The surface low began the day in eastern Nebraska with the warm front to southwestern Iowa and northeastern Missouri. Lots of skepticism on the board about this one but I thought storms would develop, at least in Iowa. My area was south of I-80 and west of I-35. Probably should have driven there.
I left KC after lunch and went up I-29. Around 2pm I checked radar and saw a cell had popped up southwest of Concordia, quite a bit earlier and further west than I expected. I had rejected the dryline in Kansas because parameters for tornadoes were so weak, but I wanted to see what the storms looked like so I went west from Rock Port into Nebraska. I magically thought I could take a look and then hop right back into western Iowa for the good stuff.
I took pictures and a short movie, difficult with the wind blowing the tripod over whenever I was not looking. The tops were flat and visibilities in the airborne dust were not great. NWS issued warnings for hail as I packed up and returned to northwestern Missouri.
In addition to 50+ mph cell movement, the storm did not have to follow any roads. It made excellent progress northeastward. That cell, and another northwest of Omaha, began torpedoing a little before 5pm and the rout was on. Adair, Union and Madison Counties got the bulk of the vortices and I probably could have made it had I floored it for an hour. I drove somewhat reasonably and caught a storm near Lamoni that funneled and rotated for a time before dark. It was the northern-most storm to not produce a tornado in Iowa.
So it was mostly what I deserved. There were at least a couple of really good tornadoes that I am sorry I missed. Otherwise the day was a dust storm with tornadoes tossed in. Great forecast, then another breakdown on the meso-alpha scale.