Day 8, May 22, 2002

Route: From Hot Springs, SD to Superior in south central Nebraska. Highlights: Three severe thunderstorms, heavy rain and frequent lightning Text: Eric Terpstra

The day starts off with clear skies and temperatures in the 40's and comes to an end with very heavy rain and dangerous lightning. We chase severe storms in south central Nebraska and come closer to our higher goal: seeing a tornado.

We wake up very early today, because we have to drive all the way to eastern Nebraska which is 500 miles away. At 6 AM Mountain Time - without any coffee - we take the van and go south towards the Nebraska Panhandle. The weather is fine with a lot of sunshine, but the temperature of 45F does not get our hearts beating any faster. We want moisture and warmth to get storms.

Around 3 PM we intercept the cold front near Grand Island with a few towering cumulus clouds. These indicate that the game is on: storms may develop within the next hour or so. And they do. Near York we chase a strong storm for about an hour or so. It has some features of a super cell - which could spin a tornado - but it looks too weak so we decide to go south-west to the Kansas border where we expect stronger storms.

In the early evening we chase another storm, which is quite severe with some weak rotation. The storm is beautiful, but we have to call it the day. It is 8.30 PM and it will become dark pretty quickly. We end our chase in Superior, just north of the Kansas state line. Another big storm (our 3rd today) is just hitting this little town with very heavy rain and dangerous lightning right overhead.

So today we chased two good storms, but no tornado yet. It was not a very good case anyway. Tomorrow looks more promising, perhaps somewhere in South Kansas or West Oklahoma.