And joining us right now is storm chaser Aaron,
Jajack. And Aaron was in Nebraska,
Iowa and Oklahoma over the past weekend,
capturing footage of the catastrophic tornadoes that devastated many in
those communities.
Aaron, I was working on Friday when Lincoln,
NE faced A fierce tornado.
Funnel clouds silently passed over downtown and then it touched
down.
And some of the footage that you captured was just
amazing along Interstate 80 right after touchdown.
So tell us about that experience.
Yeah. So Friday, you know,
I was tracking those storms,
the storm system there in southeastern Nebraska.
And so arc of Supercell started erupting out in the
West of Lincoln.
You know, as that was as was forecast,
I was tracking those storms towards Lincoln
and it looked like that this was going to be
that that first storm that really produced a tornado as
it came into Lincoln.
And Lincoln got lucky. And all that tornado,
it did plant just to the northeast of Lincoln I
was tracking along on,
IE, I saw the tornado moving along the Interstate.
And it was one of those rare cases of the
storm chaser where I was actually a quite an easy
intercept as this tornado tracked right along the Interstate.
But I knew based on the way the Interstate turned,
that tornado was eventually going across the Interstate.
So, you know, my goal is to get those amazing
shots for for the public to see what these tornadoes
can do.
So I was able to get right up next to
that tornado and basically just had to make sure I
didn't drive into any debris while I was taking that,
that video that you're watching right now.
And one of the most impressive things about this video
is the debris that you can see
around the perimeter and another concentric ring outside the condensation
funnel,
almost like a drill bit there over the the farmland.
But we can see the little flecks of
roofing materials or metal or whatever that is.
So what did that sound like?
I know you were in a moving vehicle,
but what was the experience like for you?
What were you seeing or hearing as that occurred?
Yeah, you could definitely hear the,
the roar of that tornado.
You know, they get noisier when they pick up debris
and all that debris
smacking around inside that tornado,
you know, and one of the things that happened as
I came up on the trail,
I was dry. I was tracking the tornado across the
Interstate.
I went through the path of the tornado as I
was watching debris come ripping across the Interstate,
trying to make sure I didn't get hit by any
of that,
any of that debris. And then I saw a a
semi tractor trailer flipped over in the Interstate.
I stopped and checked on on him and that guy
was OK.
He was standing up inside the cab of his of
his track semi on its side.
He was OK you know,
I'm sure that was a harrowing experience for him.
I'm not sure what happened.
I'm wondering if maybe the inflow wins if they were
so powerful for that tornado that it knocked him over
and then maybe spun him around inside the tornado.
But thankfully he was OK.
I was able to continue on with the and then
you know that was just the start of that Friday
outbreak.
There were seems like every supercell that came through the
area as it crossed into Iowa started producing tornadoes as
well.
I was on a a big wedge tornado from Shelby,
IA to Tennant, IA area went towards Harlan,
Iowa, hit multiple homes. I came across a home there
where people they were OK their home was badly damaged,
propane was spewing out of a tank there in their
yard,
but thankfully they were OK.
But unfortunately that tornado continued to move on deeper into
Iowa and hit direct hit on a town there in
Iowa caused some pretty bad damage there,
sweeping homes off the foundation.
And I did hear some reports,
you know, there was some Doppler on wheels vehicles there
tracking the tornado as well,
that storm and they were able to measure
220 mile per hour winds in that tornado.
Now, that doesn't necessarily mean that tornado will be rated
with those winds were measured at,
but that just shows you that this was a powerful
storm,
powerful tornadoes and powerful storm system that ripped across the
Great Plains in the Midwest this weekend.
And you're in sulphur. OK,
now because you ended up there over the weekend.
So tell us about your Oklahoma intercepts.
Yeah. So after the Nebraska chase,
you know, the, you know,
the Saturday was actually look like the bigger day than
Friday,
but down a little bit further South,
down into Kansas, down into Oklahoma.
So after the Friday chase,
I headed South on Saturday into Oklahoma,
began tracking storms South of Oklahoma City that we're trying
to get going.
They were struggling a little bit with the capping inversion,
that warm air, layer of air aloft that kind of
acts like a lid on the atmosphere.
So they're kind of struggling.
The storms are struggling, struggling.
But unfortunately the the atmosphere became conducive to very bad,
strong tornadoes in the night time hour.
So as this line of storms came up I-40 four
out of Texas towards Oklahoma City,
supercells out ahead of that line started initiating firing and
moving up into Oklahoma.
And then it was basically a a night of twisters
was unleashed here in in central to eastern Oklahoma,
Ardmore here in Sulphur, and a little bit further to
the north,
just one tornado after another
causing extreme catastrophic damage here as you can see in
Sulphur.
OK. Right. In the downtown area,
Aaron, Jay, Jack, we really appreciate your insight,
the footage that you shared and everything else.
So thanks again, Aaron, Jay,
Jack, a great reporting there from sulphur.
OK.