Twisted Texas

Chase Report: 7 Nov, 2011 - SW Oklahoma Cyclic Tornadic supercell

2011-11-09T13:42:00.045-06:00

Tornado intercept near Tipton,OK - 3:01-3:15CST

Tornado SSW of Snyder, OK, ~3:23 CST

The Details

Departed Austin with chase partner John S at about 7:30 a.m. Slight risk for southern plains, with hatched 10% tornado in SW OK:

Forecast parameters looked good for NW TX/SW OK, including 1000-1500 CAPE and nicely veered profiles. There was some concern that overly moist atmosphere and lack of Convective Inhibition would create conveyer-belt showers and hurt the prospects for discrete cells. Still, with a healthy November jet moving in, and such impressive forecast profiles, felt like it was worth a shot.

Initial target was Childress, TX. By the time we got to Anson, elongated cells were already forming in the east TX panhandle- several hours ahead of forecast initiation from the NAM or HRRR models. Decided to go NE to Vernon to try and stay in front of the activity. Caught initial cell near Quanah, TX and followed it across the Red River on 6. It produced several strongly-rotating lowerings, and one RFD that blew a huge red dust cloud over the vehicle. We did not witness a confirmed tornado from this cell. Images below from 2 p.m. CST, just south of the Red River.

Meanwhile a cell to our SE had quickly become supercellular as it crossed the River. We went South and East out of Olustee, and got our first glimpse of what would shortly become the Tipton tornado. Hail shaft, rain free base, and lowering already apparent, roughly 15 miles away. Time is 2:49, view is SE:

By the time we turned east on 5 and began to approach the town of Tipton, we had a great view of the back side of the cell, with a beautiful hail shaft obscuring a violent tornado in progress. Time is 3:01, view is east:

Shortly after driving through Tipton, we observed the big, dusty tornado as it crossed hwy 5C just to our east at 3:08 CST. Link to youtube video and stills below:

Tipton Tornado Video on the YouTube

Here is our position for the picture above:

We move slightly east and stopped again, observing the Tipton Tornado move north. Time is 3:10-3:12 CST, view is N:

Over the next couple of minutes, the tornado ropes out. Time is 3:15, View NW:

Here is the NWS PNS regarding this tornado:

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
400 PM CST THU NOV 10 2011

...TIPTON TORNADO RATING UPGRADED TO EF4...

BASED ON ANALYSIS OF DATA COLLECTED DURING A GROUND DAMAGE SURVEY...
THE RATING FOR THE NOVEMBER 7TH TIPTON TORNADO HAS BEEN UPGRADED TO
EF4 ON THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE. THE RATING IS BASED PRIMARILY ON
DAMAGE OBSERVED AT THE OSU AGRONOMY RESEARCH STATION ON HIGHWAY 5.

THIS IS THE FIRST NOVEMBER EF4 TORNADO IN OKLAHOMA SINCE RECORDS
BEGAN IN 1950.

ESTIMATED WIND SPEEDS IN AN EF4 TORNADO RANGE FROM 166 TO 200 MPH.

As the initial tornado was dissipating, a large low wall cloud formed and begin to produce brief vortices to our NE. Seconds later, the tornado consolidated. Time is still 3:15CST, view is ENE:

We drove east to Manitou, then north up 183, observing the tornado strengthen into a stout stovepipe. View approximately NE, time is 3:20 - 3:24.

The tornado began to weaken as it appraoched 183. It produced this needle funnel in the center of the broad circulation, and seemed to rapidly dissipate shortly thereafter. View is North, time 3:25 CST:

Here is out track and the approximate tornado track during this intercept:

We went east on 62 east of Snyder, where we observed this brief tornado just north of the highway. Time is 3:38, view N.

I believe this tornado briefly had a satellite tornado, but was unable to video this feature. During this same time frame, observed a white funnel under a separate circulation which produced a couple brief surface spinups. Time is 3:40, View N:

Turned north on 54, and then east on mud road E1590. John kept us between the ditches on the treacherous mud roads for the next few minutes, and we witnessed the initial stages of the Wichita Mountain tornado. Time is 3:51, view is E:

We took “Scenic Highway” east, hoping we could catch the cell once we got to the other side. This strategy failed miserably, but we were able to witness the large tornado from time to time when terrain was favorable. Time is after 4:07, view is NNWish:

Here is our position for this leg of the chase, up until the GPS software failed.

Slow traffic and wandering Buffalo killed any hope of catching the cell again.

We dropped south to Wichita Falls, and then to Electra where we intercepted another supercell shortly after sunset. By the time we got to it, the storm had weakened below severe limits, and we ended the chase.

NWS Norman page on Nov 7 tornadoes

Depart: Austin, TX 7:30 a.m.
Arrive: Austin, TX 12:30 a.m.
980 miles, 17 hours

Chase Report: 24 May, 2011 - Goldsby, OK EF4

2011-11-09T13:32:00.002-06:00

EF4 Tornado near Washington, OK - ~5:55 CDT

High risk for Central and Northern OK. The associated Tornado prob from the 1630Z outlook shown below, with huge 45% hatched contour.

Solo chase. My forecasted target was around the OK/KS border, Alva, OK to Medicine Lodge, KS. Fortunately, I was working all morning and did not get out of the driveway until about 12:30 p.m. While there was action at the Northern target, Central OK ended up being the breeding ground for the strongest tornadoes of the day. Stopped just north of Fort Worth at the I-35/287 junction around 3:15 CDT. Severe cells were in progress to my west within a couple of counties. Broken line of supercells had fired on the dryline W and NW of OK City. Made a quick decision to shoot north and try to get to the southern end of the Central OK storms. Within a few minutes of that decision, three of the Central OK storms went tornado-warned.

Made good time moving up 35, but cell motion was NNE at the time, and fast- 45-55 knots (I think). Around 4 p.m., crossed the Red River. The most damaging tornado of the day was already in progress. It would go through El Reno and Guthrie over its 75 mile track, and cause 9 fatalities. This tornado has been rated EF-5 based on radar data collected by a mobile radar.

As I approached Purcell, OK, a new cell that had formed south of the original OK line went tornado-warned near Bradley. I had no data for a long stretch about this time. Got some much needed help from chasing partner John S, who was unable to go with me on the trip. There were two cells within range, both with tornado warnings. The northern cell produced an EF4 from Chickasha to Moore, and at the time had a better radar presentation. However, I did not think I could get up to it in time, and the hail core from the southern cell was already over I-35. I decided to pull off and try to get the Bradley tornado.

Took exit 101 (Ladd Rd), and pretty quickly had a visual on the southern edge of the rain free base. Contrast was poor and I was taking some small hail with an occasional larger stone. Moved slightly west to Pacer Field, and about 5:52, a tall stovepipe tornado in progress came into view to my Southwest.

I reported the tornado and observed it for several minutes as it got closer. Initially thought it would track over my location, but it ended up turning north towards the end of its life cycle according to the current survey details (survey not yet finalized). That is consistent with what I observed.

While observing this tornado, a new lowering formed to my immediate west. It quickly began to produce a funnel cloud and shortly after that, at around 5:58, it kicked up a debris cloud within 100 yards of my location.

While it did not look to be a very strong tornado, I had to relocate quickly to avoid getting hit. The new tornado went past me- technically, I was probably in the outer edge of the circulation- but it remained weak and dissipated once it crossed I-35. The main tornado was roping out by this stage, and completely dissipated shortly after 6 p.m.

Here is the preliminary NWS survey of the Goldsby tornao:

STORM 4... WASHINGTON-GOLDSBY
PRELIMINARY DATA...
EVENT DATE: MAY 24, 2011
EVENT TYPE: TORNADO
EF RATING: EF-4
ESTIMATED PEAK WINDS (MPH): 190
INJURIES/FATALITIES: UNKNOWN/NONE
EVENT START LOCATION AND TIME: 4 SW BRADLEY 5:26 PM CDT
EVENT END LOCATION AND TIME: 1 NW GOLDSBY 6:05 PM CDT
DAMAGE PATH LENGTH (IN MILES): 27 MILES
DAMAGE WIDTH: UNKNOWN

Continued chasing eastward on I-40 past sunset, narrowly missing a tornado near Shawnee reservoir, and observing numerous lowerings and a couple of possible tornadoes after dark. Finally stopped at Hulbert, and about 9:45 CDT, decided to end the chase, as I had to be at work the next morning. Crossed the path of the April 14 Tushka/Atoka EF3 shortly after midnight, and arrived back in Austin around 5 a.m.

Another bad day for strong tornadoes hitting populated areas, and a well-deserved high risk call by SPC. I was happy with most of my chase, especially considering how late I started. Missing a couple of minutes of the Washington-Goldsby rope out, and missing at least one other late tornado was frustrating. Still, this was a difficult day with multiple HP cell interactions and fast NE storm motion. Impossible to stay with cells for long when the road network runs mostly NS and EW. A lot of chasers had trouble and went home empty-handed, so I am just glad I got up there in time for one of the main tornadoes.

Special thanks to John S for nowcasting during the crucial Goldsby intercept and later in the evening also to help keep me close to good cells.

NWS Norman page about the outbreak

Depart: Austin, TX 12:30 p.m.
Arrive: Austin, TX 5:00 a.m.
1020 miles, 16.5 hours
Solo chase

Chase Report: 19 May, 2011 - Marathon Bust

2011-05-27T10:12:00.007-05:00

Depart: Austin, TX 7:45 a.m.
Arrive: Austin, TX 3:25 a.m.
1303 miles
Solo chase

Phenomena Encountered:
2 minutes of marble-sized hail
1 lame attempt at a wall cloud
1 unfortunate armadillo, now deceased

The ugly truth:
Thanks to D Douglas for nowcasting on a a futile day. The hail and wall cloud both occurred near Kingman, KS with a small, isolated cell that was east of the dryline cells. After that cell dissipated, I made it almost to I-70 just south of the storm that produced the tornado reports in Russell/Ellsworth counties, KS. By then, cells from the south were starting to merge with that one, and it got messy. I decided to cut my losses and turn south, as I had to be back at work Friday morning. Of course, 20 minutes later, the cell north of I-70 ramped up again and produced another brief tornado.

Encountered another dying severe cell on the drive home in OKC. Not a blue-sky bust, but definitely a bust.

ON a positive note, things would get substantially better on my next two chases, May 21 and 24. Reports to come soon...

Chase Report: 15 April, 2011, Part 1 - De Kalb to Scooba, MS EF3 tornado

2011-04-20T00:30:00.019-05:00

Tornado just North of De Kalb, MS, ~1:22 p.m. CDT.

After a much needed 3 hours of sleep following a long chase on the 14th, I woke up in Little Rock, AR about 7:30 a.m. (all times CDT). A cursory check of models and I was on the road quickly. As I crossed the MS river at Memphis, noted vast area of clearing SW of the initial line mess moving through North MS and West TN. It quickly became apparent that the odds of a big tornado day were increasing. SPC's 1730Z Day 1 included a hatched 15% tornado probability:

There was already a tornado-warned cell in Jackson, MS (which produced EF3 damage), and north of that, a cluster of cells with embedded tornado warnings to my south. I got to Hwy 45 and decided to punch through the cluster to the more isolated cell that was now east of Jackson. I calculated I could catch it near De Kalb, MS.

Arrived at Scooba at 1:07 p.m. The Jackson cell had maintained a tornado warning the entire time, and was now rapidly approaching De Kalb. I went west on 16 and immediately saw the rain-free base and low broad wall cloud. As I got a little closer, saw the top of a cone below the treeline. The wall cloud above this feature exhibited extremely rapid rotation. Called NWS Jackson and reported possible tornado.

Turned around at the junction of 16/39 in De Kalb and hurried slightly east to try to find a suitable spot to observe the area of concern. Pulled off on Old Scooba Road with a good view to the north and observed a large tornado in progress. It was just north of De Kalb, and crossed my field of view over the next 90 seconds. Called NWS Jackson again and relayed the report.

As the wrapping wain curtain on the south side of the tornado arrived at my location, I moved ENE on 16 to reposition. However, it was soon clear I could not safely outrun the tornado on 16, and I stopped to let it cross the highway. All I saw was a solid wall of white, with rapid rotation in the rain curtains as they crossed. Once the back edge had passed, I continued east and noticed a swath of downed trees and powerlines. I was able to safely continue to Hwy 45 at Scooba.

Here is the video- see Video index and map below for details:

De Kalb, MS Tornado Video

Video index:

0:00-1:02 - Driving west into De Kalb through the intersection of Hwy 16 and 39. Wall cloud and brief shot of top of tornado over the treeline. Time is 1:16-1:18 CDT.

1:02-2:52 - Looking ~north from Old Scooba Road. Wedge tornado crossing to my north. Time is 1:20-1:22 CDT.

2:53-4:00 - Driving ENE on 16 between De Kalb and Scooba- low-contrast back edge of tornado crossing highway. Time is 1:32-1:33 CDT.

And here is my position, time, and approximate look angle of the features noted in the video:

Continued east on 16 hoping to trail the tornado until I could navigate back to the SE of it. Instead, I found a tree across 16, and had to turn around and backtrack. Went up to the next eastward road. Delorme 2011 showed that this road would take me into AL at Geiger:

However, after a few minutes of mud and gravel, the road abruptly turned into a grassy, overgrown trail with trees and bushes everywhere:

I could see the storm and wall cloud/fat funnel through the trees, but it was moving away quickly. By the time I got back out of the jungle, I decided I could not catch back up to that cell, and moved back to Scooba to catch the next cells in line.

Here is NWS Jackson's summary of the EF3 tornado.:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/jan/?n=2011_04_15_tor_neshobakemper

and NWS Birmingham's summary (see Geiger, Sumter, AL portion):

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/bmx/?n=event_04152011

From the wording of the NWS surveys, I believe this was the same tornado, with contiguous damage track. If so, it had a path length of 49 miles, width of up to 1 mile, and duration of 71 minutes.

Over the next 6 hours, observed and filmed several big wall clouds and funnel clouds, but have not confirmed any more tornadoes. I will have to sift thru NWS surveys to see if any of the features I filmed is coincident with tornadic damage. A couple of the features I saw obscured by treelines certainly could have been tornadoes. Will update this report with a part 2 once that work is complete.

As daylight waned, there were still warnings in progress near my location. I was physically exhausted, though, and with flooding issues ramping up, and lack of visual on most of the storms by that time, I decided to call the chase. Spent the night in Meridian, MS and drove back to Austin Saturday. Heard reports of the NC tornadoes during my drive.

Depart: Little Rock, AR 8:00 a.m.
Arrive: Meridan, MS 9:00 p.m.
720 miles, 13 h
2245 miles, 3 day round trip total
Solo chase

Chase Report: 26 Mar, 2011- Crazy in Alabama

2011-03-30T23:44:00.032-05:00

I-22/Hwy 78 Alabama Supercell
Wall Clouds, Funnels, Phantom tornadoes

Broad, low wall cloud with inflow band near Cordova, AL, ~8:26CDT, 3/26/2011:

Left Austin about 4:45 a.m. (all times CDT). Initial target was Winona, MS, where parameters looked most favorable for afternoon/evening supercells. SPC upgraded a chunk of MS/AL/W GA to MDT on the 1630 Day 1 outlook:

Around the time I was crossing the MS river on I-20, storms fired and rapidly became supercellular near Meridian, MS. A TOR box went up for a swath of AL and GA for this activity. Numerous supercells produced numerous tornado warnings for the next several hours across the watch area. Rather than try to catch this activity, I elected to stick with my original target and turned north on 55 in Jackson. Realistically, I don't think I could have gotten into the initial action in time in AL and GA, and terrain in that area is among the worst I have chased in.

Moving north along 55, I crossed the damage track of the 4/24/2010 Yazoo City super tornado. A swath of trees at least .5 miles long on both sides of the interstate were literally sheared off not far above the surface (20-30 ft). I have seen this signature before from other violent tornadoes- Limestone County AL, 5/18/1995 among others.

Arrived in Winona 2:45 p.m., with clear blue skies and surface temps in low 80's. Quickly noted surface winds were SW, which did not bode well for low-level rotation. With nothing anywhere nearby, I decided to wait, as I was at least near the warm front, and HRRR was showing cells popping in the 22-0Z time frame near my location.

Around 5 p.m., I noted a tower had popped up to my NE. It did not look like much, but I immediately turned back east and went charging after it. A new cell had popped South of the line in North MS, and was now showing up on radar, albeit only weak echoes. As it began to strengthen, it became apparent that it was well ahead of me, 60-80 miles to my NE, and my prospects of catching it weren't great. I had to hope that it would move ESE and track along the warm front and into the moist tongue, which is exactly what it did. I cut NE on 12 at Columbus, MS, with a nice view of the strengthening cell to my NNE, complete with anvil and hard tower. Time is ~6:27, view NNE:

About the time I crossed into AL, the storm went tornado-warned. I got to Guin, AL a few minutes behind the circulation, and noted a possible lowering obstructed by the Guin downtown buildings. No good shots of the lowering at this stage, but one nice lightning capture as I went through town. Time is ~7:20, view is east:

I took 118 E out of Guin through Winfield and Glen Allen in dwindling daylight, continuing to note possible lowerings to my East. I finally approached the radar-indicated circulation near the town of Eldridge, and noted a solid wall-cloud south of my location near Eldridge. I reported this and continued east on 118 through Carbon Hill and onto the I22/78 corridor. Stopped just West of Jasper at 7:58 with a large Wall cloud to my immediate south. Here is the location and appx. look angle of the next few screen grabs:

A couple of moments later, what appeared to be a funnel cloud became evident. Upon careful review of the video, it looks like the funnel is actually behind the wall cloud. Here are a couple of captures:

I began to get rain and small hail, so proceeded ESE on 22/78. Got a couple more looks at the funnelish feature while moving:

At 8:18, I stopped again. Talked to some other chasers, who alerted me to a new circulation just to the North of the highway, in the vicinity of Cordova. At ~8:26, I filmed an ominous wall cloud with protuberances for several minutes. Terrain blocked the lowest level of the feature. Over the next 30 minutes, it would exhibit double wall cloud structure, funnels, inflow tail, and essentially everything but a confirmed tornado. Location and appx. look angle:

Continued ESE on 22/78, filming the area of ciruclation and stopping occasionally. I never saw evidence of a tornado on the ground. During this time, spotter reports of a large tornado prompted continued tornado warnings. These reports turned out to be erroneous, although from my visual evidence at the time, I did not doubt a tornado was in progress.

Despite all these ground-hugging wall clouds, funnels, etc., NWS BMX has not surveyed any tornadic damage from this cell to my current knowledge. That doesn't mean it did not produce briefly a time or two along its path, but without an official damage survey, the video evidence does not support calling any of these features a tornado. The wall cloud/circulation began to get further to my east, and about that time, my outdated version of Delormes had me in the middle of nowhere. Had to call a friend to get me back on track. Made it back to 65, by which time the tornado warning had been canceled.

I stayed on the 65 corridor north of Birmingham for another hour, picking up a couple more cells as they crossed the interstate. Did not see anything else of note, though. Headed towards home, and made it as far as Meridian, MS. Stayed the night in the Relax Inn on the north side of the frontage road on I20 in Meridian. Wasn't the worst dump I have stayed in, although every time I flushed the toilet, water shot out the back of the tank lid. Here is the full GPS log of the chase up until just south of Birmingham, where I disabled the GPS:

Got up Sunday and drove back to Austin. Special thanks to Bill Tabor for providing nowcasting support during some of the hairier moments of the chase.

Depart Austin, TX: 4:45 a.m.
Arrive Meridan, MS 1:00 a.m.
Solo chase
1165 miles, 20h15m
1855 miles 2-day round trip total

Chase Report: 8 March, 2011 - Lamar/Red River county supercell

2011-03-09T10:23:00.016-06:00

SPC started with a slight risk for the day, then upped a chunk of LA and Southern MS to a MDT in their 1630 update, with a 15% hatched tornado area:

We left Austin around 8:45, There were two broad target areas for the day. First was the dryline which was forecast to be near the I-35 corridor in N TX in the afternoon. Second was the open warm sector, covering most of LA, Southern AR, and SW MS. By around noon, we were heading east on 20 between Dallas and SHV, and briefly toyed with the idea of heading into the warm sector target, which SPC had just upgraded to MDT. The dryline target was a bit more conditional, and also storms along the dryline would be working with less helicity/shear, as the 850 jet was forecast to be translating away from N TX later in the day.

Shortly after 1 CST, convection did fire (far earlier than most models were showing) north of DFW in North Texas. We stopped at Longview, and turned back NW, heading towards this initially small set of discrete cells. Tornado watch went up shortly thereafter for NE Texas and SE OK.

We caught the first cell to generate a tornado warning in western Lamar county near Brookston. The radar-indicated circulation was heading east just south of Hwy 82 in our direction. We were moving south on FM 38 trying to clear the front flank of the storm and beat the circulation. Time is 4:11 CST, view is SW:

A laminar funnel/lowering with wrapping rain curtains crossed 38 just to our south, at which point we turned and moved back North up to 82. The lowering is near the top of this image, well above ground level. Time-lapse review of the video shows this feature was rotating. Time is ~413 CST, view is South:

NWS surveyed a non-continuous damage path from a weak tornado. Here is the survey info and diagram:

PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
731 PM CST THU MAR 10 2011

...PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT...

NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS FROM THE FORT WORTH
FORECAST OFFICE CONDUCTED A STORM DAMAGE SURVEY IN LAMAR COUNTY
AND DETERMINED AN EF0 TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN AROUND 415 PM CST ON
MARCH 8TH. THE TORNADO PATH WAS NON-CONTINUOUS...BUT TOTALED 4
MILES WITH A MAXIMUM WIDTH OF ABOUT 200 FEET. THE MAXIMUM WIND
SPEED WAS ESTIMATED TO BE 65 TO 70 MPH. THE TORNADO INITIALLY
TOUCHED DOWN NEAR 33.6053 DEGREES NORTH AND -95.7812 DEGREES WEST
AND FINALLY LIFTED NEAR 33.6144 DEGREES NORTH AND -95.7148 DEGREES
WEST.

We got there a couple of minutes too late to see a tornado, but it is obvious the lowering with the wrapping rain curtains we shot crossing just south of us was the remnant circulation of that tornado. In the figure, red line is the tornado track, yellow line = 1 mile, and our position and look angle are shown by green dots and blue arrow respectively.

Heading back to Paris, we swung south on loop 236 and stopped at the intersection of 236 and FM 137. At about 4:25, a ragged rotating wall cloud was visible just to the west of our location. A narrow band of very low-level cloud tags was rapidly feeding into the circulation. Here is a pic of the wall cloud at time, looking west from 236/137. Time is ~4:25 CST

Here is a radar image of the circulation and our position from Spotter Net during this time frame (image courtesy of Adam Cuker).

And here is our Delorme's GPS log showing our position and the position of the Paris and Brookston storm features we observed:

We moved east on 236 to the intersection of 236 and Hwy 271. The area of circulation approached, and we decided to head south on 271, rather than try to get up to 82 and follow the storm eastward. My thinking was that we could move SE on 271, then north out of Deport or Bogata and get back to cell. Did not want to trail it in the core.

Once we got to Bogata, we still could have moved N and intercepted the storm again, but new cells were now intensifying to the initial cell's SW. We decided to head back West and intercept the northernmost new cell. While we moved back NW on 271, the Paris cell produced at least on confirmed tornado east of Detroit. The same or a separate tornado also produced damage north of Clarksville along 82.

Electing not to trail the cell east out of Paris cost us a shot at seeing the tornadoes. Had we moved back up to 82 to follow the cell, there is still no guarantee we would have caught the tubes. From other reports, they were rain-wrapped and low contrast. Still, there is at least a decent chance we would have caught them had we been able to navigate around the core. Lesson learned- if you see visual indication of rapid low-level rotation, stay with it as long as you can safely do so. Do not assume the next storm in the line will also be rotating.

By near sunset, multiple cells had formed in a broken line from the initial tornado producer SW down to and south of I-20. We gingerly moved south, picking off a couple of these cells as we made our way home. Had some interesting after-dark scary-looking lowerings on a sub-severe cell south of Frankston, TX.

Depart Austin, TX: 9:45 a.m.
Arrive Austin, TX: 1:15 a.m.
875 miles , 16:30h
Chase Partner: John S

Chase Report: 19 May, 2010 - Hennessey to Stillwater, OK cyclic tornadic supercell

2010-05-26T21:55:00.065-05:00

Tornado NW of Hennessey, OK:

Left Shamrock, TX eastbound on I-40 at 10:15 a.m (all times CDT). Met up with fellow Austinites Bill Tabor, Randy Denzer, and non-Austinites Verne Carlson and Stephen Locke. Check out Stephen Locke's site TempestGallery for some amazing storm photography, btw. SPC upgrades much of Central OK to High Risk on the 1630 Day 1. The forecast wasn't difficult. Go on I-40 to West Central, OK, where satellite was showing a meso-boundary snaking from west to east in the vicinity of I-40.

Several of us ended up at Hwy 281 and I-40 when cells fired in NW OK. Randy and Verne immediately took off after the closest cell, while Bill and I dragged our feet. The cell looked wimpy on radar, but Randy texted us soon afterward telling us to get up there. Good thing- it began producing tornadoes early, even before it looked supercellular on radar. Check out Randy's video:

5/19 Tornadoes from Randy Denzer

Here was our view around the time the budding supercell was dropping its first tube.

Bill and I headed towards Watonga, then cut up to Hwy 51 to get to the storm quicker. We came out a little behind the cell, but caught it easily, as it was meandering down the highway at only about 25 mph. Here is a solid, low funnel just south of 51 at ~4:24:

My first tornado of the day was the large cone that went just NW of Hennessey. I shot the tornado from Cemetery Road (aptly named) a little north of Hwy 51. Here is my location and look angle at tornado initiation:

AND here is a sequence of stills, with some actual video hopefully to be added later. Note the historical Hennessey Cemetery in the foreground of many of these shots.

Here is helicopter view of the same tornado from an OKC TV network:

Helicopter view

Apparently, I narrowly avoided a roadblock setup by OHP on Hwy 51 to prevent a horde of chasers from progressing east. Bill got caught by the same roadblock, and ended up losing the storm and having to bail south for the Guthrie cell. Caught up with Randy a little further down the highway- we would cross paths on and off for the rest of the day.

The supercell conveniently tracked due east along Hwy 51 for the next two hours, dropping tornadoes sporadically. I caught several of these, some of which lasted only a few seconds. Map of Tornadoes 2-4, all west of I-35:

Tornado #2, lasted ~1 min:

Tornado #3, lasted only a few seconds:

Tornado #4, lasted only a few seconds:

Continued east on 51 and crossed I-35 towards Stillwater. Map of Tornadoes 5-7:

Tornado #5 just east of I-35 was the most photogenic. It was in progress just to my WNW when I first saw it. It persisted for several minutes as a tall, thin cone. but was only obviously in contact with the ground for a small time, from my perspective. Here are a few video caps:

Tornado #6, lasted only a few seconds:

Funnel cloud (darker lowering, center) which produced tornado #7, with lightning, a few seconds before the tornado appeared:

Tornado #7, also brief from my vantage point, although topography quickly blocked my view of ground level:

Continued east on 51 into western Stillwater. OUN NWS has a report of a tornado based on damage just WNW of Stillwater at ~6:35. I was very close to this location, although I was moving at 6:35. At 6:38, I stopped and filmed NW towards a large, solid wall cloud with ground level obscured. OUN has not done a damage survey yet, and they based the time of their report on radar, so it is quite possible this feature contained a rain-wrapped tornado. No way to confirm, but here it is:

Here is the OUN NWS preliminary tornado reports. Not sure when surveys will be completed:

OUN May 19 Storm reports

Funnel clouds continue through Stillwater and east until sunset, although I witnessed no more touchdowns, and OUN has no other reports logged. Here are a few of the funnels I witnessed, all of which exhibited strong rotation:

I went North on 99 to the intersection of 412 and 99, and continued filming rotating wall clouds with funnels. Finally let the Hennessey supercell go and went south towards the next set of cells. The sun had set, and storms began congealing into a big hybrid mess. Heavy rain made southward progress slow, and it became apparent I was not going to be able to position in time to catch the areas of the cluster with rotation. Turned back SW towards OKC, and drove home.

Here is the GPS track for the meat of the chase:

Depart Shamrock, TX: 10:15 a.m.
Arrive Austin, TX: 4:45 a.m.
830 miles , 18:30h solo chase
2 day chase total: 1670 miles

Chase Report: 18 May, 2010 - Dumas, TX tornadoes/Miami Nights

2010-05-21T17:03:00.062-05:00

Imminent tornado to my immediate northeast, 2 miles east of Dumas, TX

NOTE: Long report follows, but it's mostly pics.

Left Austin at sunrise with an initial target area anywhere from Lubbock, TX to Clovis, NM to SE CO/Guymon, OK. Note all times that follow are CDT, p.m.. By the time I got to Lubbock., hi-res precip models and RUC were both showing no precip south of I-40. After a quick check of SPC mesoanalysis params, decided to keep moving north. Got to Dumas, TX around 4:30 p.m. Shortly before then, a cell had fired West of Channing and was moving NE towards Hartley. By 5 p.m., I was on the cell just east of Hartley.

Drove South on FM3138. Over the next hour, the storm had ground-hugging wall clouds, and according to KAMA, produced 4 EF0 tornadoes. I was in nearly perfect position for almost all of them, but only captured two definite tornadoes on video, one of which does not correspond directly to any that KAMA logged. From KAMA surveys (italicized sections):

The first tornado touched down 4 miles south southeast of Hartley at 532 pm cdt. The tornado was on the ground for 1 mile with a maximum width of 50 yards. The tornado dissipated at 536 pm cdt. This tornado was rated an EF0. No damage or injuries were reported.

I was looking directly at this area. There was a spectacular, low wall cloud with rapid rotation, but I never saw indication that tornadic circulation was on the ground. Report is 4-5 miles to my west, so evn though I had clear view of the ground, could have missed evidence of a ground circulation. Here is the wall cloud with my position and look angle:

Continued south on FM-3138...

The second tornado touched down 8 miles southeast of Hartley at 541 pm cdt. The tornado was on the ground for 1 mile with a maximum width of 100 yards. The tornado dissipated at 544 pm cdt. This tornado was rated an EF0. No damage or injuries were reported.

Was also looking directly at this. Stopped at the intersection of FM-3138 and CR-R. One of the CSWR trucks was also scanning from this point. There was a solid wall cloud with a couple of funnels from 5:41-5:43, but no visual evidence of tornado on ground. Report is 2 miles to the west of my location (see previous map).

I turned to move east on CR-R (a dirt/mud) road to stay ahead of core, and filmed over my shoulder as I drove. There does clearly appear to be a brief tornado on the ground in that clip. Camera work is poor as I had to focus on driving and shooting over my shoulder, and could not look to see what I was filming. Tornado is slightly right of center, embedded in thin curtain of precip. Time is 5:44:

Continued east on CR-R...

The third tornado touched down 11 miles west of Dumas at 555 pm cdt. The tornado was on the ground for one half mile with a maximum width of 25 yards. The tornado dissipated at 557 pm cdt. This tornado was rated an EF0. No damage or injuries were reported.

This is where I stopped and turned briefly north on S County Line Rd. The TIV and support vehicle were also there- I think they had just driven south from under the meso (obligatory photo of TIV):

Again, strong low-level rotation is apparent, but no ground circ. Location of report is 4 miles to my North at this time, and I was moving from 5:55-5:56, but still filming in that direction. At 6:02, I did observe a brief tornado under the same circulation. This was in the wrapping rain curtain, and solidified into a darker funnel which connected to cloud base and briefly rotated beneath the wall cloud. Here is a vid cap:

At 6:12, I stopped and filmed a very low barrel lowering which appeared to possibly tornado briefly. Poor contrast and distance prevents confirmation on this one. Here's a cap and map for the time sequence from 5:55-6:12:

Continued east on CR-R, then N and NE on Ranch 722 into Dumas...

The fourth tornado touched down 2 miles south southwest of Dumas at 628 pm cdt. The tornado was on the ground for 1 mile with a maximum width of 25 yards. The tornado dissipated at 630 pm cdt two miles southeast of Dumas. This tornado was rated an EF0. No damage or injuries were reported.

I filmed the low wall cloud, which was just to me E/NE. Looks like another case where tornado was not condensed to the ground. OR I could not see it because of the rain curtains I was in, but I could see what I believe was the lowering at the center of the rotation. Cap and location:

Drove through Dumas and then east on 152...

The fifth tornado touched down 2 miles east of Dumas at 642 pm cdt. The tornado was on the ground for 1 mile with a maximum width of 200 yards. The tornado dissipated at 645 pm cdt. This tornado was rated an EF0. No damage or injuries were reported.

I actually observed two brief tornadoes in rapid succesion along the highway. The first was a weak multivortex with little condensation which crossed 152 less than a mile east of me. The second was a stout funnel which quickly intensified just north of the highway to my immediate NE. It wrapped up quickly and blasted me with westerly winds on the south side of the funnel. The report logs this event as one three minute tornado, but from my vantage point, I believe it was two separate touchdowns along different areas of the mesocyclone. Completely different tornadoes in appearance, location, and duration from my prespective, but it was a hectic sky, and I was having to concentrate on making sure the second tornado did not take an aberrant spin in my direction. Several other chasers got video of this and may can shed some light on the exact sequence. Hopefully, I will be able to edit video and post a clip of this tornado, because the still pic does not do it justice. Caps of the second tornado and location:

Continued east on 152.

Captured another brief tornado about 6 miles east of Dumas around 6:54. This was a solid truncated cone that seemed to occur when a rapidly rotating wall cloud suddenly split into two. I need to extract the whole video sequence- difficult to describe what I saw, and the split effect could have been an illusion. Fellow chasers Marcus Diaz and Tony Laubach also caught this same feature and identified it as a tornado. From my vantage point, it was only fully condensed for a few seconds, but was very near the ground before and after for longer. Here is a sequence of images showing the wall cloud split and tornado. Location is given in the previous map.

I continued east on 152 , and got to Stinnet ~7:50. Here is the KAMA report for the tornado that occurred north of Stinnet. :

The sixth tornado touched down 3 miles south southwest of Pringle, or 6 miles northwest of Stinnett at 744 pm cdt. The tornado was on the ground for 6 miles with a maxiumum width of 300 yards. The tornado moved to the north dissipating at 800 pm cdt 3 miles northwest of Pringle. A National Weather Service survey team found significant damage to a farm located on County Road J between County Road 8 and County Road 9. A large portion of the roof was removed from the residence with considerable damage to several small sheds in the vicinity. Numerous trees were stripped with many broken large branches. A pickup behind the residence was flipped upside down with the cab smashed. Several power poles were snapped along County Road J just to the east of the residence with additional damage sustained to a few irragation pivots. A storage bin and large fuel tank were found up to 50 yards to the east northeast of their original locations. This tornado was rated an EF2. One resident was at home at the time but no injuries were reported.

I was in West Stinnet along 152 looking North for this tornado. Could not see for most of it, as wall of precip blocked the view. Further south near my location, wall cloud with white funnels was in progress. After that feature dissipated and some of the precip cleared, the Pringle tornado becomes visible in the distance. My best estimate based on NWS survey places it ~10 miles to my N during this shot. I don't think I am seeing the actual tornado, unless it was huge, probably the parent funnel cloud, though, with low-level cloud junk and topography blocking the ground. Some other chasers were further north looking east, and their pics show a tall, thin cone funnel. Here is what I saw, contrast-enhanced to better show the funnel:

The remnant Pringle circulation crossed East of 207, after the reported dissipation time- the black wall showed a lot of weird white descending streaks on its periphery:

Not sure what phenomenon was occurring, but I suspect hail fog was interacting with the circulation. A short while later, I encountered a huge hail swath along 207, with thick hail fog. A rotating updraft came through and started lifting the fog with weak cyclonic circulation- surface temp was 51, according to Subaru thermometer. The sun is setting peacefully in the right background:

No east road out of Stinnet, and I was indecisive about what course of action to take next. Talked to David Douglas since I was not getting data, and he helped out with some much needed nowcasting. It was almost dark by then, and new cells had fired North and West of the cell I was on. Eventually, I decided to go down to Pampa and then back to North to pick my cell up again further east.

I finally managed to catch the cell again north of Miami, where it was producing a HUGE bowl wall cloud with monster lowering very close to ground. I found a good vantage point a ways away from the storm and shot vid for a while. It may have produced during this phase, but it was over unpopulated areas, and unless another chaser has pics from closer, this is yet another impossible to verify situation. Inflow to the cell was insane- I was 5-10 miles from the wall cloud, and inflow was 40+ mph sustained.

Thought I could get closer to the wall cloud by following “Quarter Horse Rd", a long and winding gravel/dirt road that eventually comes out near Canadian. This plan worked great at first, giving me several picturesque shots of the cycling wall cloud and ominous, scary hangy-down things.

The next three shots show a persistent little funnel that comes out of the lowering in the picture center. Look just to the left of the middle fencepost.

Now darker and superimposed on the left of middle fencepost:

And now right of center fencepost:

More ominous looking lowerings as cell approaches Canadian:

Qaurter Horse Rd ended up getting rough, and when I got to the part where the cell had passed over, it got muddy. With my slow progress, the rotating part of the storm began to pull away from me. Finally, I hit a point in the road that was completely washed out.

At 11:15 p.m., called the chase and backtracked to Miami, and eventually to Shamrock, TX on I-40 to setup for the next day's chase.

Here's GPS Track for the meat of the chase:

Depart Austin, TX: 7:15 a.m.
Arrive Shamrock, TX: 1:00 a.m.
840 miles , 17:45 h, solo chase

Chase Report: 10 May, 2010, Part 2 - Pharoah/Henryetta, OK tornadoes

2010-05-15T12:23:00.030-05:00

Tornado SW of Pharoah OK, ~ 7 pm CDT, looking SW:

Part 2:

Storms had fired SW of OK City and quickly gone severe. As I quickly made my way South down 81 and then SE on 3 towards OKC, a problematic issue soon became apparent. These storms were tracking into a major population center right at rush hour. Rather than try to drive into the city, I decided my best bet was to go around the north side and pick cells up as they moved east out of town.

Tornado warnings began sounding fast and furious, and I intercepted my first tor-warned cell for the day at Hwy 3 and the turnpike ~ 5 N of Yukon. Thought it was going to drop a tornado right in front of me based on the amazing low level rising motion and rotation, but it was a bit disorganized. I continued on the turnpike around the N side of OKC, and then went NE on the turnpike to try to keep up with the tornado-warned cell. Caught a few glimpses of a nice funnel through the trees, but AFAIK, this cell did not produce north of the city (it did produce west of OKC near Yukon, before I got to it):

The problem with Turnpike chasing is that there are not many exits. The cell that produced the funnel cloud continued moving NE of the turnpike away from me, while the cells south of OKC went crazy, dropping damaging tornadoes, including two EF4's. I cut south on 177 and drove down to Shawnee on I-40. As I approached, an EF3 was in progress, although I did not know it at the time. I knew I did not want to core punch it, so I delayed just a bit. That storm got ahead of me, although I observed some insane motion behind the hook N of Shawnee along I-40. Time-lapse sequence appears to show a horiontal roll propagating westward on I-40, with some vertical funnels. Hopefully, I will be able to add a video clip of that soon.

I lost data at this time, so was going off warning info from the NWS and tracking the cell south of 40. Reports from Vortex2 and other chasers were of a large tornado in progress with this cell- that tornado ended up getting and EF3 rating, Talked to fellow Austin chaser David Douglas as I went east on 40, and thanks to his help, figured I had a chance to catch the cell south of 40. I thought I was going to have to get off of 40 and drop south at some point. However, from damage surveys, it appears the large EF3 dissipated, and a new tornado developed S of Okemah. I am certain that this new tornado is the one I witnessed. It was to my SW when I first saw it, and I immediately pulled over and began filming. Time is ~7:00 pm CDT. View is SW, looking out the side passenger's window of my car:

Here is the damage survey from Tulsa NWS for this tornado, which was rated EF1:

ANOTHER TORNADO DEVELOPED ABOUT 6.5 MILES SOUTH OF OKEMAH AT ABOUT 645 PM.

THE TORNADO MOVED NORTHEAST AND DISSIPATED ABOUT 2.75 MILES NORTH-NORTHWEST

OF PHAROAH AT ABOUT 710 PM. TREES WERE SNAPPED...POWER POLES WERE DOWNED...

HOMES WERE DAMAGED AND SEVERAL OUTBUILDINGS WERE DESTROYED WITHIN THE 14 MILE

LONG PATH THAT WAS A MAXIMUM OF 1000 YARDS WIDE. BASED ON THIS DAMAGE...THE

TORNADO WAS RATED EF-1 ON THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE WITH PEAK WINDS NEAR

105 MPH.

The wall cloud had what appeared to be a stovepipe tornado on the ground sporadically. My position relative to the storm resulted in relatively low-contrast video again, with a curtain of white precip wrapping quickly around the tornado.

After the tornado disappeared in precip, I continued east on 40, since I was not sure of its motion. It was indeed coming in my direction, and crossed the interstate about 4 W of where I had been sitting shortly after I moved. Below is my GPS location and the appx. tornado track based on Tulsa survey, located here:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/news/display_cmsstory.php?wfo=tsa&storyid=52278&source=0

As I approached Henryetta, evidence of a new, low wall cloud appeared south of town. Reviewing the video, and combined with Tulsa NWS Survey, and pictures from other chasers who were further south, it appears this wall cloud had occasional funnels and was causing tornadic damage at the ground. This is similar to the appearance of the downtown Nashville EF3 in its formative stages.

Here is a sequence of images taken from ~7:10-7:17 CDT, initially looking SE over Henryetta, then East as the wall cloud crosses 40, then N as the wall cloud continues NE with funnels. First, my GPS track through Henryetta with the appx tornado track pre Tulsa NWS in red:

Approaching Henryetta on I-40, wall cloud on South side of city:

Power flash under low wall cloud over Henryetta- tornadic winds at surface with no condensation funnel:

Wall cloud over Henryetta with thin funnel right of center:

Tornadic circulation approaches I-40 just E of Henryetta:

Tornadic circulation with glow from power flash near center and thin funnel right of center approaching I-40:

Funnel cloud with thin tornado N of I-40 and E of Henryetta:

Twin funnels close to ground N of I-40 East of Henryetta:

Low funnel NE of Henryetta:

Low funnel NE of Henryetta:

Tulsa surveyed a continuous damage track from south of Henryetta over the turnpike and then I-40, crossing just east of my location. Here is the official survey, tornado rated EF2:

A STRONG TORNADO DEVELOPED AT ABOUT 704 PM ABOUT 3 MILES SOUTH- SOUTHWEST OF THE

HENRYETTA AIRPORT...MOVED NORTHEAST...AND DISSIPATED AT ABOUT 721 PM ABOUT 2 MILES

NORTHEAST OF DEWAR. THE TORNADO DESTROYED A BOAT DOCK AND A MOBILE HOME ON HENRYETTA

LAKE...DAMAGED SEVERAL OTHER HOMES AND MOBILE HOMES...PRODUCED MAJOR TREE DAMAGE...

A DESTROYED OUTBUILDINGS. THE PATH LENGTH WAS ABOUT 10 MILES AND WAS UP TO 1250 YARDS

WIDE. THE TORNADO WAS RATED EF-2 ON THE ENHANCED FUJITA SCALE WITH PEAK WINDS NEAR

115 MPH.

Continued east to Checotah, where another “large” tornado was being reported. This was from a new wall cloud which formed E of the Henryetta tornado. I had a view of the wall cloud in my video, but I had fallen slightly behind again, and could not get to the area of interest in time. Shortly after that, I had to double back about 5 miles to a gas station when the needle hit E. That was the nail in the coffin for daytime activity.

At about 9 pm CDT, I was in Warner, OK at I-40, and decided to attempt to catch one last cell. This cell was tornado-warned about 40 to my south. I went east along I-40, dropped south at Sallisaw, and caught the cell near Heavener, OK. It lost its tornado warning about the time I was getting close, but still had lots of lightning, so I was able to observe briefly. I cut east and followed the still-severe cell into Arkansas, but finally stopped in Bates, AR. The cell was not showing much rotation any more, and was getting further away.

Stayed at the “Crane” motel in Heavener- Cash only.

Depart Norman, OK: 12:30 p.m.
Arrive Heavener, AR: 12:45 a.m.
500 miles, solo chase

Chase Report: 10 May, 2010, Part 1 - Wakita, OK tower from a distance

2010-05-15T11:44:00.009-05:00

Part 1:

Drove up Sunday, May 9, from AUS – 390 miles. Met up with Randy Denzer, David Douglas, Aaron Dooley, and a few others. Stayed at the lovely Comfort Inn in Norman- this place was like the Taj Mahal compared to some of the places I stayed the rest of the week.

High Risk issued by SPC for much of OK on initial Day 1 outlook. Two areas looked good- to begin with, far NW OK (Woodward/Enid), where initial convection was progged to go, and then Central, OK for late afternoon, early evening.

Lollygagged out of Norman west to Watonga with Dooley, Erik Burns and his girl, Craig Curlee, and Seth (last name here). Two towers went up to our NW. We stopped and watched, but refused to be “suckered” north on the early show. The more we watched, the better the NE cell looked, until it had huge anvil, amazing radar hook, and chaser-confirmed reports of tubes on ground, while we looked at dying Cu. Here is the Wakita cell looking North from Watonga at ~2:45. It is roughly 70 miles away:

Meanwhile, I remembered that I needed a new battery shortly after leaving power inverter running after turning engine off. Aaron jump started my car by holding grungy clamps onto his battery posts. It worked! Raced into Watonga , got new battery installed, and resumed the chase.

During my powerlessness, storms closer to us had fired and quickly gone severe, then tornado-warned. I was too far south to catch it, especially with insane 45-55 mph storm motion. Kept foolishly trying to gain ground while other chasers turned and headed back south towards OKC- always remember if you are going at right angles to a storm, you have to average 1.5x its speed to keep up with it (1.414 technically, but round up to account for your underestimation of storm speed).

After a short period without data, I finally got an update and saw why everyone was turning south- the late show had begun...

Chase Report: 1 May, 2010 - East Arkansas Supercell- The long chase

2010-05-04T12:34:00.032-05:00

Probable tornado, just NE of De Witt, AR from Hwy 1 looking ENE, ~ 9 p.m. CDT:

May 1 was a High Risk day for much of AR. Left Malvern, AR pre-noon and leisurely worked my way down to Fordyce, AR, where I picked up more supplies. From there, went down to Camden, where I found Tabor ave:

Spent the rest of the aternoon waiting on initiation. When towers first started going up, realized with a panic that my AllisonHouse feed was not actually working, and that I was relying on NWS servers for radar. They have been completely unreliable lately, largely because of the sheer demand of the thousands of new chasers.

Posted my problem to Stormtrack, and almost right away, got the fix (Many Thanks to ST'er Toni Scholz!!). Was able to get my data going just in time to get the radar update of numerous mature supercells in progress just to my S. Picked the closest cell and intercepted, somewhere west of Thornton. Couldn't see much for terrain, but it didn't look that good visually.

Charged back east to pick up a cell coming up from El Dorado. Caught that cell west of Star City, where I punched the hook area and had some white knuckle wind-shift moments. The circulation reformed SE of where I was (I think), and almost immediately, I was in catchup mode.

Followed storm from Gould to Gillette as complete darkness fell. Saw a couple of ominous funnels east of Gould. From there to De Witt to St. Charles to Marvell to Marianna to Brickeys to Hughes to West Memphis, occasionally catching the updraft region again. Each time, there were wall clouds, funnels, and one likely tornado NE of De Witt, AR. Here are a few of the better shots:

East of Gould, AR looking N/NE ~8:20 p.m. CDT

Likely tornado between De Witt and St. Charles, AR ~9:00 CDT

Wall Cloud/funnel/lightning near Marianna, AR ~9:40 CDT

West Memphis, AR ~ 10:30 CDT, along I-40 looking East:

Continued around Memphis to 40 NE, where I was several miles behind the cell. I got close, but was running out of gas. Fastest gas stop ever off the interstate, added ~ 4 gallons, ~ 90 seconds from exit ramp to entrance ramp. Got off I-40 at Brownsville to make one last desperate shot at catching the updraft. Storm still had T-warnings. Got blocked by sheriff's patrol and floodwaters in Alamo, TN. Drove south to Bells, TN and stopped at the Rama Inn. I was on this supercell from 7:45 - 12:15, 4.5 hours, and ~255 miles. The cell was moving NE at 45+ mph, so there was little time to stop and take pictures, get gas, etc. Here is the GPS log from that portion of the chase:

Shortly thereafter (check times), another cell with rotation moved towards the hotel from the SW. I took the vid camera and intercepted it at the top of the hill the hotel sits on. Lots of nice CG's, and then scary white-out as precip hit and lights of town disappeared (not because of power outage, as I thought at the time, but because precip was so dense). After core passed, followed cell east out of Alamo. Caught gnarly low funnel with storm exhibiting nice low-level rotation, ~2:20 a.m. CDT:

Continued towards Humboldt, TN, but was finally thwarted by closed/flooded roads. White knuckle desperation attempt to find open road failed. And I was probably fortunate not to drive into one of the numerous lakes of water that had formed from all the flooding.

Managed to find a back way back to the hotel that was not completely washed out. Definitely one of the tenser post-dark chases I have experienced.

Depart Malvern, AR: 10:30 p.m.
Arrive Bells, TN: 12:45 a.m.
Depart Bells, TN: 1:45 a.m.
Arrive Bells, TN: a.m.
580 miles, solo chase

Return trip on 5/2
Depart Bells, TN: 10:30 a.m..
Arrive Austin, TX: 10:15 p.m.
765 miles
3 day total – 2015 miles, solo chase

Chase Report: 23 Apr, 2010 - Travelin' man

2010-05-04T12:20:00.012-05:00

Today was mainly a day to get east and get ready for 4/24. I did catch one severe cell just north of Pine Bluff, AR. It didn't do much, and was not photogenic at all:

Caught a more decent severe cell in Helena Arkansas right at dark, but it was also non-photogenic. Crossed the MS River at Helena (note gaudy Casino on MS side of the river):

Looking SSW over the river and into AR from the Helena bridge:

Stopped for the night in Clarksdale, MS.

Depart Watonga, OK : 9:30 a.m.
Arrive Clarksdale, MS: 9:30 p.m.
840 miles, 12:00h
Solo Chase

Chase Report: 22 Apr, 2010 - Stuck in the Middle

2010-05-04T12:12:00.024-05:00

Sight risk day. Two main hotspots that I posted in my forecast the day before:

Finally got a chance to look at models again, mostly 12Z WRF. Still like it. Looks like the best low-level directional shear is going to be North of 40, near/east of the surface low. Best CAPE in NW TX/Childress... Hard to nail down a target, but I like a relatively narrow swath from Childress N/NW to SW KS. Plan to leave early towards Childress, and assess from there. Will have to commit early to make OK Panhandle/SW KS target.

Indeed, I made it to Childress with plenty of time to spare. Decided to head north, which would give me the option to double back south if northern storms fizzled. Came upon my first storm near Hooker, OK, which produced a beautiful, low wall cloud. The wall cloud persisted for a long time (?), producing wispy funnels. Looked like a tornado was imminent several times, but never saw evidence of ground-level circulation. First three images are south of Hooker, time ~2035Z. Position and look angle:

Wall cloud with thin funnel N of Hooker:

As the Hooker cell moved north and weakened, I met up with fellow Austinite Randy Denzer, and we decided to head south to pick off a series of three training supercells in the North TX Panhandle. Randy had to make a stop to do a streaming bit with TWC? It was the last I would see of him all day. He went on to catch 4 tubes in SW KS.

I caught the training supercells and positioned myself just East, watching the updraft regions translate past me. Had perfect position, and observed a few wall clouds and lowerings. The storms began to interact, although they remained discrete. Data feed was slow and completely down at some points during the next two hours. Occasionally, wall clouds would form, and produce funnels, some of which got very close to the ground. Inflow into the storms was insane, reminiscent of May 22, 2008 in Kansas. Not quite that strong, but certainly stout enough to support tornado development.

Not sure why the cells I was on failed to produce tornadoes. Further south, where CAPE was higher and inflow was warmer, tornadoes were numerous. Further north, where shear was higher and low-level flow was backed more, tornadoes occurred. I would guess the low-level winds just weren't sufficiently backed, and sfc. temp a little on the cool side (upper 60's-low 70's) may have resulted in lower CAPE values.

The scenario actually played out just like my forecast. In the field, though, I elected to alter my chase strategy and play between my two target areas. I would say "lesson learned", but not convinced I made a bad decision. The one thing I should have done a little better was stop and look at Mesoscale analysis params before dropping south. I am guessing that a close look at the models would have indicated unfavorable surface winds in my area. Not sure, though. I should really study this case a little more.

Finally called it a night and stopped in Watonga, OK, to prepare for the next two days. Here are a few shots/vid from Austin chasers who caught tornadoes this day:

Bill Tabor pic of awesome Goodnight, TX tornado

Randy Denzer video of Kansas tornadoes

Depart Austin: 6:20 a.m.
Arrive Watonga, OK: 9:00 p.m.
710 miles, 14:40h
Solo Chase

21 Apr, 2010: Oil tanker fire from 30,000 feet

2010-04-26T21:30:00.004-05:00

Left St. Petersburg, FL on Southwest Wednesday afternoon. We flew over the gulf to Houston, and along the way, I snapped these pics of the oil tanker fire with my cellphone. We flew almost directly over it, although at the time, I had no idea what had happened. I just new it was a large fire.

Arrived at Austin about 11 p.m. Prepared quickly for a multi-day chase and tried to get some sleep.

Chase Report: 6 Apr, 2010, Part 2 - Mulhall, OK wall cloud and funnel

2010-04-08T20:44:00.022-05:00

Depart Hiawatha, KS: 11:00 a.m.
Arrive Austin, TX: 4:30 a.m.
930 miles, Solo chase
3 day total - 2030 miles

I caught up with Austin chaser Randy Denzer and his partner Cynthia at Perry, OK about 9:00. Reed Timmer was there, too, with the newly designed Dominator. Looks much better than last year's version, from what I saw. I fueled up, and Randy and I hit I-35 south towards Austin.

As soon as we hit 35, we began seeing rapid lightning flashes to our SW. We pulled off and found a good viewing location right off the interstate, near Mulhall, OK.

Our vantage point was relatively elevated, so we had a clear view for a good ways to the SW. There was one cell just to our SW, with a nice tower and RFB putting out continuous lightning. Soon after that, more cells fired to the SSW of the initial cell- a line was forming and backbuilding.

The initial cell was almost stationary, and soon exhibited a nice wall cloud. The tower was almost directly overhead, and would glow from within with the frequent lightning flashes. To the North and East of the tower, the sky was clear and starry. It was truly an incredible sight. At one point, a stout barrel of a wall cloud/funnel cloud formed and began to build toward the ground. The sequence of pictures here begins about 9:30 CDT and spans about 20 minutes. And next time, must remember to turn wipers on intermittent setting...

Shortly thereafter, we began to feel cool outflow, and the cell translated to our NE. The entire line began slowly moving E, so we took off down I-35 to stay ahead of it. Here is the backside of the initial cell:

Stopped once North of OKC to try to observed an area of enhanced shear indicated on GR3. Soon, we were engulfed in blinding rain, and took off south again to try to get back ahead of the line. Emerged from the core south of OKC, and continued southward, stopping once at a scenic overlook to observe the approaching line. Randy almost had a utility truck tip over onto his van, also. That was bascially the end of the excitement for the evening. The initiall cell near Mulhall was one of the more beautiful nighttime cells I have ever encountered. The low-light video captures from the Sony can't even remotely capture what we saw that first 20 minutes after the cell initiated.

We arrived back in Austin about 4:30 a.m., tired and exhausted, but rejuvenated thanks to that last storm.

Chase Report: 6 Apr, 2010, Part 1 - East Kansas Severe Multicell

2010-04-08T20:36:00.021-05:00

Depart Hiawatha, KS: 11:00 a.m.
Arrive Austin, TX: 4:30 a.m.
930 miles, Solo chase
3 day total - 2030 miles

Woke up after a nice night's sleep (for a change) in Hiawatha, KS, and drove down to Topeka to eat lunch and plan my strategy for the day. Like on Monday, there were two potential plays. The first would be near the warm front, similar location to Monday, but a little further East and North. The second was eastern KS, down the dryline through Central OK. Parameters were a little better for tornadoes on the warm front, but I opted to drive south and chase in Eastern KS, largely because it was closer to home, and I would be able to chase southward as the day progressed.

The KS target was the first to light up. Unfortunately, mode was instantly multicellular in the form of a long SSW-NNE oriented line. I got to it quickly, as I was only a couple of coutnies away at initiation. Cells were racing NE at 40-50+ mph throught the line, but the line itself was not making much progress eastward. As such, I was able to drive up to it and catch cells as they translated NE.

They were mostly small hail and wind producers. At times, they were quite stunning, with huge dark rainsahafts, green-white hailshafts, and shelf clouds being the order of the day. There was an occasional shelf-cloud lowering which would catch my attention, and maybe one bonafide wall cloud in an updraft region, but I could not keep up with it for long enough to confirm. Various pics of shelf clouds, rain/hail curtains, and mammatus from the daytime storms:

Around 6:30, I gave up and decided to head home. Was on the Kansas turnpike at that time, so I still had many hours to drive. Little did I know that I was in for an after-dark surprise on the trip home...

Chase Report: 5 Apr, 2010 - Funnel cloud near Fortescue, MO

2010-04-07T22:01:00.026-05:00

Depart Perry, OK: 9:30 a.m.
Arrive Hiawatha, KS: 11:30 p.m.
630 miles
Solo chase, day 2

After a fitful three hours of train-horn riddled sleep, woke up and headed North from Perry, OK. There were two potential plays. The warm front/Triple point scenario target was SW IA. The dryline play was Central/S KS. I went up to Wichita and waited for a whle trying to decide which area to take. I did not like the prospects of a blue-sky bust for the DL target, so I went the safe route and headed towards KC and the warm front.

Took 44 up to KC, and then went north to St. Joseph's, MO. There were agitated Cu streets going in NE KS/NW MO going much of the afternoon. Saw and briefly filmed a nice horseshoe vortex up somewhere near St. Josephs. As the day waned on, the Cu could not break the cap. Things looked pretty bad, so a little after 7, I headed south to get in position for Tuesday.

About this time, fellow Austin chaser Bill Tabor called and told me about a radar fine line showing up on Topeka, KS moving N in NE KS. I had lost data earlier, so was unaware this had kicked off (thanks, Bill!). I turned west, and about 15 minutes later, started seeing towering Cu and Cb tops in NE KS. This view is looking West across the MO river from I-29 parallel with the KS/NE border, 7:35 CST:

Headed in that direction, and ended up crossing the MO river on 159 at Rulo, NE. By now, the fine line had exploded into an E-W oriented series of 3 supercells (initially 2, but the western cell split, I believe). I got on the leading cell near Falls City and followed it east as it went towards the MO river North of 159.

It was about 8:30, after dark, when lightning illuminated a solid wall cloud to the north of Hwy 159. Terrain made it difficult to see what was going on, but it appeared to have a lowering. I filmed briefly, then repositioned further E to get a better view.

At ~8:40, I found a nice spot to observe along Hwy 159, about 2 miles east of the Missouri River between Rulo, NE and Fortescue, MO.

I got a nice clear view of the wall cloud feature, and noted a definite funnel cloud at around 8:40. Here is a sequence of three shots, spanning ~ 90 seconds. They are video stills taken using the low-light mode of my Sony:

Tried to phone in report, but could not connect to the 800 number (was having numerous problems with phone at the time). I called Austin chaser Randy Denzer to possibly have him relay a report for me, but by then funnel cloud had dissipated. The wall cloud persisted and continued moving east. Chaser Bart Comstock lodged a SN report of the wall cloud at 8:41. Phone went completely dead about this time. The charger had bitten the dust, and it took me a while to locate my backup charger and get the phone going again. Computer also died and had to be rebooted. The usual techno-gadget nonsense that always occurs at the worst possible time.

I turned west towards the western two cells, which both had nice, supercellular appearance on radar (thanks to two KC chasers who were watching the Falls City cell with me for letting me look at their radar). By the time I got to Hiawatha, KS and turned west on 36 to intercept, the cells were weakening. Called it a night and stayed at the Hiawatha Inn (much nicer than the previous night's stay in the Budget Inn in Perry).

Chase Report: 4 Apr, 2010 - Getting there is half the fun?

2010-04-07T21:34:00.003-05:00

Depart Austin, TX: 4:30 p.m.
Arrive Perry, OK: 11:30 p.m.
470 miles

Left Austin Sun, Apr 4 at ~4:30 for a multi-day Central plains chase. A series of cells fired up after dark North of OKC. I actually caught the southernmost of these. Saw some nice anvil crawlers, but as I approached it, the cell died.

Arrived Perry, OK ~11:30, where I stayed at the “Budget Inn” for $35. Among the amenities provided by this fine establishment- glass shower doors hanging off the tracks, which caused water to spray everywhere when attempting to shower. I desperately needed sleep, and had to be up early the following morning to forecast and hit the road.

Apparently, I did not notice the train tracks located relatively close to the motel. About every half hour, a train would pass by, laying on its horn the whole time ( I guess car-train accidents are a big problem in Perry, OK at 4 a.m.). Needless to say, I did not sleep well. Fortunately, a lukewarm shower woke me up in the morning, and I headed North.

Huntsville, AL tornado- Jan 21, 2010

2010-01-22T09:28:00.019-06:00

At around 5:30 CST on January 21, an EF2 tornado touched down in the historic Five Points district of Huntsville, AL. I was watching the cell that produced the tornado on GRLevel 3 as it approached Huntsville from the SW. It appeared to weaken while over Decatur, but ramped up again quickly once it entered Madison county.

I was able to track the tornado and snap a few pics with two web-cams set up at the NSSTC, located in Huntsville by the UAH campus. One of the cameras sits on the roof of the building, and the other is positioned in a third floor office facing east. On this day, I was operating the cameras remotely from my home office in Austin, Texas. This makes these my first tornado catch of 2010, from over 900 miles away! Here is a map showing Camera location and approximate tornado track:

The lighter images are from the rooftop camera, which had focusing problems due to rainwater on the camera lens. The darker images are from the 3rd floor camera. The timestamps on the dark images are 2 hours and 10 minutes ahead. The view is initially to the S/SE, and then rotates to E and E/NE as the tornado touches down in the distance.

One of my former classmates from UAH, Dr. Tim Coleman, is now a meteorologist at ABC's Birmingham affiliate (33/40). He created a time-lapse sequence of the images and posted it on their weather blog here:

Time-Lapse sequence

Here are a few of my favorite shots:

Bulbous wall cloud forms. View is SE, time 5:17 CST:

Funnel forms and begins to descend. View is E. Time 5:27 CST:

5:28 CST. Funnel approaching ground. View is E:

Rooftop view of tornado approaching the ground at 5:29 CST. Note the low-topped nature of the storm. View is ENE:

5:29 CST. Tornado likely in contact with the ground. UAH Campus in Foreground:

5:30 CST. Tornado continues:

5:31 CST. Tornado continues:

This storm was interesting in a number of ways. It formed in a relatively low dewpoint environment (56, I think). The storm was tail-end Charlie at the time. The rooftop shot above shows the low-topped nature of the storm pretty well. The best directional shear was in Eastern Tennessee and Kentucky. The SPC Meso-analysis was showing mostly linear shear by 5 p.m. in North AL. The storm occurred outside the Tornado watch (which may have already been discontinued at that time), and the Severe box, which extended only into Southern Tennessee.

Here is the NWS Summary and Storm Survey of the event:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/hun/?n=january2010_severewx

And here is a bunch of pics of the tornado from various locations, including some of my shots:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/hun/?n=january2010_severewx-media2#nsstc

Chase Report: 29 Apr, 2009, Part 2: Things that go Bump in the Night

2009-05-19T00:51:00.009-05:00

Guthrie, TX
After an exciting day of missing tornadoes, we had basically given up and were heading home from Matador. I notice as the sun is going down that the ugly mess to our south has organized into an interesting looking Hybrid. We get south of the mess near Guthrie, and watch as it produces monster, bowl-shaped wall cloud with some funnels just to our NW. I call wall cloud in to NWS at 9:17 as it goes over city of Guthrie. Bill Tabor is up there, too (didn't know it at the time) and calls in wall cloud- TOR warn issued based on spotter funnel reports and radar rotation.

Two areas of rotation translate east through Guthrie just north of 82 and we move after them. I think the attached pics are from the second rotation (and possibly a third for the last couple). At just before 9:30, we spot a possible tornado coincident with rotational velocity signature on radar. Here is our GPS position:

First decent view of possible tube, 9:30 CDT:

A few minutes later, initial feature center frame, second large lowering close to ground at right of frame:

Zoom in, but low level scud blocking ground view...

Low-light mode finally really brings it out:

Fat funnel continues...

I am about 99% sure it is a tornado on the ground for at least some of this sequence of images. The sequence of pics covers 10 minutes, so it was persistent, and co-located with rotation on radar for the duration. Actually, it continued on, but visually, became difficult to discern. At the time of the last couple of pics, I thought it had disappeared, and I pulled us off of it to go get the next (third?) circulation coming from Guthrie.

This one had been catching our attention from time to time, and when we turned around (position shown in first Delormes image, 9:44 CDT), this is what we saw:

9:49 CDT, funnel under wall cloud near the ground:

It Never got its act together like the first, but may have tornadoed briefly. Funnel got a little bigger and seemed to be scraping the ground a couple of times. As with a lot of night-time footage, without a damage survey, it is really impossible to be certain of things in this case.

TonyC

Chase Report: 29 Apr 2009, Part 1: Daylight: Matador, TX Wall Clouds

2009-05-18T06:59:00.011-05:00

Total Stats
Depart Austin: 11:45 a.m., 29 Apr
Arrive Austin: 4:00 a.m., 30 Apr
~ 830 miles
Chase Partner: John S

Daylight: Matador, Cedar Hill cells
Left AUS about11:45 a.m. With initial fuzzy target of Guthrie, TX. By the time we got to Abilene, initial crap cluster with small hail was moving east towards DFW just north of 20, and not a lot else going on. Decided to move on towards original target area of Guthrie and dryline. At some point, cells fired in the vicinity of LBB and first TOR box went up in our area.

Arrived Paducah 5:40 with cells now east of Lubbock and north of Paducah looking good on radar, nothing south of these cells at the time. Costly 7 minute fuel stop, although at the time, cells only had severe. Today was a day where storms tornadoed early and that was largely it. Some days, you can get away with giving a storm a little bit of time, but this was not one of those days.

Arrive Matador 6:10. 70/94 Juntcion at 6:14, Two cells, one west at Cedar Hill, one just N of Matador. GPS track for this whole sequence and features observed:

First view of Cedar hill base revealed big low wall cloud with fingers, but no naders, around 6:30 (~15 minutes after last tornado report from this cell). David Drummond and Ben Holcomb captured absolutely stunning tornado video earlier in the storm's lifetime, availlable at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAW4V9UjnmU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94utHXUFRBI
http://www.benholcomb.com/20090429.html
Here is all we got from it, though...

Cell just north of Matador and in our vicinity with large, bowl-shaped lowering:

After a wee bit of floundering which allowed Matador cell to get slightly east of us, we elect to follow it ~6:35. East on CR 214 from 70, which was dirt/mud, but pretty stable. Cell continued to exhibit big bowl with occasional lowerings:

6:55, we are on paved FM 94 straddling backside core with no good way to continue pursuit. Turn back west and skirt core, with some small hail, heavy winds, some signs of rotation. Approaching core looking WSW:

Brief, broad ground circulation 7:05ish (wrapping rain curtains):

Couple of other high-based funnel-like features with apparent rotation back side of core- things were visually a mess though, with nothing obviously tornadic apparent. John S did a bang up job of drviing in less than optimal conditions from the time we hit the first dirt road during this leg of the chase. Core passes.

Back to 70 just North of Matador again. Next cell approaches with rotation and TOR warning. Brief funnel clouds, including one very close to ground:

Storm weakens and base lifts, but still exhibits some dramatic, high-based rotation as it moves by. Talk to Lubbock-based spotters who saw Cedar Hill tornadoes. Complex of cells has congealed into weird-shaped hybrid and no longer looks good. Turn south and head towards home 7:50... (To be continued)