Date: June 16, 2025
Tornadoes: 2
Started: Rapid City, SD
Ended: Colby, KS
On the morning of June 16, my initial target was somewhere in central Minnesota, for a tornado threat. However, after a lot of recent chasing, and a long drive from Montana, I overslept, missing my chance to make to to Minnesota.
Forecast
There was a secondary target that I had been watching. A stalled boundary near the town of North Platte, Nebraska was interesting. Big cape, enough shear, but high LCLs and the potential for a messy storm mode was what originally caused me to target Minnesota.
I left my hotel in Rapid City around 9am, and began heading east along I-90. I reached an interesting gas station just off the interstate, where I was greeted by goats! Apparently, they just roam around the gas station all day.
As I was driving down, I really liked how this atmosphere looked. Lots of bubbling cumulus clouds. Dewpoints in the upper 60s and temperatures in the 80s. This sort of parameter space could feature a decent hybrid tornado and some nice structure. If everything worked right.
Once I got to North Platte, I relaxed for a bit. At 3pm, the National Weather Service of North Platte launched a weather balloon.
This weather balloon reading was extremely exciting. Deep moisture, a small cap, decently high LCLs, steep lapse rates. I was cautiously optimistic about a potential hybrid tornado somewhere near North Platte. By 6:40pm, explosive thunderstorm development was occurring just south of North Platte.
Just after driving through North Platte, a tornado was reported, and a subsequent tornado warning was issued. Very quickly, a high based funnel and debris swirl came into view.
The tornado fully condensed, for a few minutes, then the funnel abruptly disappeared. I repositioned to the south. The funnel returned. This time the circulation was much stronger.
I decided to get closer. This tornado wasn’t going away anytime soon. As I came up on a hill. Perfection.
I wanted to get even closer. As it crossed the road in front of me, a beautiful tube, side light from a setting sun. Perfection in front of me.
This tornado would cost me my Starlink, driver-side mirror, and a lot of body damage. But was it worth it.