STORM TRACK: July 31, 1983 (Volume 6 Issue 5)
On Sunday, May 15, seventeen tornado chasers showed up at a local Norman apartment for the Annual STORM (Storm Trackers of Oklahoma Ribaldry and Mendacity) barbecue, to eat, drink, swap stories and show storm pictures. As mentioned in the last ST, Barbara White and Jim Leonard were present, showing video tapes of the May 13 Estelline supercell and of the May 17 Medicine Lodge tornadoes. Jim apologized at the shaky initial footage for the May 17 storm, taken while standing next to the car, since he was partially rain soaked from an earlier encounter, and the strong inflow wind was chilling him considerably. However, it added a nice human touch to an otherwise very professional showing and excellent photography.
Among several interesting experiences that were told:
- An account of a St. Elmo's fire electrical/corona discharge in advance of the Blackwell, Oklahoma tornado. It happened ahead of the wall cloud but underneath the anvil, appearing as a blue-green discharge "rippling" back and forth across the ground like a "carpet of fire."
- A Gene Moore account of a rarely heard pulsing, thunder sound, starting as a low "thump" and increasing steadily but rapidly to a constant thunder-like roar. Heard for 7-8 minutes northeast of the May 12, 1983 Enid storm, his perception was that the sound proceeded as if from a giant megaphone, pointing at him, and that if he had moved 10 miles in any direction he would have left it. He and Eric Rasmussen were speculating on possible causes, ranging from a pulsing type of lightning to some kind of wind-shear induced shock waves. The lightning proposition sounded similar to a remarkable night-time electrical display which the Editor witnessed from Bismarck in southeastern North Dakota on July 5, 1962. From the center of a large, back-sheared Cb and midway between anvil and cloud base was a rapidly pulsing, very bright electrical discharge, flashing about four times each second and constantly for several minutes. It appeared to come from the same location in the cloud, diffused by the cloud mass through which it passed, and lit up the whole sky. I've not seen the like before or since. The next day there was a -5 instability in southeastern North Dakota, along with several tornadoes (one reportedly lasting an hour). Gene concluded: "There are things going on out there that we still don't understand." You can say that again.'
- An account of the large and very powerful "Seymour II" tornado of April 2, 1980 (a year after the Wichita Falls tornado), wherein a subsequent damage survey showed that even ditches and low areas offer no safety against some storms. Six to nine foot gullies were found denuded of mesquite trees, with only the stubs of cactus plants remaining, an almost complete scouring of all living matter. Pebbles were found imbedded in the remaining and adjacent tree trunks, as if fired from a pistol. Of course, not, all twisters are this powerful, so that ditches and gullies are still the safest place to be, when in the open. However, there is evidence that on some occasions you should not expect to emerge from such locations in the same condition that you went in.
- On hail. Gene recounted seeing a car roof beaten almost down to the seat tops. Chuck Robertson reported that the Ringer, Oklahoma tornado cell dropped three different kinds of hail: golfball, baseball and "snowball." The latter had a thick cover of soft ice, surrounded by a small ice core. When the larger hail fell, it left little ice mounds or piles at each impact. Gene said that those who have experienced it agree that theres not much warning when big hail starts to fall: "You get a ping, a bang, and then a crash!!"
