July 2, 2023 Storms

Nebraska 

Tempest Tours Tour 9 saw some nice storms in Nebraska on day one of the tour. The chase target was a bit of a difficult pick as the risk didn't look that great for the Day 1 outlook, and models didn't show any supercellular activity. Nevertheless, the day's best storms might be to the southeast. Tomorrow's storms looked potentially better than today's storms, but that risk area was well to the north. I had to decide between the two areas. Knowing we might not find much, I told the group we would be headed north and might not see much today, but the storms tomorrow, up north, would be better than any of today's storms.

SPC Outlook and severe reports.

We headed northeast on I-76 from our airport hotel, stopping at a Subway restaurant in Sterling to eat lunch. Since towering cumulus were already percolating, and some echoes were developing on radar, we made it a relatively quick lunch. We exited at Big Spring and drove north into Nebraska to the nearest healthy storm north of Oshkosh. It looked like it would not last very long, so while we had a chance, we took a group picture in front of the storm.

Our tour group official picture.

After that little bit of fun, we saw additional storms developing to the north and decided that, since they were closer to tomorrow's target, that we would head that way. This took us into the Sand Hills, and rather than attempt a more direct route via dirt roads, we drove east to Ogalalla and then north toward Hyannis. On the way there, we encountered some nice storms that became strong enough for the weather service to issue special weather statements for them. The bases were nice and dark, and the green hills in the foreground made the photography quite pleasant.

A CB develops to the east as the anvil from our closest storm spreads overhead.

A new storm over northwestern Nebraska.

A zoom under the base.

We drove up to Chadron and stayed there for the night.

Route for the day. Approximately 447 miles.

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