STORM TRACK: March 31, 1986 (Volume 9 Issue 3)

On May 19, Steve Flood (Virginia), Charles Vlcek (Maryland) and Bill Winkler (Colorado) flew out to Oklahoma City and rented an Avis car for a week's chase. May 19 and 20 were mostly frustrating, with tornadic storms developing just beyond driving range or out- flowing too early (Said Sam Barricklow:"I had the opportunity to chase at least 15 dif- ferent occasions this Spring in north Texas. I saw a lot of storms with rotating, well developed wall clouds -only four definite tornadoes observed -- with most being undercut by outflow before they could produce."). On May 22, our trio left a "great sauna" at a Best Western near Ozona, Texas and chased a Cb to the south. That road eventually took them down gullies and canyons and into the Big Bend country (not as flat as anticipated) -with twisting roads and spectacular scenery! However, the storm remained over the moun- tains and -with growing concern over flash floods- they broke off and returned north. On May 24, they picked up a hailer west of Midland, with scud rising off the ground to cloud base -almost as if the cloud base were "propagating down." A radar prompted tornado warning was issued, and so much 1" hail fell west of Midland that the roads had to be plowed before traffic could move again! The hail continued to about three miles west of Rankin.

Saturday, May 25, they returned to Midland for the current outlook and exchanged notes with Al Moller (Texas) and Chuck Doswell (Colorado), who happened in. Mindful of a planned Sunday return-drive to Oklahoma City for early Monday flights home, they had to carefully pace the last chase day. Consequently, they bypassed a big storm over Carlsbad, New Mexico and went -instead- for a small building cell west of Lubbock -- in clear, sunny air. Other new towers to the southwest were tempting but were in the shadow of the Carlsbad anvil, so there would be less heating. They proceeded to the south flank of the nearby cell, in steady southerly winds -and saw northerly flow to their west, blowing dust southward on the horizon. A thin hail shaft -gold and white in the sun- descended to the north, from the rotating hard edged tower. On State Road 114 west of Levelland, they turned off on a dirt road and watched. As the storm passed over, they looked up into the dark bass and briefly saw "silvery bubbles" -marble sized raindrops, catching the low sun angle and drifting down through the updraft. To the west, these giant raindrops looked like "bright diamonds" against the dark field. The storm continued moving east, along with increasing hail and rain, so they decided to relocate (read that "chase") further east. The best connection to skirt the southern flank was a paved road south and then east (Charles Vlcek continues this account -as phoned to the Editor).

Charging south, they topped a slight rise in the road and then -too late- plowed headlong into a virtual lake of water (with, of course, Steve Flood driving!). Before he could stop, they had settled into three feet of storm runoff.

Looking around, they saw marble hail floating by in the muddy water -- sloshing up on the front hood. Someone muttered a memorable, "I can't believe this is happening." Then their troubles really began. Water was coming under the doors Stuck in the mud, they were reluctant to drive at all (would the engine even start?) and risk slipping into an unseen ditch or small gully on either side, tipping over, and turning mere frustration into real danger. The water was coming in more rapidly now, threatening cameras and film. Bill began bailing with his rain gage, while Chuck scooped with his binocular case -- all working frantically against the rising water. As the inside continued filling, camera gear was hastily moved from seat tops to window ledges. Finally, the level began to drop -both inside and out, and their storm continued moving slowly to the southeast -with a spectacular flank and dark towers.

Steve walked for help. A pickup truck stopped by for a tow, but the car's engine wouldn't start to help it get them out. Why? Frozen engine! Literally!! The carburetor was full of ice (hail), which had floated in! The pickup tried to pull them on its own -slipping on the pervasive mud, but their car slid closer to a nearby ditch, so this was stopped. Finally, the trucker took all three back to a motel in Levelland. He returned once more and tried -- but failed. Sunday morning a tow truck went out, got stuck, and had to get a farmer to pull him out! At this point, all options had been exhausted. They called Avis and arranged eventual pickup of their benighted vehicle, Steve returned for their luggage and camera gear, and the tow truck drove them back to Lubbock (final tab $130 for services). They rented another car and returned to Oklahoma City Sunday night, in time for their return flights home -- and another long year of waiting, until another chance to chase the great storms (Hopefully, next time -on their terms').

Keith Brewster had somewhat better luck in Colorado, catching two very nice tornadoes on the 27th, just west and east of Raymer, Colorado.

Looking north as tornado ropes out in a river basin, just east of Raymer, 10 minutes after formation

Tim Marshall picks up the pace on June 1 near where he had just made nodding acquaintance with one storm, that then outran him on a 50 MPH gallop to Tulsa.

June 2 (Sunday) was a better intercept, with two "awesome supercells" and wall clouds in southwest Oklahoma. "The first storm developed near Hobart and wrapped up near Mountain View. Another developed later north of Langton and wrapped up several times. Nine tornado warnings were issued," but the only sighting was reported by the NSSL chase team, which prompted one of the warnings. --- Jim Leonard and Chuck Robertson were also out this day near Hobart. While video taping the drive east through moderate rain -- on State Road 9 just west of Gotebo, Jim's radio suddenly interrupted. It was a tornado warning -sighting and radar confirmation- just north of Gotebo! Anxiety and frustration! Seemingly out of nowhere, slower traffic begins looming in front in response to the now heavy rain, as Jim and Chuck strain to sea through soaked windows, searching the horizon for rotation. Long minutes later, they clear the heaviest rain and there (!), to the southeast- a lowered cloud base and a long, dark column, angling down to the ground! The videotape mirrors their excitement, as early doubt is overcome by conviction:

Chuck: Hey! Hey! Hey! We got it! We got a tornado back here.

Jim: Yeh!

Chuck: Tornado!

Jim: Oh, man ...

Chuck: Get it! Get it! [on videotape] You see it?

Jim: Yeh!

Chuck: Let's get out of this rain --or is that smoke? What is it?

Jim: I think it's a debris cloud.

Chuck: I do too, Jim.

(Radio interrupts again with a tornado warning for this formation)

Chuck: That's it! That's it!!

The NSSL (National Severe Storms Lab) chase team was also watching this column, which occurred under an updraft core end coincided with a simultaneous report of overhead rota- tion from the Lab's Doppler radar in Norman. Southwest flank, rotating updraft, lowered cloud base -ideal! Yes? Well ... makes a nice backdrop for an oil derrick fire. Aaah, yes. Everyone was tricked by the "Gotebo fooler." NSSL reported a confirmed tornado, a local warning was issued, and perhaps hundreds of people fled to storm cellars, all for a little bit of smoke ...and a lot of red faces in Norman. It was a unique situation, an unprecedented one-in-a-million coincidence (Trivia buffs should note that this scene was inserted near the end of a NOVA film, "Tornado," looking out from the back seat of e chase vehicle -as if at the end of a successful chase. However, the narrator says noth- ing to correct this mistaken impression). --- Chuck and Jim continued on to neer Mountain View, where Jim inadvertently drove into three inch hail, broke the windshield and did $2,700 damage to his car. The roof, hood and trunk had to be replaced ("I wanted to repaint it anyway," said big Jim). The 15 minute National Geographic film on chasing shows a brief film clip from this rather tense moment -- from Jim's video tape.

(Editor note: This film will be shown again May 18, Sunday evening on "Geographic Explorer" out of WTBS/Atlanta Cable TV; and again the following Saturday morning. Check local listings for exact time. I understand there is also a supplement insert in the May National Geographic Magazine on the show.)

Jim Leonard returned home to Miami, Florida with his battered car and a few pictures of funnels and wall clouds -- not a very memorable trip. Then, a week later, about midnight of June 12, he noticed frequent lightning east of his apartment from a heavy thunderstorm just off-shore. Figuring, "What the heck, I'll get a few lightning shots," he opened the sliding glass balcony door and stepped out on the porch. Looking through the viewfinder he centered the T-storm and - "What? What is that?" A fingershaped cloud quickly descended from the rainfree base and widened. "Hey, no way am I imagining that!" After traveling thousands of miles across Texas and Oklahoma, he came home to photograph possibly the largest tornadic waterspout ever recorded on film, with a spray- debris cone on the ocean and at least one -maybe two- secondary rope spouts immediately next to it, under a hard/rainfree base and with high level strobe lightning continuously illuminating the cloud mass.

All from his own apartment (some chase -- from couch to patio to couch!). Jim dutifully called the local NWS office to report it, but they made no public response. Days later, however, when his contact there saw these slides, it was a different story. "Oh, wow! If I had known it looked like that, I would have put out a warning!" (Uh, huh. Tell me about it. -Ed.)

Keith Brewster winds up this issue with commentary on the Colorado season. "It was marked with a few strong tornadoes in the northeastern part -- F2 tornadoes on June 3 and July 19 and an Fl tornado on July 26. Gene Moore has excellent video on the June 3 tornado, which was more like a classic Oklahoma vortex than the typical Colorado twister.

I was fortunate enough to be in position on the southeast side of the tube, which began as a wrapped-up rain curtain, then shot down a needle funnel -- which then grew to a cigar shape. The July 19 tornado did damage in a new subdivision south of Denver. However, no chasers were on hand for that one,which dropped out of a cell that is best described as a "soaker."

July 26 saw a couple of funnels drop out of a rapidly growing cell, within what is known as the "Denver cyclone," a mesoscale cyclonic circulation that develops in southeasterly 850 mb flow due to terrain forcing. The April 1984 Monthly Weather Review (Ed Szoke, et al) has an excellent description of this feature. Eventually, the circulation of one of these funnels touched ground and flipped a truck over on I-25, as well as damaging trees during its 20 minute life. --- One other notable event was the storm that dumped over six inches of rain on Cheyenne, August 1. Gene Moore reports that the storm had a base that rotated continuously for over two hours, spinning up several funnels -a few of which be- came tornadoes and actually kicked up debris from the saturated ground.

One thought I've had, after experiencing a season of storms here in Colorado, is that the tornadoes may be weaker (an F3 is truly rare), but the higher bases and generally drier air make photography easier. I've been able to use Kodachrome 64, even with my f4.5 telephoto lens. And, even though I'm one who hasn't seen the 'Moby Dick' of tornadoes, the F0's are still exciting and can be very photogenic. -- This concludes Chase '85.

Just received a letter from Ken Nakamura in Reedly, California, which he wanted included in this issue: "Since 1980, whenever I had the time, I have chased storms. Although California is not noted for tornadoes or hail, the weather of the past few years has seen an unusual number of severe local storms -especially in the L.A. vicinity and in my area. I saw one tornado each in 1980, 1982 and 1983 and funnel clouds in 1982 and 1983. However one of the better storms occurred at my hometown on 2/15/86.

Shortly after noon, it was just an ordinary rainstorm. I didn't think much about it and took a nap. But at 1220, I was awakened by a rumble of thunder, and decided to chase. On reaching the west end of town, I noticed a lowered, rotating cloud-base about 15 miles to the SW with a protruding funnel cloud. I snapped two photos but both turned out rather poorly. The wall cloud was pendant from the right rear section of the Cb, which -in itself- looked like an ordinary rainstorm. I then hurried back home by about 1230 and heavy rain began immediately. Soon, small hail began to fall with the rain, end both slowly intensified. There was a 5 minute period without hail, then pea sized hail began. At 1246, there was a 20 second downpour of pea to dime size hailstones, which melted immediately. After that, the precip began to ease off with hail ending a few minutes later and the rein ending just after 1300. The wind was light W at the beginning of the storm but shifted to the N as hail began to fall, then to the NE at up to 25 MPH, then NW to 20 MPH and then none at all. At 1255, I looked to the SE and 1-2 miles away was a dark, rainfree base extending southwestward and exhibiting tremendous upward motion. Because of the nearby trees, I saw only a portion of the base but did see part of a tornado that caused considerable damage 1-2 miles SE of my home. The part which I saw was ragged and irregular but was definitely part of the tornado. Many hailstones were flat and wafer shaped. I have heard of other incidents of flat hail occurring in tornadic storms, and I'd like to know what causes that relationship. I'd also like to know if the wind shifts at my home were part of the inflow into the tornadic circulation."

(Editor: I have no immediate explanation for the flat/wafer shaped hail but -like you- have heard this before. Perhaps ST's readers would care to respond. Regarding the wind shifts, it is probably more correct to say that the wind was either inflowing into the meso-low or was part of the meso-cold front behind the tornadic base. My guess is that the westerly wind, with a pre-tornadic cell passing within two miles, was probably flowing into the updraft of the meso-cyclone. When the wind shifted northerly (with beginning hail), it was likely part of the spiralling downdraft -wrapping around and back into the updraft circulation of the meso-cyclone, entering along the southeastern flank. Exact windshift times are not given, but my guess is that the tornado appeared within 10-15 minutes after the northerly shift. 'When it shifted to the northeast, it was still the spiralling downdraft (from 15-20,000'), but less likely now to being drawn back into the meso-cyclone. The shift back to the northwest is somewhat puzzling, when followed by calm, but was probably the normal backside push of a meso-scale cold front. However, it is very unlikely that any of these winds were flowing directly into the tornado itself, unless it was within 1/2 mile and on the ground at the times of these winds.)

"In addition to that storm, on 3/8/86, I also chased a well developed multi-cellular hail- storm several miles to the W, SW and S of my hometown. At one location, about 7 miles west of my home in the small town of Parlier, I encountered 1 1/4" hail. It piled 3" deep and reduced the visibility to only 30 ft. At the same location, I also noticed two flared out, lowered, non-rotating bell shaped protuberances, that started out small but expanded rapidly. I'd like to know if they were wall or pedestal clouds, as they were to the W of the precip area."

(Editor: They were likely to have been shelf clouds. Meteorological definitions of such formations are sometimes ambiguous, but my understanding of a "pedestal cloud" is that it is a small step shaped lowering on the leading edge of a strong cell base, looking somewhat like the "cow catcher" in front of an old steam locomotive. A "shelf cloud," on the other hand, usually forms along the leading edge of a rain shield, as pervasive outflow curls up into a long, low scarf along the storm's leading edge, where cloud base and precip meet. On a few occasions, I have seen it on the western flank. Your local geography may conduce more towards westerly shelf clouds (outflowing heavier/ rain-cooled air moving downhill more readily). Unlike the pedestal cloud, the shelf cloud can -at times- appear almost detached from the storm's base. While a pedestal cloud usually remains separate from both a wall and shelf cloud, an old wall cloud can outflow and become a shelf cloud, i.e. the wall cloud lowering appears to expand and broaden into a shelf cloud.)

"I also chased a 'supercell' hailstorm to the west of Fresno, on the afternoon of 3/10/86 and took three photographs of a wall cloud. It had very heavy rain and hail just to the W-NE of it and was attached to a turbulent, slightly lowered rain-free base. A strange yellow-green coloring was noted in the upper half of the wall cloud -and an ominous purple coloring in the rain-free base. I drove underneath and there was no wind at all, although the very turbulent base came as close as 200' above the ground. I also encount- ered very heavy hail to 3/4" diameter, that piled up to 3" on the ground -along with some snow, just north of the wall cloud, I'd like to know what caused the unusual coloring of the wall cloud."

(Editor: Perhaps some of our readers would care to comment.)