Another significant outbreak of severe weather struck the plains Saturday, May 29th. We captured a supercell near Beloit, KS by mid-afternoon. Two inch hail was measured as the storm slowly organized. We decided to obtain better contrast and blasted east out of Jewell on Hwy148 to Hwy28. We positioned just northwest of a strongly rotating wall cloud four miles west of Jamestown, KS. As the meso moved closer, the wall cloud developed a large cone and power flashes were observed. Wrapping rain curtains quickly circulated around the developing tornado. The tornado quickly grew in size, maturing into a wedge with a width just shy of a mile wide. We observed the wedge tornado within close proximity of a mile.
*** Tornado begins at 5:58pm four miles west of Jamestown, KS. Tornado matures into a wedge resulting in F2 damage northwest of Jamestown by 6:11pm. ***
As precipitation obscured the wedge tornado, we observed 4.5" hail falling on the western side of the tornado. As we continued to follow the tornado, Hwy28 contained large tree debris and power poles blocking the road. During the wedge tornado and after taking another route, we observed four more brief tornadoes south and west of the main mesocyclone. All tornadoes were documented at close proximity with only minor debris noted.
*** Four more tornadoes observed northwest of Jamestown. Tornado times in photo order: 6:05pm, 6:10pm, 6:29pm, 6:31pm. Little to no damage observed. ***
We continued east into Norway, KS and noted more tornado damage. We stopped just east of Belleville along Hwy36 and observed beautifully sculpted supercell structure and a new meso. While the storm continued to show obvious rotation in the mid levels, no other significant tornadoes developed with the storm. We ended the chase day in Concordia, KS.
*** Excellent supercell structure observed east of Belleville, KS around 7:40pm. ***
