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Last Updated on Sunday, 10 January 2010 01:52 Written by Roger Hill

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May 17 was another one of the unforgettable days as a tour guide for Silver Lining Tours. Most of Nebraska was under a moderate risk and the set up was promising for tornadic supercells. A strong low was parked over far southwest Nebraska with a warm front across the I 80 area. A dryline was pushing east and north which put the North Platte area in line for some great action. High based storms fired along the dryline in northwest Kansas by early afternoon. We waited near Lexington for the first cell to fire northeast of the dryline, and it did. This cell raced northwestward over Frontier county and produced our first tornado of the day (see photos below from Farnam). An LP supercell was just east of the first storm and really starting to look impressive as it tracked just east of the first storm. This was the storm that would produce the damaging Brady tornado. We quickly headed north to intercept the Brady storm which was now a gorgeous barber pole supercell. As we headed west on I 80 near Maxwell, a large tornado was visible just south of the Platte River. Pics of this memorable supercell, tornado and damage are below. 

Farnam tornado:

Wall cloud minutes before the Farnam tornado occurs.	Tornado on the ground!!
We are trying to get closer to the tornado.	Tornado about 8 miles to our west
Tornado starts to dissipate after 7 minutes on the ground.

Here are some incredible shots of the Brady supercell and tornado:

LP forms over Frontier county.	LP crosses west of Farnam.
LP supercell shows signs of strong rotation.	We are about 10 miles east of the supercell, a tornado is visible to our west.
Getting closer to the large cone shaped tornado.	WOW!! What a barber pole!!! Complete with large tornado.
Another awesome pic of the supercell.	Large stovepipe tornado is visible with debris cloud at base.
Tornado is about 5 miles west at this time.	Tornado starts its long rope out stage!!!
Incredible rope out continues	Wizard of Oz shaped tornado stills churns up the countryside.
Rope out gets smaller and smaller.	Very small rope tornado still seen.
Crazy mid level funnel appears in convection east of town.	The unfortunate aftermath of an F3 tornado. Serious injuries occurred here.
Check out the Jeep Cherokee on top of the house.	This mobile home took a glancing blow and only lost its roof.
This house also took a glancing blow and lost many windows.