Great Plains 2025 Storm Chasing Expedition Logs

I observed a nighttime wedge tornado north of Mullen in the Sandhills of Cherry County, Nebraska with one of the more remarkable and prolific tornadic supercells of the decade. This log has its own page here.

I awoke early in Brady to do a data check. There were three possible dryline targets I had anticipated as the upper-level jet moved out into the Plains, and wanted to start early enough that I could get to any of them if needed.

The first was the moderate risk area in northern/central Iowa that had the most volatile parameters, then two other areas that would see slightly less-but-still-good shear/instability overlaps: one in northeastern Kansas and another down in southwest Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle. The Kansas one was the most appealing - it barely wasn't a secondary target, with volatile parameters increasing through the evening and models all agreeing on supercells there. Kansas would mean I'd only be 4 hours from home at the end of the chase. Texas had similar potential as Kansas, certainly nothing that would warrant the long haul to get there and the extra day on the road to get home. Iowa looked decent enough, but models were waffling on storm coverage and squall line evolution for storms there - plus, the entire state was clouded over and would not clear out until afternoon. Iowa would also mean another overnight stop necessary before getting home. I decided the Kansas option was more than good enough, and it was a short drive that allowed me to go back to bed for a few more hours.

I was back on the road at 11am, opting to drop south at Lincoln and stop to watch things evolve at Clay Center, Kansas. Eventually, a storm rapidly fired down at Salina with other updrafts starting to get established near me as well. The I-70 storm was the healthiest of all of them, and models had agreed on this area seeing the better parameters into the evening. So, I made the short jump to this storm at Abilene.

As I approached the storm, it had already began lining out with additional strong convection firing on its western flank. The original updraft fought to maintain itself, but it was a losing battle as the outflow was just too much. I awaited the tail-end cell to the southwest that appeared to be organizing and avoiding the squall line transition. This storm did manage to develop a good RFD surge that cut into the updraft:

But it was all for naught, as outflow from the lead storm had already undercut the second storm's updraft. Radar showed this outflow pushing south ahead of both storms updrafts, spelling a long-term cessation of the tornado potential. I decided to stay on I-70 just ahead of these storms in case the updrafts managed to catch up to the outflow and re-establish surface inflow, but this never happened. The storms were also moving much faster than I'd anticipated. I wasn't gaining much ground on the lead storm despite 75mph speeds on I-70. The storm developed strong flanking line convection on its RFD, which made for a dramatic sight even from a distance on I-70 near Topeka:

Meanwhile, a portion of the trailing end of the squall line to the west was getting established. It was south of the pesky outflow, but it would require an hour-long backtrack to intercept and it was already linear, with no apparent look to defy that. After one supercell RFD cycle in that line failed to persist, I decided I was done with it. The last potential option was to try and get in front of the lead storm on I-35 northeast of Kansas City, but with its current speed, its failure to wrap up any strong, persistent circulation and its diminishing radar structure, I decided that wasn't going to be worth it. I called the chase, continued east and made it home just after midnight.