Initial Target: Elk City, OK
Actual Target: Vernon, TX
Starting Point (SP): Yukon, OK 1200 9 May
Ending Point (ENDEX): Midwest City, OK 2250 9 May
Storm Intercepts: Near Vernon, TX; Electra, TX; Waurika, OK; Loco, OK
Tornadoes: 0
Hail: Pea size
Wind: Unknown
Miles: 456
Summary: Second chase of the year. Targeted dryline in W OK. Re-evaluated upon reaching target area and went south to target NW Texas near a secondary surface low. Encountered severe warned cells, unable to follow cell that became tornado warned near Burkburnett. Watched tail end Charlie try to produce before moving north into Oklahoma via one of the few river crossings in order to ahead of that cell. Chased down cell near Waurika, decided to get ahead of it near Loco before calling it a chase as cells merged into MCS.
Crew:
No chase partner
Equipment:
Vehicle: 2009 Nissan Titan SE 4x4
Cameras: Sony Handicam DCR-DVD610
Other Electronics:Dell Latitude D610 running Ubuntu, Apple iPad Mini, Samsung Galaxy Note 4.
Map:
Details:
A very active pattern had taken hold over the southern plains during the first full week of May. Early in the week, models started to indicate potential for every day from Wednesday through Sunday. On Wednesday, I was at work when tornadoes hit the OKC Metro, which were followed by floods as several inches of rain fell that evening in addition to the rain that had fallen that previous morning. Thursday was quiet for the Metro, and Friday had a few storms as well. By Wednesday, I was planning to go out, and was initially targeting Watonga. I held firm to that target until Friday night after work, when I decided on Elk City. As soon as I woke up, I left for Elk City. Had I looked things over before I left, I probably would have gone south towards Texas immediately, but I still thought Elk City would be a viable target.
I met up with Chris Campbell, who had made the trek from Wisconsin, and we convoyed to Elk City, where we looked things over while we decided where we would go. The night before, I'd finally been able to get the SHARPpy program to work with Python on my Ubuntu laptop, which simplified my looking at the models. Thanks to Chris, I was able to use his power inverter since my laptop had "woken" from it's hibernation state during the drive and the battery had died by the time we stopped. I decided at that point to change my target to Vernon, TX. Chris wasn't prepared to head that far south, so we parted ways. I saw a couple other chasers at the truck stop we were at as well, but I'm not sure where they went from there.
I went south on OK-6, which turned out to be a very nice road with a 65mph speed limit on all but the portions in the small towns. I refuelled in Altus before continuing south, this time on US-283. Upon leaving Altus, I saw a tower go up quickly to the south. It was close enough that I knew I wasn't going to be late to the party like I was on 24 April.
Crossing the Red River, it was apparent (see above picture) that the cell was gaining strength, albeit in an elongated state. As I approached Vernon, TX, the cell went severe warned. I turned onto US-287 and crossed the northern end of the storm. I came out on the other side west of Electra, TX, I stopped to observe the cell, as radar indicated that it was trying to hook as it split from the portion of the cell behind it.
My view from Business 287 on the west side of Electra
It didn't seem to be organizing much past that, and, with the tail end cell (aka Tail End Charlie) trying to hook as well, I decided to move on. I went further east, and then south on TX-25. Found a good vantage point, and watched tail end Charlie try again and again to get organized. Briefly saw a wall cloud, but it fell apart within minutes.
Here it's trying to pull itself together
This is the best I was able to see out of it.
By this point, the first cell had gone tornado warned near Burkburnett. Because of the road network (or lack thereof) north of US-287, I didn't attempt to make a potentially risky play on that storm. I wouldn't have been able to reach I-44 in time to cross the Red River ahead of the storm. So I continued to watch the cell I was on. Once it crossed US-287, I darted east to Wichita Falls, where I took I-44 across the river to wait for the storm. The storm started falling apart, and a cell northwest of Waurika, OK was quickly gaining strength, so I went east on US-70.
After arriving in Waurika, I decided to try to get ahead and find another place to get north in front of it, as it was over US-81 at that time. By the time I was able to get north to Loco, it was getting dark, and the storm was weakening. I called it a chase, made my way north to Velma where I picked up OK-7, and went east to I-35 to make my way back to the Metro. I ended my trip by stopping at Old Chicago in Midwest City for food and drink.
After Action Review:
Once again, model changes the morning of rendered my initial target a no go. However, since I took the time to look things over after reaching my target, I was able to go south and cross into Texas just as storms were beginning to fire. Once there, I picked the wrong storm. I should have made my way east to I-44 to get in front of the first cell, but I stayed back, thinking tail end charlie would wrap itself up and produce. While the first storm pulled the boundary layer in, the second storm did not.
Had I looked at everything before I left home, I would have gone straight to Texas, and maybe had a shot at the better cells further south. That said, I still put myself in a decent position, but picked the wrong storm. With the lack of road options north of US-287, I had no chance at the first cell once it pulled itself together.
Sustains and Improves:
1. Reviewing data at the target area allowed a change of plans and prevented what would have been a blue sky bust.
2. The SHARPpy program is an invaluable program when trying to quickly look at models.
3. After change of plans, I ended up right where storms were firing.
4. When you see a storm pull in a boundary layer, stay on it because it's probably going to produce.
5. Data (and roads) are very spotty in the US-70 corridor in southern Oklahoma, and there are also very few river crossings between Texas and Oklahoma to the west of I-35.
6. I need to improve my reading of soundings and sounding models. I get the gist of it, but there's still a good deal that I don't understand.
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