GREENSBURG, Kan.—Storm chaser Rob McBay and his wife, Valarie, came face to face with one of several EF-3 tornadoes that broke out across the plains of Kansas on May 18 just after 10 p.m. CT.
The roaring vortex, which the National Weather Service later reported grew to be half a mile wide and boasted winds of more than 140 mph, plowed its way northeastward less than a mile ahead of him, shaking his Jeep Compass with a rear flank downdraft he estimated to be more than 100 mph.
Erratic lightning streaks across the supercell ceiling and a fiery takedown of power lines along the highway lit up the tornado’s silhouette and direction in the gloom of the moonless night. The seasoned storm chaser from Alabama watched as his quarry evolved from a thin rope out in a field to what appeared to be one of three that merged into the thick wedge that crossed his path….