Chase Account by: Brian Thalken
 
On my third straight day of chasing, I was able to catch this intense HP monster by Pratt, KS. With my chase partner for the day ,Jason Ehmke, we went as far west as the town of Cullison on HWY 54. We decided to head east on HWY 54, constantly repositioning ourselves trying to get a better view of the large lowering out of the low-level mesocyclone to the northwest. It was extremely difficult to see the lowering with the amount of rain and the horrible contrast. We came into Pratt from the north off a county road at 8:25 pm. A law enforcement official got out of his vehicle and said, "a rain-wrapped 3/4 mile wide tornado was heading for Pratt." We positioned ourselves 1 mile due east of Pratt at about 8:30 pm. 

This storm displayed an example of cyclic supercell tornadogenesis. With continuous lightning flashes and a few power flashes, there was enough light to distinguish the large tornado to the northwest of Pratt and then the multi-vortex tornado over the city. Hearing a transformer blow up was almost as unbelievable as being blinded by the flash of the explosion. We had to leave at about 8:40 pm when it started to rain and hail at our location. After hearing the reports of tennis ball size hail, I'm glad we didn't stick around. It would have been a long trip back to Lincoln, NE with a shattered windshield. Unfortunately, the tornadoes spawned by this supercell destroyed several homes in the Cullison and Pratt areas.

BEFORE explosion (below)

AFTER explosion (below)