The twin terrors of the June 16, 2014 tornadoes near Pilger and Wisner, Nebraska were captured on video. (YouTube / Timothy Klaustermeier)
Severe weather struck eastern Nebraska on June 16 spawning an amazing four EF-4 rated tornadoes in less than an hour. Two of these were twins, formed from the same supercell thunderstorm at nearly the same time, and stunning video from a resident’s porch shows the beasts.
While this event and the video are a few weeks old, it is well worth sharing. The imagery is a stunning display of Mother Nature’s most violent phenomena.
Timothy Klaustermeier took the video and posted it to YouTube. The nearly seven minute long video shows both tornadoes that spawned near Pilger and lifted north of Wisner. Amazingly the man appears to have been quite calm during the event as the only sounds heard are the roaring of the twisters.
Two other twisters in the same area, one just before and one just after the twins, were also rated EF4s.
Extensive damage was seen in the areas of Pilger and Wisner. Two fatalities were recorded: A five year old girl and a 75 year old man. Sixteen people were critically injured in the storms.
A shelf cloud moves across Nebraska farmland. (Tony Hake / ThorntonWeather.com)
Certainly the highlight of storm chasing is tornadoes and ThorntonWeather.com’s Storm Chase 2010 had plenty of those – five in one day in fact. However, as great of satisfaction can be derived from simpler, less violent storms. The images from a week of chasing on the Great Plains show the fury and the beauty of Mother Nature.
Storm chasing is as much an art as a science – there are no guarantees that tornadoes will appear as forecast. Other types of severe weather and the amazing structure they display can bu just as impressive.
Scud clouds hovering over a coal train in Nebraska, egg sized hail pummeling storm chaser vehicles, the sun setting on the Oklahoma plains and the now infamous Baca County, Colorado tornado ripping through ranchland all were highlights of Storm Chase 2010.
The images in the slideshow below represent some of the most stunning and beautiful images captured during the week.
The Memorial Day tornado in Baca County, Colorado near Campo was the highlight of a week of storm chasing but it wasn’t the only exciting thing to happen. (Tony Hake / ThorntonWeather.com)
We have said before that storm chasing is as much an art as a science and it can very much be feast or famine. Both extremes were seen over the course of a week of storm chasing on the Great Plains by ThorntonWeather.com.
We hope our site visitors were checking out the Storm Chase 2010 Examiner where we were documenting our chase across America’s heartland. With stories, photos and video, the entire incredible week has been described in detail.
The first tornado of that day near Pritchett, Colorado allowed chasers to witness the complete tornado genesis. As massive amounts of air were sucked into a storm cell and the clouds swirled menacingly above, a small funnel cloud soon grew into a powerful tornado.
Two other tornadoes and an incredible hail storm on the virtually barren ranchland followed. The main event was yet to come however.
About eight miles south of Campo, Colorado, a massive supercell seemed poised to generate a tornado. Chasers waited anxiously as the sky grew darker on the plains. A funnel cloud formed and was cheered on as it grew closer to the ground.
Before long the tornado was on the ground moving at a leisurely 10 mph – its slow pace allowing for plenty of time to capture amazing photos and video of the event. The Baca County tornado would draw national media attention and will possibly go down as the most picturesque of all twisters during the 2010 tornado season.
While the Memorial Day tornadoes would be the last seen during the week, they were not the last extraordinary weather event witnessed by the storm chasers.
Storm Chase 2010 intercepted a flying saucer over western Kansas at the end of a very long chase day. (Tony Hake / ThorntonWeather.com)
Central Nebraska proved to be the backdrop for another day of weather beauty. Waiting patiently at a small town gas station, multiple super cells moved across the area and chasers were on the move. From highways to dirt roads, the chasers saw the storms generate amazing shelf clouds and funnel clouds.
In the end, the group of storm chasers covered over 2,500 miles across five states. They witnessed many funnel clouds and amazing storm structures and of course five tornadoes, two of which were at close range. For many it was truly a once in a lifetime experience that allowed them to see Mother Nature’s fury up close and personal.
Complete stories, photos and video from Storm Chase 2010:
