May 19, 2010
Tornado Alley
Today, we were going to continue chasing the same system that spawned a tornadic cyclic supercell in the Texas panhandle the day before... we were going to catch up to the dryline moving into Oklahoma and play the dryline bulge. Today's risk area was going to be central Oklahoma. The SPC issued a moderate risk with a 15% hatched tornado threat. It was good that we were following this system eastwards... we would be following it on the way home. This was going to be our last chase day in the alley of our 3 week long trip.
We continued our journey east, and could already see the boundary to our east... a line of tcu along the dryline. Ron mentioned he saw a brief landspout form under one of the towers in the distance. In Borger, TX we made a quick bathroom break and got some water. Needless to say, this bathroom was the worst I have ever seen, so I will spare you the details. When we were just east of Pampa, we decided to stop and get pictures of the nice towers going up along the boundary, with an old, abandoned feed mill in the foreground. By 2:20 pm, the first storm had already gone up on the dryline. The SPC upgraded the tornado risk to 30%. It was very early in the day, so this meant it was going to be an active one.
Around 2:54, the first supercell was now moving only at 17 mph and it was just starting to turn right. It looks like this was going to be our first storm of the day! A few minutes later, we finally reached the Oklahoma state line on highway 33. Fifteen minutes later, we continued east after our organizing supercell on highway 47 towards the Leedey area. According to the Baron mobile threat net, the hail was about one and a half inches big. Our storm was looking pretty healthy.
At 3:25, the supercell's rotation was organizing some more and a wall cloud had formed. A tornado warning was issued for this storm. Hearts pounding, we spotted a beautiful white funnel about halfway to the ground. Some trees and hills managed to get in the way as we continued down highway 47. GO FIGURE!!! When we could get clear views in between the hills and trees, the funnel was getting longer, but it did not appear to reach the ground. I tried looking for a debris cloud underneath it but I could barely see any due to our distance from the possible tornado and the haze in the fields. The white funnel changed its shape from a pointed cone, to a thumb shape, to what appeared to look like a bee's stinger, then a snake-like tube, then a small cone again before dissipating. I kept snapping pictures out the window
A few minutes later, we managed to fine a good road near the supercell, get out and take pictures. It was a beautiful little storm, with a high contrasted small dissipating wall cloud that had formed the possible tornado, with the rear flank to its left kicking up some dust. It also looked like it was producing another wall cloud on the right near the core of the storm.
We then took highway 34 to try to get closer to our storm, but there was a large truck that had got into an accident, no doubt storm-related. The accident was already being looked at by emergency officials and it appeared the trucker was okay. We finally managed to get by and we pulled over and noticed large 2 inch hail stones covering the ground. We picked them up, got pictures of them and started throwing them at each other! Nothing like having a little fun during a chase! It appeared our supercell was not going to continue producing as it was starting to weaken, so we gave up on it to try our hand at storm number 2, forming just west of the our first storm.
At ten after four, we stopped in the small town of Vici for a bathroom break and a quick ice cream snack. A couple of older gentlemen had asked if we saw the tornado, and I said that we did. Figuring that they were interested, I decided to show them my pictures on my camera. After our nice friendly conversation, I got my ice cream and went out to the parking lot to watch towers build. About 20 minutes later, we decided to move again. Storm number 2 was was now rotating and it was heading towards Enid, but unfortunately it was going to take about an hour for us to catch up. Today was starting to look like one of those chase days where there would be multiple pickings, not just one isolated supercell. There, however, was another storm that was going up and conveniently headed towards us. It had a nice updraft, so we headed towards it to see what it would bring us. Afterall, storms are like a box of chocolates... you never know what you're gonna get!
We pulled over along US 60 to get pictures and video. This small storm was indeed interesting and showed me something I haven't quite seen before... very long multiple inflow bands! I mean really long! And a couple of them! Just sucking moisture into the storm.
According to the Baron, there was mid level rotation within this storm, and we could see some banding because of it. The clouds were very dark and contrasted against the bright blue sky. It had started to rain lightly but never intesified. The storm passed over head, with some gusty winds and no lightning to be seen. Once it got sunny, the storm now behind was looking almost black. On the backside, another interesting feature caught my eye... it had this weird, solid yet smooth looking updraft and there were shorter inflow bands feeding into it on the backside.
At around 5 to 5 pm, we decided to turn around again, figuring that it would be it for this storm. More tornado warnings were issued however, so the day was not done yet. We saw a beautiful low ground-hugging rainbow, then we hit a soft muddy spot on the road and almost got stuck! We left the storm and Ron decided that we head southeast on US 183 to 270. We gassed up quickly in Seiling, then took off again down the highway. By 5:45, a right turning supercell formed about 44 miles to our southeast, so we were going to attempt going after this storm. There were two supercells and the closest to us was the one that was tornado warned. Its tops reached 55,000 feet and its flanking line could be seen over Watonga.
The two supercells headed southwest of Oklahoma City and we could see them to our north from highway 270. At 6:45, I then spotted an odd inconspicuous area that caught my eye... it was very hazy and in the distance, but it looked like either a scud bomb or a possible white tornado wrapped in precipitation before disappearing.
More storms with overshooting tops were going up around and south of the Oklahoma City area now... the area was getting surrounded! On the backside of some of these storms, we could see a classic horseshoe shape indicating the rear flank downdraft. And it also looked like a small funnel cloud formed under one of these storms, although haze made it harder to see clearly.
We headed south on I35 through Moore and towards Norman. A scud bomb appeared ahead of us. At 7:38, a white wall cloud formed just east of the interstate, so we pulled off to watch it. Clearly, we were not the only chasers in the area as others (probably a mix of chasers, spotters and locals) thought of the same idea. The wall cloud appeared a little messy looking, but started to slowly organize. At 7:45, I looked above and noted a clear slot forming, which told us the rear flank was opening up... a good thing! The wall cloud tried to intensify its rotation, and a small low rainbow formed off to the left of it. Then, a funnel cloud formed almost halfway to the ground! The Baron indicated a TVS on this storm. After that, the wall cloud began to fall apart. Oh man talk about a tease!
We decided to call it a day. A storm near us looked rather nice in the setting sun, with some mammatus under the anvil. We went for some dinner in Norman, saw the TIV 2 briefly, and saw a very vibrant colourful sunset casting hues of orange and pink on the surrounding towers before turning in at a Super 8 in Oklahoma City for the night. Tomorrow Scott, Ben and I would be getting up early to head home. Ron and Sandra were going to drop David off for his flight back home in France and they were going to stay for a couple more weeks to relax and do some vacationing. We said our goodbyes and left... only to come back again next year.
