Chasing solo this day, my initial target was O'Neill, Nebraska. However, upon visiting the O'Neill public library, it was obvious the boundary was further north and towers soon began going up in Douglas County, South Dakota. That was my cue to blast north, and by 4:30 the cell had taken on some amazing structure with a backsheared anvil and large overshooting top.1. Closing in on the cell, a large wall cloud became obvious, and by 5:11, a nice cone tornado developed near Mt. Vernon.2.; 3.; 4. The tornado persisted for at least 15 minutes, but I lost sight of it and missed the dissipation stage as I drove north through Mitchell. The cell formed a new meso 5., but it had weakened substantially. However, a new cell to the west rapidly formed and produced another large wall cloud just after 6:00. By 6:15, the wall cloud took on a classic appearance with RFD-notch, and a large funnel formed and became a tornado near Woonsocket.6.; 7.; 8. The tornado continued growing large and displayed multi-vortex action as much dust and debris was lofted around the tornado.9.; 10.; 11. After losing contrast as the meso became almost totally occluded, I bumped north and caught the last stages of the tornado as it roped out in a beautiful fashion, briefly touching down one more time at 6:35.12. Going north out of Artesian, two seperate mesos were now obvious, one to the west and one to the east. The easternmost meso continued tightening and about 6-7 miles north-norhteast of Artesian, a funnel began taking shape at 6:57. The funnel continued strengthening and within a couple of minutes it reached halfway to the ground while another funnel formed just to it's north.13. The larger funnel persisted for about four minutes before finally dissipating without visually touching down. I kept an eye on the westernmost meso 14., but it was the meso to the east that produced again as a rope tornado formed southwest of Esmond at 7:13.15. Tornado #4 formed just northeast of the rope, and I first observed it at 7:24 as I repositioned north and east. A satellite tornado formed and rotated around the main circulation.16. The main tornado roped out within a couple of minutes, but reformed soon after southwest of Manchester.17. As the tornado continued on it's northeast path, the meso began rotating rapidly. Soon, the tornado evolved into a very broad circulation and then into a 1/2 mile wide wedge by 7:34.18.; 19.; 20.; 21. With the tornado moving away from me, I drove north toward the town of Manchester. The tornado's width had now lessened somewhat but was still very strong as it entered the small town 1-2 miles to my north doing F4 damage.22.; 23.; 24. Stopping 1/2 mile south of the tornado, I shot tripoded video of the tornado as it morphed from a stovepipe to an elephant trunk and finally into the rope stage over a period of eight minutes before dissipating at 7:53.25.-33.
