VIOLENT Tornado in Nebraska | Storm Chase

Added: 2026-05-31

[00:00:04]Raptor.

[00:00:08]Get out.

[00:00:09]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:00:15]Huge.

[00:00:19]>> All right. So, it's Sunday. It's May 17th, and we are in central Nebraska, and we are going to chase some tornadoes. A shortwave trough moving into the region increases strong southwesterly flow over the central plane strengthening the deep layer windshare. At the surface, supercells are expected to develop near the triple point where the dry line, cold front, and warm front intersect just northeast of the surface low within the unstable air mass across the warm sector. As the event progresses, additional storms should develop across the warm sector, eventually becoming more clustered and disorganized. To our northwest, we have a probably maturing supercells at this point.

[00:00:55]>> But the issue with that is that it's close to that cold front. It's crashing in and it's going to get messy probably kind of quickly, but it looks pretty good right now.

[00:01:01]>> Yeah.

[00:01:02]>> The Storm Prediction Center has a heightened tornado probability today. Uh it's an enhanced risk, but there's a 15% is it single hatched?

[00:01:11]>> Yeah.

[00:01:11]>> Yeah. So, there's a risk for significant tornadoes today and a 15%. So, they're expecting greater coverage to tornadoes, but uh some can be strong to intense as well. We just got to pick the right storm that's going to start rotating right away and kind of stay away from the cold front as long as they can. The longer time, the the longer duration the storm can stay away from the cold front, uh the longer it'll have to produce tornadoes. So, as soon as that cold front catches up to it, it's going to get undercut, become outflow dominant.

[00:01:36]>> The hope is by the time that starts to get clustered and linear between head south, this cell right here, which will hopefully be in a better position. Yeah, the storm should rotate as soon as they become established in the warm sector.

[00:01:47]So, everything is pointing to some tornadoes today. We just got to be there when they happen. All right, so there's our target supercell. It just went tornado warned. So, we are here in Clark, Nebraska. We are diving east.

[00:01:57]We're diving west southwest about Palmer and Archer and somewhere around here.

[00:02:01]We're going to set up and let the supercell come to us. But, it's tornado warned. It's still organizing. So, it's not ready to produce a tornado yet, but by the time we get there, it should be a lot closer. So, perhaps we'll be right on time. But, it's now tornado warned.

[00:02:12]And it looks like it's going to stay ahead of the cold front for hopefully a longer duration. Like we were just saying earlier, >> as we approach the storm from the east, we get our first glimpse of what's going on underneath the storm.

[00:02:30]Warm inflow surges into the supercell's updraft from the east running parallel to the forward flank downdraft. The rear flank downdraft wraps cooler air around the intensifying messyone, carving out the clear slot as low-level rotation rapidly tightens and stretches beneath the storm. This is a classic visual sign that tornado genesis was imminent. Just a few moments later, the St. Libery tornado was born.

[00:02:54]>> Oh yeah, >> she's not tall either.

[00:03:04]But it's a nice snow pipe, >> dude. Dude, the motion is insane.

[00:03:16]It's coming right at us. So, we're in a great spot.

[00:03:23]Holy >> It's your first tornado.

[00:03:31]>> Okay. Okay. Start coming.

[00:03:34]Dude, look at it.

[00:03:40]>> Dude.

[00:03:43]Oh my god.

[00:03:46]>> Yes.

[00:03:47]>> Oh, holy >> Dude, it's huge.

[00:03:54]That is a huge tornado.

[00:03:59]Really got to watch out for lightning.

[00:04:01]Look at the horizontal vortices. Holy crap.

[00:04:13]>> Horizontal vortices signify high vorticity within the environment, often corresponding to stronger tornadoes.

[00:04:19]These ghostly tendrils circulating the vortex revealed that this was not a weak tornado.

[00:04:30]Hey, let's head across the road right in front of us. Not yet. Either not yet. We have a visual. We have plenty of time.

[00:04:38]>> Oh my god, dude. It's massive.

[00:04:43]Holy crap.

[00:04:51]Car on the left.

[00:04:54]Big tornado in there.

[00:05:00]Oh my god, that >> massive rain wrap tornado.

[00:05:10]>> While the tornado became rain wrapped from our point of view, our friend Canon Colton had a different view right next to the tornado.

[00:05:39]It's huge.

[00:05:57]What am That's Heat. Heat.

[00:06:43]Heat. Heat.

[00:07:05]Heat. Heat.

[00:07:16]Heat. Heat.

[00:07:55]Heat. Heat.

[00:08:00]Heat.

[00:08:21]Heat.

[00:08:26]Heat. Heat.

[00:08:57]Hey, hey, hey.

[00:09:29]Woo! Going crazy, guys.

[00:09:44]Heat.

[00:10:01]Heat.

[00:10:13]GET OUT OF THE WAY. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

[00:10:17]GET OUT OF THE WAY.

[00:10:24]That guy behind us is going to die. That guy behind us is going to die.

[00:10:46]That guy is freaking nuts.

[00:10:53]This guy's nuts.

[00:11:32]You got it.

[00:11:33]>> Let's go.

[00:11:34]>> Look at man.

[00:11:38]>> High five.

[00:11:40]>> High five.

[00:11:42]>> This tornado was rated in EF3, tearing a six mile path across rural Nebraska, packing max winds estimated at 160 mph.

[00:11:53]While tornadoes can be mesmerizing, the human impact side is very real.