This was quite a difficult day to intercept a tornado. Everything was pointing to the general area of NE Texas panhandle to begin with but by late afternoon not a whole lot was happening. I got to Canadian, TX early and waited for quite a while for initiation. There was a cloud shield to our east - general area of low level moving clouds and some clearing to the west of it. Within this sector it was quite obvious the capping inversion held in place not allowing any strong convection to fire. Most of the chasers seemed to play the game further south - around I-40 between Amarillo, TX and Shamrock, TX. When it began to look hopeless for the day I thought of going further south where tornado watch was posted I believe. The threat for severe storm was outlined all the way down to Dickens county, TX. This is where the greatest threat was outlined the day before. Somehow though I decided to stick with the more northern option. A nice looking convective towers went up just to the east of Canadian, TX and were still embedded in the low level cloud streets all around them. For the longest time the cell of my interest could not get intense enough. It raced north close to 40 mph at times. I simply followed it toward Kansas border and it just kept looking better and better. Also, there was a nice looking storm on the radar down along the I-40 which turned out to be a short lived, beautiful LP supercell. Another cell like that formed to my west around Pampa, TX area and raced off to the north. My storm has become a perfect thunderstorm by now. It looked like a nice supercell but still there was a lot of mess all around it. As soon as the storm crossed into Kansas I got quite close and it looked better than ever. You could see the wall cloud and some rotation. I also witnessed a couple of brief tornadoes at this time. Everything looked good except now the storm looked knocked over due to strong upper level winds I would imagine. Photo here. It seemed like this cell is going to end up being the only opportunity for the rest of the afternoon in southern Kansas. The nearest other action was unfolding near Goodland, KS. It was getting late by now and my supercell seemed to have several areas of interest to it. It looked as if there were several areas of rotation, which the upcoming tornado action confirmed only a few minutes later. I was on the main highway following this supercell due north, taking photos and video of my main area of interest right ahead of me when I noticed a lowering just over the horizon to my east, out of view and over the small hill. I quickly pulled over and ran up this bank and set up my camcorder. Not a minute later a nice tornado came into view directly under a bowl shaped lowering. Photo here. From here on it was a great time till long after sunset hours. After this tornado dissipated or no longer became visible from my angle of view I decided to follow the storm due north on US183 toward Sitka, KS and due east from there. This was a dangerous maneuver since the supercell was wrapping plenty of precipitation around the mesocyclone. I got into some heavy rain soon after I turned east and proceeded towards Protection, KS. Not a minute later a law enforcement came into view trough moderate rain just ahead of me. My vision was focused directly ahead of me and it seemed the law enforcement vehicle was blocking the traffic. I quickly scanned the horizon (it was almost dark at this point) to spot a gorgeous looking white cone tornado less than a mile in the field to my south-east. It was moving due north-west. Seconds later it came so close you had to lean forward near the windshield to be able to see the top portions of this thing. What an unbelievable sight ! It crossed the road about a hundred yards ahead of us and still was getting closer. The tornado exhibited an amazing motions but soon dissipated. The same wall cloud produced another, smaller tornado moments later but it was practically dark by now. I enjoyed a great lightning show with this slowly dying supercell for the next hour or so. I passed trough Greensburg, KS on my way to hotel for the night... |
By Martin Kucera
| Early development just east of Canadian, TX. From here on, the storm of my interest only looked better. Pick a nice looking cell and follow it to hell. |
| A good looking supercell now. All the features are nicely present here. What a beautiful sight during late Kansas afternoon. The best was yet to come just along with sunset. |
Protection, KS Tornadoes - April 23rd, 2007 FLORIDALIGHTNING.COM
| A small chaser convergence including the Doppler On Wheels truck parked on the hill just ahead. The most interesting part of the supercell is rotating almost overhead. |
| A first significant tornado of the day. This tornado was located near or just south of Sitka, KS. It went through a cycle of violent motions while vivid lightning activity was occurring at the same time. |
(c) 2007 - FloridaLightning.com
| Protection, KS Tornado. |
| Tornado just moments before dissipating. It took on a waterspout like appearance while roping out. What a great ending to a difficult day. |
| Protection, KS tornado at it's best just north of US160 and west of the town of Protection. There was other tornadoes on the ground around with this one at the same time. |
| Rope tornado as a last effort of this magnificent supercell to produce a tornado. This one lasted quite a while after sunset |
| Lightning under the base of the supercell. This shot was taken from US183 just south of Greensburg, KS - nearly the same spot I took the photograph of Greensburg, KS wedge tornado at the time it was destroying the town, several days later. |
| Lightning active Protection, KS supercell. It tracked over the same grounds as the infamous Greensburg, KS supercell would, only less than two weeks later. |
