It wasn't the perfect storm that attracted dozens of storm chasers to Aurora on Wednesday night. It was the only storm.

"Most of the time when there are more storms across the entire Plains, chasers get spread out. Yesterday, every chaser in the country was targeting that area," said Dustin Wilcox, a professional storm chaser from Beatrice.

The tornado was described by the National Weather Service as at least a quarter-mile wide and packing winds up to 135 mph. The twister stayed on the ground for 18 minutes, giving storm chasers plenty of time to shoot videos and photographs.

"Oh, my gosh! It's hitting that farm! Oh, my god! Not good … not good," Wilcox could be heard saying on his one-minute video.

Many storm chasers have posted their work on YouTube and such stormchaser Web sites as Twisterchasers.com and Stormtrack.org. Some have been featured in weather reports on local television stations.

Sean McMullen, a senior meteorology student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, got within a quarter-mile of the tornado and shot one of the sensational videos.

McMullen, 29, estimates there were easily 100 chasers in the Aurora area when the tornado touched down shortly before 9 p.m.

"There's usually more," he said.

Typically, about 1,000 storm chasers spread across the Great Plains at the peak of the tornado season in May and early June.

"They come from all over the world," McMullen said.

He said he spotted storm chase vehicles from Oklahoma, Texas and Florida near Aurora. Other storm chasers spotted vans carrying people who signed up for storm chasing tours.

"At times yesterday, they were blocking the road," McMullen said.

Hamilton County Sheriff Kirk Handrup said he didn't know how many chasers were in the area, but he was not aware of traffic or other problems caused by them. In the interest of public safety and to protect damaged property, the sheriff closed down a seven-mile stretch of U.S. 34 west of Aurora from late Wednesday night until Thursday morning.

Aurora Mayor Marlin Seeman commended law enforcement for detouring drivers off of U.S. 34, which the tornado followed closely as it tore up a farmhouse and overturned a dozen rail cars.

"Some storm chasers had to be asked to turn around and go the other way," the mayor said.

McMullen said his wife, Katie, was driving during the storm Wednesday night, and his sister-in-law, Leanne Lade, who is visiting from Australia, was along.

"She's never seen a tornado. Never chased a storm," McMullen said.

They just bought a new storm chase vehicle, a 2007 Nissan Altima, to replace a 2000 Chevy Blazer that had 250,000 miles on it.

McMullen said no storm chaser has been killed by a tornado, but, to his knowledge, two have died in traffic accidents.

"We're like the ultimate multitaskers. We are doing a million things while driving," he said.

Law enforcement is used to storm chasers and doesn't bother them too much, he said.

"The cops are in spotter-mode and emergency management," McMullen said. "They don't have time to deal with traffic."

Reach Algis J. Laukaitis at 473-7243 or alaukaitis@journalstar.com.