June 17, 2024

Statistics

Initial Target

Start

End

Storm Intercepts

Tornadoes

Hail

Wind

Features

Miles

North Platte, NE

McCook, NE 10:43 AM 6/17/2024

Springfield, IL 3:23 PM 6/18/2024

Thedford, NE

0 mph

Updraft Tower

864

Summary

Targeted North Platte, NE for afternoon supercells but primary target cap busted, so retargeted cells going up to the north on the warm front, catching dying updrafts at sunset near Thedford.

Crew and Equipment

Chase partners: Anton Seimon, Tracie Seimon, Carsten Peter, Hank Schyma. Equipment: Sony AX100, Canon 60D with EFS 10-22, Samsung S9.

Video

Map

Details

Day 3 of a northern Plains run caravanning with Anton and Tracie Seimon, Carsten Peter, and Hank Schyma.

Hotel Cat
1 miles W of McCook, NE
9:29 AM

We started the day in McCook, NE, where cats freely lounge about the hotel hallways.

Tornado Parameters
8 miles S of North Platte, NE
3:46 PM

The day's target was North Platte for some afternoon supercells. Tornado Parameters were spiking on the warm front to the north. Big tornado show up there?

Target Cap Busts
3 miles SSE of Hershey, NE
7:12 PM

We gassed up in North Platte, hung around Lake Maloney south of town for a bit before repositioning south of Hershey for our target storm... which didn't happen.

Sunset Storm
22 miles S of Brownlee, NE
9:01 PM

We retargeted cells going up in the Sandhills more than an hour to the north. They were flying away from us, carried by the low level jet, and it looked like we'd barely catch them before dark. The bases also looked like they were retreating, leaving behind orphaned anvils. I hung out with the group for a bit, took a couple pictures of the dying sunset storms, but there looked like there would be no play on these cells. So I called the chase, said goodbyes, and started my long drive home.

Conclusion

This was a classic late season bust with our main target failing to initiate, and our desperate secondary play not yielding much beyond some pretty sunset shots. The previous day's gorgeous stationary supercell made the trip for us, however.

Lessons Learned

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