Chase log April 14, 2011

Days leading up to this first outbreak of severe weather to hit the eastern Oklahoma, plans were already being made to chase.  Soundings from the morning of April 14th looked impressive and the storm prediction center had raised the possibility of severe storms from a slight to moderate risk.  We hit the road around 1:30 and planned our target area towards Ponco City, Oklahoma.

  By 3:30, the action was beginning to take shape as we continued to sit for a bit west of Pawhuska to gather weather information. The tornado watch boxes reached from southeastern kansas all the way down to the red river in Oklahoma.  We were in a prime spot for the initial firing of the storms as the warm gulf air racing northward continued to clash with the dryline now passing across the I-35 cooridor.

At 3:55, the first northern cell went severe with reports of golf ball size hail across Pawnee county and was beginning to enter osage county.  Noting the time, we decided to move operations 15 miles west to state road N3610 where we could get a better look at the cell.

At 4:10, we backed off east a bit to avoid the hail shaft that was dropping golf ball size hail.  Watching it pass, we continued to concentrate on the meso that started to tighten up.  The wall cloud came into view and scud was being swept into the updraft.


 A small funnel began to form, so we began to move west to get a better view as it started for the ground.

  At 4:17pm, the tornado took on a tube structure which was visable for only a few minutes.  I grew disappointed seeing a rain curtain begin to wrap around the tornado obscuring it from view. 

But the show wasn't over yet as new cells continued to generate tornado warnings south along the dryline.  The choice was either continue on with this storm heading northward, or fall back and get into position with the next tornado warned cell moving up through southern Osage county.  With limited roads leading north, the decision to head south was made.

Surprisingly as I traveled across 60 back towards Bartlesville, the advancement of the storms seemed to decrease in speed.  I had 30 miles to make up in order to position myself south of Bartlesville outside Romona.  This cell was a heavy hitter producing baseball size hail and very heavy rain.  I coud only pray I could get into position in time.

Surprisingly, I made it just after 5pm, almost one hour after the first tornado was seen.  This new cell was enormous and I always wondered what a cell like that would look like noting the small size of Bartlesville towards the northwest.  I did a funny comic the night before and was beginning to regret it seeing this storm head in the citys direction.

Surprisingly, a small tornado formed, but the rain made it almost impossible to see.  I got a report from my friend Chuck Dyer working for the Washington County EOC who was just 5 miles south of my position that we saw the tornado come together.  Romona actived their sirens, and I waited to see what this beast would do.  The sad fact is, it never tighten up enought o keep the tornado on the ground long enough.  .25 size hail fell all around me, but no tornado. 

Watching the GRLevel 3 radar, chasers and spotters, many who I've had the chance to talk to on facebook were now in my hometown.  It was quite funny to see them.

In the end, I drove over 143 miles in 5 hours.  I may not be able to say I saw two tornadoes, but the Burbank tornado was the prize I had been waiting for since last season.  I'm glad this year is only beginning.

April 14 setup

Short Chase into Kansas 4/8/2011

Todays chase day was cut short due to working later than normal.  I spent most of my free time following the latest updates by the SPC ann keeping track of chasers who were running northward towards Iowa for a solid day of action.  Leaving work around 5:30, I arrived home to pick up my navigator and Diane, I and the kids headed northward into Kansas to head off some cells that were tornado warning just south of the border.  We got into position for the first of two cells to enter near Sedan, Kansas and everything seemed to be looking good.  We had strong inflow to the storm as they entered our area and saw a short lived shelf cloud to our southwest.  Lightning was intense, but the storms were not good to us.  We were in perfect position to intercept, but the biggest and best cell began to die just as it was turning dark.  We took a few shots and decided to head home. That was, until later that night... 

After returning home, I continued to keep an eye on the cells that never advanced eastward as Tulsa's NWS expected.  Uploading and processing what video and pics we had, I continued to monitor my GRLevel3 radar and noticed something off around 11pm.  A tail end storm was beginning to grow and feed off the moisture left behind from the intial storms and did a classic right turn away from the pack of storms. 

By 11:15, a tornado warning had been issued for this storm, but no touchdown was offically reported.  Repacking the chase vehicle, I decided to go it alone this time.  I set up base just 3 miles to the east of town (Bartlesville) where it gave me the best vantage point to view the storm as it approached Washington county.  The lightning was incredible, but I have to say, seeing the cloud to cloud light up the mammatus clouds over me, was a real treat. 

I captured the lightning, but soon got word that the most intense part of the storm was going to be heading on a more southernly track. 

I began streaming on Imap as I headed south of town placing myself 15 miles south.  I landed directly in the path of some of the most intense rain yet.  Watching the radar, I began to see midlevel rotation on the southern edge of the storm and realized I was out of position.  Judging the hail core that was beginning to grow in size to my west, I decided to pull back onto 75 south and headed for state highway 20 which was 13 miles to my south.  On the way, the rain began to cease, and I was surprised that the hail shaft that I was going to be drivingf around, was quickly overtaking me.  First was the sound of tink, tinks of dime size hail.  Then the occasional bonk, bonk of what I began to see was golf ball hail was coming down all around me.  I decided to get off at the next road and find cover under a tree or something.  

By the time I got to a good spot, the hail began to cease and checking the radar, the rotation was gone and so was any opportunity of seeing any funnel or tornado.  Seeing there was nothing else on radar, I turned around and headed back home enjoying the intense lightning show along the way.