This amazing EF2 tornado was the 3rd intercepted by Hank Schyma just east of Grand Island Nebraska (approaching Aurora) on June 17th 2009. At one point it was a 1/4 mile wide and destroyed a families home and barn. 6 people escaped into the basement seconds before their house was
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ripped apart. BTW, RFD= Rear Flank Downdraft... Big hail, Strong wrap-around wind, torrential rains, muddy roads, and flying monkeys! Often storm chasers on the back side of the tornado try to maintain possition between the tornado and the RFD... not too close to either, hence the "We gotta keep moving people" quote. The "Business" warehouse in the video was only grazed by the tornado. Still the outer most wind bands were able to do significant damage. Luckily, this tornado touched down between 2 towns keeping destruction to a relative minimal. It could have been much much worst. At the end of the video, telephone lines were draped all the way across the road preventing passage (for non 4-wheel drive vehicles). A spiralling Mesocyclone convecting clear to the tropopause presented the most spectacular storm structure. The supercell continued moving east down I80 for close to 2 hours after dark before dissapating.
The first half of this event tornadic event can be seen here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e2Ts0iLr-Q
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