigned down and destroyed the car. The back windshield and sunroof stood no chance. The front windshield also took a beating, but I was fortunately able to safely see through the cracks. The constant sound of wooshing caused as these heavy stones were falling at 100mph was incredible. It was almost like being in a constant morder attack.

When the storm finally let up, this was what was left of my rental. We left the car at the Police station in Seminole and I jumped in with Scott Eubanks for the remainder of the chase.

Catching back up with Amos and Eric, we stay on the storm’s edge to try and avoid getting clobbered with more hail. This shot shows Amos looking behind us as hail sits on the ground. Hailstones we found that were bigger than baseballs we lined on Scott’s truck; the field was littered with these as this storm dumped millions of stones.

The Freak Hailstone found in the nearby field.

Image taken by Eric Nguyen of the field of baseballs which was a common sight for the better portion of 10 miles.

Lowerings, the monster hail shaft, and a rainbow; looking east.

Awesome cloud features overhead.

The hail core and rain-wrapped tornado which we couldn’t see.

Cool clouds from near Patricia, Texas

Oh yeah, we got a tornado, too! Caught the last couple minutes of this poorly constrasted tornado 3 miles southeast of Patricia.

This marked my first tornado of 2006.

The storm pushes away as dark falls.

Awesome structure.

Video Stills from TWC Airing on Saturday.

Video Stills from Denver’s Channel 7 News Airing on Monday.

Channel 7 News Chief Meteorologist Mike Nelson plugging the Channel 7 Blog.