April 24, 2007 Chase
Nickerson, Kansas tornado event
This chase started after spending the majority of the day in the Wichita/Hutchison areas. After spending a little
time at a park in Hutchinson observing radar, I noticed a small but developing storm at the southern end of the
dryline convection. The convection was developing a few miles northeast of Sylvia. At around 6:15PM, I made the
decision to head out of Hutchinson to head northwest out of town. From US-50, I took the K-96 bypass around the
west side of town and headed northwest towards Nickerson. While heading west out of Nickerson, I noticed what
appeared to be a funnel forming on the backside of the tail-end Charlie storm that was in front of us. I
turned south on K-14 and continued for about 3 miles and then parked at its intersection with 43rd Avenue.
From about 6:45 until about 7:20, I waited at this intersection and observed the rotation grow stronger.
At the intersection, a Reno County EOC truck along with another chaser were also observing the rotation.
During the time of observation, I noticed 3 seperate touchdowns of the funnel. During the second touchdown,
there was some debris flying from the ground circulation.
After 7:00PM, the intersection became a main chaser convergence as over 100 chasers converged onto the same
storm from and to all directions. Many Wichita area TV stations were present at or around the intersection. For those
who followed the Storm Chasers series on the Discovery Channel, this was the storm that the Tornado Intercept Vehicle
(TIV) intercepted a tornado.
Pictures
(Click thumbnail for bigger picture)
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First glimpse of a developing funnel.
6:50PM
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Lowering of same funnel.
6:54PM
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Structure shot with funnel.
6:55PM
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Another structure shot.
6:58PM
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Closer forming funnel.
7:02PM
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Same funnel with multiple vorticies.
7:03PM
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Defined funnel crossing 43rd Avenue.
7:06PM
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Well Defined Funnel
7:08PM
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We did have a touchdown.
7:10PM
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Ground circulation is visible.
7:11PM
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Structure shot as storm heads towards Nickerson.
7:13PM
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Funnel to the north.
7:15PM
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