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Tornadoes

Lacrosse/Bison, Kansas - May. 25, 2008

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Funnel near Lacrosse. It did briefly touch down in the field.

Incredible rotation passes over us and heads into town.

TORNADOES - The day started off in Omaha but as soon as we woke up and saw the forecast, we immediately dashed back to Kansas and targeted the area south of Hays. We ended up intercepting the supercell near Lacrosse. I formed a funnel that made it about halfway to the ground but we were able to confirm debris on the ground below it so it was certainly on the ground and heading straight for us. That touchdown was brief but the rotation in the cell was insane. It wrapped up like a cinnamon bun and was pin wheeling overhead just south of town. We were totally expecting it to put down a big white tube right beside. I jumped in the van and moved a few hundred feet down the road just in case it did put down a big tornado on top of us. It crossed the road and formed another funnel, this time a slender needle that may have touched down as well but we couldn't tell from our vantage point.

Yet again, we got up close and personal with the business end of these supercell storms. That was the third close encounter for us this week. Cloud 9 has a reputation for getting nice and close to the action and this day was no exception.

Continuing east to the town of Bison, we witnessed what appeared to be a brief landspout tornado. Some other chasers claim it was a gustnado but it was difficult to tell. The sirens were going off in town due to the tornado warning and the storm was still looking good. It eventually merged with other nearby cells and became a big, disorganized cluster. It did however, have an awesome green colour in the core. we dashed out of there before we got pounded by what was likely some big hail. Another great chase day.

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Possible landspout tornado near Bison.

A closer look at the surface rotation.

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Wall cloud on the tornado warned storm.

The very green hail core... Time to go!