STORM TRACK: July 31, 1984 (Volume 7 Issue 5)

(Chase team - Barbara White and Jim Leonard)

This day started in Wichita Falls, Texas. At 10:30 AM CDT, we went to the local National Weather Service office and looked at the surface map and upper air progs. Since the best upper level diffluence was over northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas, it was decided to head in that direction. From Wichita Falls, we drove west on US 287 to Vernon. At 12:15 PM, towering cumulus and an anvil were sighted to the north. Indeed, all the clouds in that quadrant looked increasingly convective. However, Jim noted that these storms were too far ahead of the boundary to be the 'choice' ones we were seeking. He said he'd been fooled by similar activity in previous years, so we continued north toward Kansas. At 12:45, we turned north on US 183 and headed toward Woodward. The cumulus to our south and west had not yet broken through the inversion.

By 3:30 PM CDT, a tornado watch was issued for northwestern Oklahoma and south-central Kansas. The watch extended from a line north of Elk City and west of Guthrie, Oklahoma. Also, radar indicated a line of heavy thunderstorms over central Kansas. By 3:27 PM, we noticed hard towers going up to the northwest, apparently on a dry-line boundary. After reaching Woodward, we turned east on State Road 15. At this time, the towers to the west and northwest were having a wind shear problem, because upper winds were too strong (too much of a good thing) and wouldn't let the towers build vertically. The convective cumulus cores were literally being blown apart. Thoroughly disgusted with this situation, we noticed a line of mid-level moisture to the northeast. That moist

band appeared to be feeding into a storm near the Kansas border, so we drove north on US 281 to investigate. Our closer approach revealed several inflow bands leading into the storm, which was becoming visible to the northwest. There was a lot of cloud to cloud lightning, with hard towers to the northwest.

By 5:45 PM, we could see the rainfree base to the northwest in Barber County, Kansas. Reaching Hardtner, we turned west on State Road 2 and headed toward the rainfree base on the southwest flank of this storm. We made a photographic stop about five miles west of Hardtner, where we watched the development of a mesocyclone for about 15 minutes.

We then continued toward the storm on State Road 2 -- and, suddenly, the pavement turned to dirt! There was no choice but to go back east to US 281 and then north to US 160, to get ahead of the storm. While going north on US 281, a nice wall cloud formed -- then hills were between us and the mesocyclone, making it difficult to film the wall. However, we now knew it was just a matter of time before we'd see the big one.

At 6:40 PM, we reached Medicine Lodge and turned west on US 160, encountering some heavy rain. We had planned to stay on US 160, but I noticed a road which led south to the rain-free base. Although an unmarked road, not listed on the map, we quickly chose to follow it and within minutes a tornado began forming to the west! We stopped to film as it came all the way down (along with some small hail on us). As the rain on us increased heavily, we moved closer toward the rain-free base. The tornado lifted within a half minute after touching down but remained halfway down for several more minutes, as another funnel developed on the north side of the wall cloud. The two funnels circulated around one another for about thirty seconds. We stopped again under the southeast, edge of the mesocyclone, which was rainfree at that time and continued filming the tornado, which was now to our northwest. While filming, Jim mentioned hearing a lot of wind noise in the field immediately northwest of us. Then, he saw rotation overhead! We both looked up and, to our surprise saw a tornado forming almost overhead but slightly to the northwest. We continued filming (8mm and videotape), as it organized rapidly. Jim saw some debris fly up briefly in the field to the northwest. The funnel was tilted to the south, and I was concerned for a minute that the counter-clockwise circulation would tilt it in our direction, since we were a little southeast of it. However, it remained aloft as it passed by and moved off slowly to the northeast. Then, while the tornado was about three miles north, it became well organized and came all the way down to the ground. It was a very smooth tube-type vortex and was on the ground for about thirty seconds. Thereafter, it remained three-fourths of the way down for about three minutes. After it lifted, the entire thunderstorm began visibly to weaken.

On returning north to US 160, we back-tracked toward Medicine Lodge. Noticing some hard towers to the southeast, we decided to check these out. While on US 160, we filmed a couple of small funnels hanging from a very weak looking flanking line, extending from a

thunderstorm several miles further east, but with little or no significant towers immediately overhead. By the time we reached State Road 179, it was too dark to continue, so we turned back to Oklahoma City.

Overall, it was a very good chase, and the tornado sound was very interesting. It seemed most like the sound of rushing water, such as a distant waterfall. I hope in some future year to get the chance to hear a mile wide tornado."

Editor's note: Fittingly this tornado, the only good one seen after two frustrating weeks of chasing, occurred on Barbara's last chase day, before she had to return home. Something like the storm chasers equivalent of the "US Cavalry arriving in the nick of time."