May 17, 2000 - Tornadoes near Brady, NE

The previous day was spent looking at supercell storms in southeast Wyoming that produced tennis ball size hail. An overnight stay in North Platte and I was ready for what I expected to be a very busy severe weather day.

A very strong upper storm system and deep surface low were moving into the central Plains. Numerous tornadoes were reported in northeast Colorado - with storms associated with the mid-level cold pool. Storms in the warm sector produced only a few tornadoes... I got lucky enough to be on the one storm that produced the most significant event of the day.

The supercell that produced the Brady, Nebraska tornado formed near the Kansas/Nebraska border... just east of a very deep surface low... along a sharp dryline. The storm moved quickly north-northwest.

The storm had an exposed updraft region it’s entire life and I was on I-80 when the tornado first came into view. I was looking to the southwest and ended up chasing this tornado westward! It was my first time since 1982 that I found myself looking at a tornado moving west of north. Here is a video-capture that shows the tornado and updraft. I am in large hail to the northeast. Not long after the tornado formed... a well defined RFD slot carved into the updraft. The tornado quickly became occluded and the storm would start a quick downward trend thereafter. Another image. The tornado entered the rope stage as it passed to the southwest of Brady. At this point there was no longer any thunder and very little precipitation. The storm was dying... someone just forgot to tell the tornado. It would be several more minutes before the end of the tornado. Other images of the rope stage (notice little in the way of remaining storm structure): one two three