2/10/09 REPORTS: OK/AR/TX/MO/KS [Archive]

Mike Hollingshead

02-10-2009, 10:46 PM

Wasn't going to chase this one but talked myself into a sc KS target. That didn't work out so well as the sw-ne line fired before the juice got up there. Got to Arkansas City KS around 2 and dropped south towards the better juice and possibly the OKC supercell.

I head it off west of Hominy ne of Pawnee. Figures, I catch it right as it is about to be merged from behind by the second supercell. This lead to a problem of having to get nw to look sw down the notch, and get back out of there before the second one/new hook crosses. That and the lead cell structure by Pawnee was like a small cane deal, all wrapped up. That lead one had a small pointed beaver tail and decent horseshoe. I couldn't see a thing in the horseshoe, but it did have a nice velocity couplet right then.

As the gust front starts to blast overhead I blast back southeast to head off the one it was being merged with from behind. You got the impression that way wrapped up couplet would soon be ingested with any sort of structure the second supercell had. Not long after getting back se that second cell got a TVS icon on GR3. I needed to go back west to look down the notch again. I got into the hills and trees again and wound up a hair too far. Flipped around after watching a fairly ugly storm moving at me. I was wondering where the structure was for that TVS and then found it coming out of the rain JUST south of me. Get passed that, slam on the brakes and pull over. There was a bit of a bowl passing just west of me there with a curling gust front ahead of it. Then the wind blown hail hit, up to quarters. I tried to shoot this with my window down till one of those nailed my right leg. Up went the windows, turn the car to the side some more then tried again. Then one nails the bone to the pinky in my left hand. The wind right then was somewhere over 60mph so any larger ones hitting felt, well, not good. The now nice lone hook raced off to the ne and that was that.

Rocky Rascovich

02-10-2009, 10:48 PM

Dave Ewoldt and myself observed the tornado that went through the west and northwest side of Edmond from on I-35 as we were traveling north close to the Edmond Rd. exit. The contrast was not that great and it was partially rain wrapped but you could still make it out fairly good for a brief period. Once we knew it would have been fruitless to keep up with it, we started back south to intercept another cell in this "string of pearls".

The next storm we came up on grazed the west side of Yukon and had a very impressive wall cloud that did produce a brief tornado. After reviewing my video, I am fairly confident this made brief contact with the ground. Also, shortly thereafter, the forward flank of this meso had some localized moderate rotation, at one time developing a bowl shaped lowering but I felt tornadogenesis was not imminent with that feature.

We ended the day taking some photo's west of Okarche of some amazing mammatus backlit by the setting sun and a pair of rainbows. An absolutely astounding day to kick off the chase season but at the same time, my heart sank for the victims of the tornadoes in OKC, Edmond and Lone Grove.. my prayers are with them.

Jeff Snyder

02-10-2009, 11:07 PM

Dan Dawson, Robin Tanamachi, Jana Houser, and I punted around with the OKC area storms. Though my initial target was N TX (Gainesville to Denton area, chasing eastward from there), we noticed a few storms developing SW of OKC by the time we got out of Norman. Being only 1:30 pm, we opted to head west towards I44 to get a look-see at it. The 1st storm rapidly organized into a supercell as it headed through the SW side of the OKC area, so we jumped N from I44 to Hwy 74 (Lake Hefner Pkwy). By the time we neared Lake Hefner, we could see a rather large wallcloud to our immediate west. As we exited Hwy 74 onto eastbound Kilpatrick Turnpike (a relatively elevated exchange), we were hit by very strong winds, and we noted some debris at relatively high altitudes to our immediate north (just north of Hwy 74 - Kilpatrick exchange). Rain curtains were streaming northward very rapidly to our immediate east, and we headed E to I35 to get northward for better positioning. Per radio reports, KOCO was going bonkers over a developing tornado on the northwest side of Edmond (only 5-7 miles from my house!), though we had issues getting a visual thanks to hills and trees. We ended up pullling off at the gas station at the I35 - Seward Rd exit, and we saw the tornado to our SW. We watched the tornado until it dissipated (maybe 3-5 minutes; we missed the first few mins of it driving on I35 between Waterloo and Seward). First tornado of 2009, in early-mid February, and less than 10 miles from my house.

The storm visually ramped down after the tornado dissipated, so we made the decision to drop back S on I35 towards I44 to catch the next supercell coming up. We watched the 2nd supercell to our west from a location near I35 and NE 122nd, and, though we saw a wall-cloud with it, the visual and radar appearance wasn't too impressive, and we knew that there was yet a 3rd supercell with a reported tornado back SW of this one (near Yukon). So, we abonded this 2nd supercell to head back W on I40 towards Yukon. Back up I44 and Lake Hefner Pkwy (Hwy 74) for a 2nd time in an hour... This 3rd supercell looked "cold" and rather "outflowy". Much of the low-level cloud motion was away from the storm, so we weren't too confident in the tornado potential. The storms were beginning to merge into a quasilinear MCS by this time, so I don't remember all of the details of the various cores... I think we let this 3rd one slip by to our north as we awaited the 4th one coming up from our SW. We knew we were in trouble when, still ahead of this 3rd storm, we felt cold, northerly surface winds... Regardless, we repositioned to the Kilpatrick - Rockwell area (with piles of hail nearby), and watched this storm come up from the S. Again, it looked outflow-dominant, though an interesting hook / appendage (presumably along the RFD) provided something to look at for a while. We stuck with the storm until I35 and Waterloo when we essentially let it run over us. The area immediately ahead of the storms was looking more stable and storm mode was more MCSish, so we opted to call it a day and head back to OUN.

Overall, this was a pretty good chase... Never did it cross my mind that I'd be chasing in the western and northern OKC area today, given my initial target of N TX. However, I'm glad we bit on the "1st storm" strategy, since it, and subsequent storms, provided us with a parade of supercells. And hey, a tornado on the 1st chase day of the year? No complaints for me!

I'm not surprised to see that the only sustained storm that went up EAST of the dryline/front (i.e. the storm that moved across the Red River SW of Ardmore) became a vicious supercell. I think there was the potential for many more tornadoes today if we could have gotten a few more storms to move through the area of higher instability in S OK and N TX. Instead, and somewhat unexpected for me, most of the storms trained near and W of I44 in Oklahoma, with only weak or short-lived storms occurring in the "open" warm sector across SC/SE OK and adjacent areas of TX. For the most part, the structure (and low-level rotation) of the OKC supercells weren't terribly impressive. We did end up seeing several wall-clouds (some rather large), but contrast wasn't too good. Visually, many of the supercells that we saw (or the supercells at the times that we saw them) looked rather cold and "wet".

EDIT: I just wanted to say "Thanks!" to the OUN NWSFO for their excellent service of providing valuable information to spotters in the field. I've chased in many CWAs, and the OUN NWSFO has always had one of the best (if not the best) presence on area spotter / ham radio repeaters. The information that goes through the main OUN Skywarn repeaters (e.g. 145.410 in OKC) is amazing; I find the frequent radar updates, reading of warning decision updates, and so forth to be highly valuable.

Elinor McLennon

02-10-2009, 11:17 PM

hoping i did this upload correctly.....need some help interpreting my pics....i think i may have given the dumbest report ever:):)
got to see edmond tornado, dodge falling power poles and flying debris....
after it hit the oak tree area i dropped a few miles southwest for the next "storm" that came through......was told radar was not picking up what i was photographing but other spotters started calling in reports as it moved northeast of me(they reported tight circulation)......anyone else see this?

Elinor McLennon

02-10-2009, 11:19 PM

here's first pic as i was sitting right underneath this...

Jason Young

02-10-2009, 11:48 PM

This is hard to do , I lived in Lone grove and my son went to school there in the 90's.

I left Sulphur around 3 pm for my target of Ratliff City , Oklahoma. After watching the storm's to the north , I pulled and head down to Ringling , Ok. watched a breaf funnel spin up south of town. But I tried to head to Ardmore to get the main storm , but stopped in Wilson at the Casino to gas up and watched a large funnel about half way down. Alerted the staff and watched it dissipate. As I entered Lone Grove , Oklahoma I saw very large power flashes on the east side of town. As I passed the post office I watched a Wedge tornado cross the Hwy and move to the North east very quickly . Got stuck in damage path. Power poles broke , car thrown off the road, and Major damage to biulding's . Back tracked to brock road up to Prairie Valley road , saw major tree damage , sheets of metal and power line's on the road. After I made it to Hwy 77 in Ardmore I moved north 7 mile's and found a (roof ) and tree limb's on hwy but could not find where they came from , at the sametime watching power flashes to my east. . But felt hwy 53 would be blocked , so I ended chase . Have heard report's that the tornado made it as far ( aleast ) to Mill Creek, Oklahoma.
mile's : 150
Hail : mostly pea size
Funnel's : 2
Tornado's : 1
This has been a very sad night and my prayer's are for my friends in Lone Grove.

Matt Chatelain

02-11-2009, 12:19 AM

We chased the 2nd of the "string of pearls" tornado warned supercells that moved into the NW OKC metro. We tracked it from 10 miles west of mustang, to yukon, then lost it in OKC traffic. This storm easily had one of my top 5 wall clouds not to produce. Five miles west of mustang it showed moderate rotation and was beautiful bell shaped. It was interesting chasing through the metro areas and seeing all the hail covered ground. We then intercepted the 4th storm as it headed through Guthrie. We saw tennis ball sized hail, and smaller hail covered the ground making it look like our sleet storm just a few weeks ago. On our way back our 96 dodge stratus vehicle's transmission completely gave out and it is no longer drivable. Its Feb 10, and we are already looking for a new chase vehicle.. no matter what it is, its no match for the dodge stratus.

Here is a video highlight from the chase: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCqaLQGdRG4&feature=channel_page

Aaron Estman

02-11-2009, 01:08 AM

Erik Burns and myself were chasing the tornado that hit Lone Grove. We saw the Wedge on the ground and reported it.

Jason A.C. Brock

02-11-2009, 01:12 AM

Chased today with Jeremy Wilson of Holy Tornado and used his nowcster Aaron Hughes. We also used my nowcaster Jeff Papak.
he target a triangle area from gainesville to waurika to wichita falls and decided on a final target of St. Jo. Storm kept firing too far NW to catch and we waited for storms moving into Baylor county. These storms would only become strong to marginally severe so we headed back from Mankins Texas Back towards Bowie. After stopping or some water and snacks at the station in Bellvue we met Tim Marshall as well as a ouple guys who chased with us last year near Rocky Oklahoma.
Anyways as we headed to Bowie the storm we were staying ahead of went bananas....quickest forming wall cloud ive ever seen..literally 5 minutes it took then it went crazy. saw the one torNado near Nocona . Holy tornado seeing this as well along with a large stovepipe along the red river which would move toward the ARDMORE AREA.
TOTAL CHASE MILES 337
TORNADO=1 (2 FOR JEREMY)
WALL CLOUDS=3
HAIL NICKELS (JEREMY =BASEBALLS)
WINDS 70 MPH (JEREMY 75 MPH)

Connor McCrorey

02-11-2009, 01:37 AM

I got out of school at 2:15 and left Plano immediately. We met with David Reimer in Gainesville and then headed west. We initially planned to intercept the storms near Wichita Falls, but after talking to Erik Burns and hearing him describe them, we decided to head south to the disorganized showers near Jacksboro. We stuck with those as we watched them gradually organize to one cell, but it seemed the updraft just couldn't overcome the insane shear. However, it rapidly began to organize a little bit before 6 pm, and soon developed a low rotating wall cloud. We followed this to the Red River, where we caught a brief glimpse of the Lone Grove monster. We then hung around for the tornado warned supercell coming out of the south, but it got choked off be a storm to the south. Too bad, because it looked just as strong as the Lone Grove storm. We then met up with Erik and Aaron in Denton, where we caught some nice wind and hail before heading home.

The Lone Grove storm had incredible structure that you can briefly see in
this video. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JHBWn3T1mE) Definitely a February chase to remember.

EDIT: Sorry, that was the wrong video link. It should work now.

Erik Burns

02-11-2009, 02:07 AM

Well had an awesome day and saw some awesome structure with the cell that developed SW of Jacksboro that would end up being the Ardmore Cell. We played around with the outflow dominate crap near Witchita Fallas for a short bit and then while headed back east I noticed the discrete cell struggling to get it's act together. I called Craig Curlie who was in good position on the cell and got word from him the base was looking cruddy and high based. we kept an eye on it while we filled up. Noticed the cell was starting to show some weak rotation on radar and decided to give it another look. Inflow was starting to feed the storm very well and began to take root. 15 minutes later it began to produce a pronounce lowering and showed supercell characteristics and then it was on. A nice cylindrical wall cloud formed. We followed the supercell as long as possible experiencing several large cylindrical rotating wall clouds and one beautiful White laminar funnel that came so close to being a tornado. The grand finale was when we had to let the storm go near the Red River and then it produced the largest tornado I have ever seen as it was crossing into OK and passed N of Courtney and was heading toward Lone Grove and Ardmore. Just absolutely insane. Prayers going up for the people that lost their lives, homes and well being.

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/27/l_21240453f6e8492d8601ee009bedd769.jpg

And Aaron.. If you are going to post a report about a chase that I offered to invite you on and it is your FIRST chase, don't come on ST to make yourself sound like an idiot and hurt my good name.

Bryce Stone

02-11-2009, 02:37 AM

I was all over Edmond today but I missed seeing the tornado/es. I didn't mind, though, because it just felt good to be back out chasing.

I drove by the damage east of Tecumseh, OK in Pottawatomie County (the DOT barn) and it looked very much like tornado damage. Power poles were twisted up all over and there was a decent bit of debris on both sides of the highway.

Simon Brewer

02-11-2009, 03:46 AM

Juston Drake, Shawn Maroney, and I intercepted three supercells in central Oklahoma: first one produced the first 'larger' Edmond tornado, but we got slowed by heavy traffic, got caught behind a police blockade (hate pre-emptive strike road blocks) on I-35 and could see the amazing wall cloud and location of tornado, but couldn't see the vortex in the rain due to bad position on I-35. We watched a bit of the live Channel 5 chopper tornado video while staring at the rain-wrapped tornado location from a bad vantage point... Tried to catch up to the cell using pot-hole covered back roads, but, eventually, cut back southwest and intercepted two more cells in the Edmond area; third cell was a beauty. Followed the third cell to Perkins, OK area, then dropped south attempting to meet with the cell crossing the Red River, but then ended the chase when the cell merged with the squall line. Ironic; back in the 90's a significant tornado, which I believe was associated with a lone supercell ahead of a squall line, hit Ardmore, and now a similiar situation. Incredible setup no matter what day of the year!

Here is a link to a brief chase report with pics (most pics from third cell):
http://www.stormgasm.com/2-10-09/2-10-09.htm

Here are some pics from the day:
http://www.stormgasm.com/2-10-09/IMG_1528%20copys.JPG
http://www.stormgasm.com/2-10-09/IMG_1537%20copys.JPG
http://www.stormgasm.com/2-10-09/IMG_1542%20copys.JPG
http://www.stormgasm.com/2-10-09/IMG_1564%20copys.JPG
http://www.stormgasm.com/2-10-09/IMG_1566%20copys.JPG

Benjamin Rock

02-11-2009, 06:12 AM

You guys all suck... No, Just Kidding.. I wish i was there. A buddy of mine and I headed to the storms, targeting MO/AR border but didnt make it out of IL before we had a massive equipment failure.. Got to see the storm in the distance coming out of the west when a TOR Watch was issued. That's all we got to see was about an inch of rain and wind at about 30mph... But, I at least got to see most of you on the cams before we lost the feeds. Great job all and really awesome pics!!! Hoepfully next chase I will be able to see you out there.

Shane Adams

02-11-2009, 07:22 AM

I couldn't have screwed this day up anymore.

Left OUN at 11am and headed straight to Ardmore, where we sat on the north side of town at the Love's for about an hour. When we learned the DL hadn't moved east (we left without waiting for the 1630 update) we decided to start drifting west. Ended up in Waurika as we learned about the storms to the northwest of Lawton, and turned north on US81. This is the worst highway in OK for making time; got slowed through Duncan, Addington, Marlow, Chickasha, getting a great earful of live coverage of the tornadoes we were missing in OKC...yet another OKC metro tornado event I miss, making me 0-for-life. Jumped on the cell behind the tornadic cell, and watched the best wall cloud I've probably ever seen that didn't produce, as we drove east of Minco looking northeast. By the time we'd negotiated traffic, hills, trees, tornado damage from what we missed, roadblocks, and a train (to top it all off), the storm was long gone and the stuff southwest of us was junk.

We drove back through OKC and by this time it was getting dark, so we went back to Norman and called it. Only after I was back home licking my wounds did I see the real reason this day would go down as the worst in my chasing life: a tornadic supercell racing towards my original target of Ardmore...where my family lives. I made several calls to my mother, brother, aunt, and gramma making sure they knew it was coming. Each call got more serious as the storm grew closer, with all of them having blankets, pillows, and a hallway or bathroom ready to dive into. Once word of the confirmed tornado in Lone Grove hit my ears, I was in full-freak out mode (but maintained a calm demeanor while talking to them). Luckily, the tornado missed them to the northwest, which made the pain of missing everything better.

However, we could've seen the tornado from the spot we sat at early in the day for over an hour. I really need to learn to start trusting myself out there, I might be pretty good someday.

Tim Marshall

02-11-2009, 07:59 AM

SHORT: Was on the Nocona-Lone Grove tornadic supercell but stayed back to capture the best structure I've seen in February in my 31 year chase career. So, I did not see tornadoes but did cross a damage path south of Belcherville.

LONG: My forecast was Gainesville, TX but I figured convection would initiate southwest of there. So, I headed out from Flower Mound at 1 PM and stopped in Decatur for about an hour. Upper cloud cover gradually gave way to broken strato-cu with blue sky above. The air was cool which concerned me that low-level instability was rather weak. Winds finally picked up from the south. A squall line develop west of Wichita Falls but the tops were mushy and I wasn't really interested in that. I was hoping for an isolated storm ahead of the line. Still, I drove up Highway 287 and watched the squall line march toward Wichita Falls.

Then, what caught my interest was a line of highly sheared multi-cells that developed near Graham, TX ahead of the main squall line. So, I headed down Rt. 287 to Bellevue. The multi-cells began to dissipate and the southern storm became dominant near Bellevue. Also, I saw on the Baron that winds in Midland-Big Spring began gusting over 50 MPH from the west and elevated convection was streaming rapidly to the east. I figured this was the long awaited calvary (upper air support) needed to result in explosive convection along and ahead of the dryline.

As if on cue, a wall cloud formed on the mini-supercell north of Bellevue and quickly intensified. The structure of this storm turned stunning with a blocky wall cloud and striated, curved base. The mid-portion of the updraft was sheared but had a vertically oriented, mushroom-shaped top. A thick anvil streamed out to the northeast and had a serrated southeast edge. I wish I had a super wide angle lens to capture the entire storm structure but took multiple images and hope to stitch them together. The storm really got its act together near Belcherville. By this time darkness had set in and visibility decreased under the storm base. I crossed debris on the road to Belcherville (FM 1816) but it was difficult to see what was damaged due to darkness. Heading east on Rt. 82, I zigged-zagged through Nocona and headed east on FM 1956 stopping at Capps Corner to watch the supercell cross the Red River and head for Lone Grove. I could see a large wall cloud illuminated by lightning but trees obscured my view of the region below the wall cloud. Frequent lightning was observed in the upper portion of the updraft and anvil zits were nearly continuous. Curving inflow bands extended southeast from the base of the updraft and were occasionally stabbed by CGs. I stopped and turned off the car engine to listen to the sound of the inflow winds howl through the power lines overhead. It was finally nice to sit back and admire the power of the storm to my north after race chasing all afternoon. Then I headed home around 8 PM. What a beautiful day. Only went 300 miles. tm

Brendon Lindsey

02-11-2009, 09:33 AM

Started out of Tahlequah,OK around 8:30 Showed up in Ardmore 15min before the first watch was issued. Waited A while to see the storm motions after they got going. I had already drove 250 miles there so wasnt set on heading any further west. I knew there would be some storms along the I-35 Area. Long story short I waited all day in LONE GROVE OKLAHOMA to leave 30 min before sundown. After the exhaustion of tornadoes being only 2 hours away from my house rather than 4 hours away I gave up on anything popping up before dark. Well I talked to some locals throughout the day telling them it should get pretty bad. Turned out they got destroyed. Hope the people are ok.
But it blows seeing how I waited there alllllllllllllllllllllllllll day! Prob the only chaser around who did stay around ardmore hoping for something to fire out in front of the squall.

David Poch

02-11-2009, 10:01 AM

I started the day at my place in Bridge Creek and ended up catching the cell that went on to produce the NW OKC Edmond tornado. I sat in Mustang watching the wall cloud, but then realized this thing was hauling so I decided to make my move to the N/NW. I ended up getting stuck in traffic and didn't think I would be able to catch it so I moved south to get on the next storm in line. I did catch a quick view of the wall cloud right before it produced the tornado.

I did a few things wrong yesterday, I mostly screwed up judging the storm speeds so I ended up driving in circles lol. By the time I figured out I needed to just pick a spot and let them come to me to fly by everything started lining out, oh well it's a learning experience. I am still new to this chasing business, but it was kind of stressful going it solo. I will take that over being stuck in the office watching it unfold from an office!

Chris C Sanner

02-11-2009, 10:45 AM

Initially planned on targeting Ardmore - Pauls Valley on I-35 as of the night of the 9th. However, after some hand analysis of morning features decided to target just south of Chickasha. Saw the first OKC storm from birth but decided to let it go as it neared the metro thinking I could catch the storms moving up that had favorable features developing.

I followed Storm #2 through the metro but abandoned it after it cleared Edmond as it didn't look nearly as favorable. Got a quick gas stop in Arcadia and then intercepted storm #3 which produced what looked to possibly be a brief funnel and also reportedly some power flashes but the air was very cold to the ENE of the wall cloud (55-60) so I am doubting it produced, even though there was some decent motion in the wall cloud.

I then meandered through OKC on the way back home trying to get some pics of lightning along the advancing squall line.

So long story short, I missed the Tornadoes in N. OKC but saw every storm in the train of supercells try to produce in OKC. Not a bad start to the season...or something like that.

Pics posted at:
http://www.supercellhunting.com/?p=104

Robert Rohloff

02-11-2009, 10:49 AM

Left Tulsa a little after 2 P.M and headed west, no way to catch the storms in OKC but we were able to catch them near Perkins OK. Beautiful structure, had a brief funnel north of Hwy 33 and Hwy 108 west of Cushing. Dropped off the storm when it went NE and waited to see what came up from the SW.

Was in Kellyville with intense CG which hit a oil tank farm. Had some nice video of the fire. Some great chasing for a winter month we logged 300 miles and saw some great storm structure. We observed 4 wall clouds that were very well defined, really surprised that we did not get at leat one or two to produce as they moved east. While near Perkins we observed some intense inflow, however it appeared to really start to decrease just east of there. For the first chase of 09, I am happy and all the equipment worked........

James Langford

02-11-2009, 11:13 AM

(Updated with Pictures and Links)

Left Dallas with my friend Colin around 2 pm headed for Gainsville. Upon reaching Gainsville, a friend who was nowcasting for us instructed us to head up towards Wichita Falls, where it the sky was rapidly clearing. Our intial plan was to sample the cells moving along the almost completely stationary line. We noticed the cells firing to our South near Bellevue out in front of the line, but they were getting completely sheared apart. When we reached Wichita Falls, our nowcaster informed us of the cell that had formed that would later go on to hit Lone Grove.

We didn't have enough time to get to the East of the storm by heading back towards Gainsville, so we instead shot down 281 to approach the storm from the rear. Stopped near Scotland to shoot the amazing structure and storm motion on the back side of the storm:
http://www.langfordphotography.com/photos/471989186_tbspH-M-1.jpg
Video Timelapse: http://www.langfordphotography.com/gallery/7333580_s3qBG/1/471989186_tbspH#472025066_avKv9-M-LB

At Windthorst we turned East on 25 and came around behind the storm, which had an amazing structure at this point:
http://www.langfordphotography.com/photos/471990845_Phwo6-M-1.jpg

http://www.langfordphotography.com/photos/471989028_jd2SL-M-1.jpg

The squall line behind us was now starting to push East a bit, and had some nice structure to it as well:
http://www.langfordphotography.com/photos/471988928_gvboZ-M-1.jpg

The strorm had a very strong updraft at this point, and the sun was hitting just the upper section. It was very beautiful, and we stopped to film a timelapse of it bubbling up:
http://www.langfordphotography.com/gallery/7333580_s3qBG/1/471989186_tbspH#472036772_pmJj6-M-LB

We continued on highway 25 for 15 more miles or so, and finally came into a better viewing position as the storm was directly to our north. Nearly continuous anvil lightning, as well as many cloud to ground strikes. It was one of the more beautiful storms I have ever seen, and was wonderful to watch and video:
http://www.langfordphotography.com/gallery/7333580_s3qBG/1/471989186_tbspH#472044529_hveMi-M-LB

We watched the storm for a while while as it raced away to the North East, and also watched a second storm approaching from the south. The storm coming from the south started to drop a lot of close lightning, so we packed up and headed towards Bowie. Entering Bowie we turned onto 287, just getting out of there before the second storm clobbered the town. The Squall line was finally starting to push East at this point, and chased us most of the way home to Garland. We did stop in Decatur and get some lightning pictures:
http://www.langfordphotography.com/photos/471963892_46CEo-M-1.jpg

Upon arriving home, I was very sad to learn of the destruction and loss of lives in Lone Grove. Our thoughts and prayers go out to those effected by the storm.

James

James Langford

02-11-2009, 01:00 PM

(Editted for pictures not showing up. Also, you may have to refresh the page to get them to show up)

James Clarke from Arlington emailed and asked if I would post his storm chase account from last evening. He is a long time chaser and stormtrack follower, but has never registered.

His full account is here:

http://lonegrovetornado.bravehost.com/

From his email:
"I sat in Denton watching the radar for 3 hours and almost heading towards WF then calling it quits so I took one last look then headed up I-35 at dusk to try to intercept the Nocona storm with the decision to head to Ardmore when I began to see the power flashes off to the west. Incredible long day."

A few pictures:

http://lonegrovetornado.bravehost.com/myPictures/lone_grove_b.jpg
Looking West at Lone Grove on Highway 70 about 2 miles West of I-35 Ardmore, Oklahoma.

http://lonegrovetornado.bravehost.com/myPictures/lone_grove_a.jpg
Im within a mile of the tornado and an Incredible roar could be heard at this time as tornado moves Northwest of Ardmore,Oklahoma

http://lonegrovetornado.bravehost.com/myPictures/large_lone_grove.jpg
Large shot of the tornado

http://lonegrovetornado.bravehost.com/myPictures/lone_grove_19.jpg
Looking North on I-35

http://lonegrovetornado.bravehost.com/myPictures/lone_grove_22.jpg
Tornado after it crossed I-35 and becoming rain wrapped.

James

Chad Cowan

02-11-2009, 01:15 PM

Took my buddy on his first chase and almost got him struck by lightning. We ran into the rouge Wichita storm on the way to Pawhuska to intercept supercells 1 & 2 that merged. Contrast sucked thanks to the convection behind the storms. We managed to see some good structure and rotation but not what I would expect from a hook echo like that (http://chasethestorms.smugmug.com/photos/471939756_2E7Yf-XL.jpg). Wish everything would have held off until the moisture arrived in late afternoon. I'm editing my video and will have it up later today. Congrats to those who dominated.

Fake wedge northeast of Wichita:
http://chasethestorms.smugmug.com/photos/471927202_VXWXj-M.jpg

Chris Hovanic

02-11-2009, 01:17 PM

Chased with fellow co-worker Nick Biermann. I had worked a mid-shift the previous evening/morning, so we were unable to depart Kansas City until 9:50am when I got off of work.

Flew down I-35, passing through some initial elevated convection in northern Oklahoma which contained a modest amount of pea-sized hail. Began to visually observe the Edmond, OK tornadic supercell approximately 50 miles north of OKC. We decided that our best opportunity would be to attempt to intercept this storm east of Guthrie.

We exited on to Highway 33, then took Highway 105 eastward, eventually positioning ourselves 1/2 to 3/4 miles south of 105 along Indian-Meridian road. This would place us approximately 5-6 miles E or ESE of Guthrie.

Contrast improved as our supercell approached and a large, low-hanging wall cloud with impressive tail cloud and mid-level inflow band became apparent. Rotation began to tighten in the wall cloud coincident with a wrapping RFD and developing clear slot.

Shortly thereafter, an impressive condensation funnel developed around 3:24pm. Initially, only a tiny amount of debris was seen along the ground underneath the funnel, however by 3:26pm as the funnel was dissipating, a more significant debris swirl developed along the ground, persisting for 15-30 seconds after the condensation funnel had decayed.

After all was said and done, went back to Highway 105 and noticed a house which sadly had taken significant (mainly roof) damage approximately 1-2 miles west of the 105/Indian-Meridian intersection.

All in all, a fantastic chase with my first February tornado! Also, based on most of the reports, Spotter Network activity etc, it doesn't seem that anyone else observed this brief (2-minute) tornado? I'm curious if any other reports begin to surface from the later life-cycle of the Edmond storm.

First picture is from 3:24pm, second is 3:26 pm. Debris swirl is more apparent on the 2nd photo, to the right of the power-pole in the distance.

Bill Tabor

02-11-2009, 03:11 PM

Off season, so none of my data and equipment is set up but just got an Iphone and installed RadarScope so this is my first "Iphone Chase". Left at 1:15 pm directly for my decided target area which just west of Gainesville / Denton line but east of Wichita Falls. I didn't know if I could make it as it seemed already a bit late. As I approached my area there appeared not much of anything there. There were large hooks in OK and out toward CDS/ABI there was a squall type n/s oriented system moving eastward. I expected initiation in my area near 22z or 23z but was starting to think I was crazy. However as I reached the town of Decatur I began to see what appeared as weak crescent echoes on my Iphone Radarscope app. This was very encouraging. I raced west to Jacksborough and then north on 148 just shy of the Clay county line and near the intersection of FM2127 - arrival time per gps log 5:40 and I was directly under the cell updraft which appeared weak, somewhat unorganized at the time. Coincidentally here also met up with another chaser friend. The cell continued to the ne at first appearing unimpressive. We basically decided to let it go as it seemed unorganized and it was getting late in the day. Plus it was headed toward the Red River into the coming dark and there were no bridge crossings at it's projected crossing location. We chatted a bit, and tried to download a video of the Edmond tornado and once in a while checked the cell and those to our south on Radarlab HD and my Iphone Radarscope. The cell began strengthening first showing a meso. I found there was a road network on Street Atlas that would go almost directly to the Red crossing area but opted not to take it. Next a severe storm warn was issued for the cell and my apprehension grew, then a TVS and as we were about ready to leave a tornado warning was finally issued with the cell showing more amazing structure curved back anvil and mild overshooting top with occasional lightning coming out the top of the tower. We departed 6:35 - fairly dark. I opted to go back the way I came to Ft Worth and I35 because the squall line was building to the south and I didn't want to drive in it the whole way home.

It was a race to beat this approaching squall system with a developing bow structure. I got almost 32mpg on the way up in my SX4 but coming back in the immense head wind and racing to beat the thing I only got around 20mpg to 25mpg. Along the way I saw on the log of SPC that our cell had dropped a tornado 5 e of Ringgold at 6:25pm. Now looking back over all the data and gps logs I see I had a real shot had I continued to follow the cell I had been directly under. SA calculated the distance as about 42 - maybe 45 miles. At reasonable chase speed avg of 70mph from my initial arrival time it would have taken 39 minutes and I would have arrived near Ringgold at 6:19. The tornado was logged between 6:25 and 6:30pm. So here I am kicking myself! Not only that, but it turns out this was the storm of the day...as it continued on across the Red and to... Lone Grove where it is estimated it may have been up to 1/2 mile wide and sadly 15 lives were taken and others injured. The one that got away. Those tend to haunt a bit.

Additionally, racing south from Ft Worth on I35 I just barely managed to squeeze past the point of the now large bow echo headed directly for Hillsborough area. The tornado warning for the entire county area was issued just about 10 minutes after I cleared Hillsborough to the south. I really didn't want to get caught out in the open at night in a tornado warned bow - so whew glad that is past! In style I cruised into Waco's north side and wandered into a Starbucks. I leisurely sipped a late evening cappuccino and surfed the weather web on my Iphone as the big squall hit. The large flocks of black birds were on the ground and going frantic as this approached. When it hit it appeared to be hurricane winds of perhaps 70mph or greater. The power started to go out a couple times and I saw a greenish / blue power transformer flash briefly in the darkness. Then it passed and I continued south. There was quite a bit of debris on the road. There were actually some of those very large green overhead highway signs on the roadway lying flat with part of their structure attached. I didn't even see them at first but the car to my right ran over one with a loud noise. Not sure if they got any damage. There was some other very large X shaped metal structure sitting almost in front of me that I nearly hit, but saw at the last moment and passed to the left. A bit further down the road about in the town of Eddy there was a turned over semi trailer. The DPS had the roadway blocked off and I had to sit on the access road waiting for about 20 minutes before they let us around. Arrival time was around 1am. So about a 12 hour excursion.

Surprisingly the Iphone works ok for chasing. However, it is a bit challenging when alone to see it and select different apps and not wreck. With the tight steering on my SX4 I found it precarious at best. I used SA for navigation on my notebook but had no other data turned on. I really like RadarScope for the Iphone. It is simple, but quick and provides your position relative to the storm. I also used the Accuweather app, and Weathertap Mobile.

I need to get my vehicle set up for quickly approaching chase season.

In conclusion, I am happy that my forecast panned out. I apparently was dead on, and without lots of data along the way I just planned to go straight to the target area. Usually I think that is always the best plan. It's easy to second guess yourself out there. As I drove I remembered the Top Gun movie line 'Never leave your wingman'. Likewise I was thinking - never leave your target area, but it turns out the real line is apparently 'Never leave your target storm'!

Eric Wolf

02-11-2009, 04:00 PM

By the time the line of storms had cleared the DFW metroplex, it had drastically weakened (for some reason, still strong to the north and south, though). According to what I heard from the Dallas County RACES net, there were power flashes due to above average wind, and the rainfall was a little over 1" per hour, with a few reports of pea sized hail. There was TOR warned cell moving into the southeast corner of Collin County, but didn't seem to produce anything significant above large amounts of rainfall and 30 - 35 mph winds. Once the line reached Rockwall County, we endured 20 - 25 mph winds and rainfall of 3/4" an hour (1" in some places) for about 30 minutes and then everything cleared up and continued tracking east. Not very much excitement to report, but that's how I prefer it when the storms come to me, rather than the opposite when I go chasing.

Dan Cook

02-11-2009, 04:33 PM

Guys please read the forum rules. That's why they are there. Report threads are for YOUR detailed reports, not discussions!

Steve Gray

02-11-2009, 05:09 PM

Left the DFW area at 3pm with a target of Gainesville, TX. While parked at the travel center on I-35 in Gainesville, I observed on radar the cell building north of Bowie, TX. I debated whether to intercept it traveling West on Hwy 82 on the South side of the Red River in Texas, or West on Hwy 32 in Oklahoma. Since there wasn't much sunlight left, I decided the sooner I could intercept the better and headed west on 82 hoping the storm would not accelerate north of the river before I met it.

In Ringgold, TX at the intersection of Hwy 82 and Hwy 81, I encountered blinding rain, pea-sized hail and heavy winds. The storm was tornado warned almost immediately upon my arrival, but I was not able to observe anything due to the intense rain I was in and the fact that I overshot the storm and was now on the western flank as opposed to the eastern flank. While I was pleased with my decision to chase west on the south side of the river, I feel I really made a mistake continuing west of Nocona as the storm was barreling to the NE. Had I stayed in Nocona, I suspect I would have seen my first tornado for 2009. My decision too continue west out of Nocona led to me getting to close to the storm and not having a chance to witness a tornado.

With the storm now to my Northeast, I traveled North into Oklahoma on Hwy 81 and observed the incredible cell racing north in the distance to my east. In Ryan, Ok I turned on to Hwy 32 and headed east. By this time, the sun had fully set and the lightning show really kicked into high gear.

With the dry line storms close behind me and the soon-to-be infamous Lone Grove cell in front of me, I stopped in Grady, OK and observed incredible lightening on the horizon in every direction around me, and a break in the clouds directly above me with stars visible. It was an odd experience.

Traveling East on Hwy 32 near Petersburg, I did encounter some debris in the road. It appeared to all be smaller branches from trees along the road way. None of it was very large, and none appeared to be anything other than tree limbs and leaves. I did not encounter any precipitation or strong winds during my drive from Ryan to Marietta.

I arrived in Marietta around 7:45pm and stayed near I35 for about 30 minutes and began to hear over the radio some of the sad reports from Lone Grove and see several EMS vehicles race north on the interstate. During this time I also experienced a brief but intense wind blast out of the NW and assisted a visibly distressed woman take her kids from her car into a nearby restaurant for shelter and then calmed her down (she believed a tornado was heading right for us).

As the dry line storms began to roll into Marietta, I began my drive back down south on I35 and fought the storms all the way to Sanger before the squall line passed over the interstate. I arrived back in the DFW just as southern Collin County was T-warned and pursued the storm East of I35 on HWY 121 but did not see anything. Arrived back home in Plano at 10:20pm.

Miles traveled: 287
Tornadoes Witnessed: 0

Side Note: This was the first time I took my new Jeep Patriot out for a chase and I must say I missed my old Dodge Durango. The Patriot felt lighter and less stable than the much heavier Durango was, and I was frequently losing traction on the wet roads. At a minimum, a tire upgrade is in order before I go out again. On the positive side, it was sure nice to be getting the 25 mpg from the Jeep as opposed to the 13mpg I got from the Durango.

Rebekah LaBar

02-11-2009, 08:27 PM

Jeff Markowski, Dean Narramore, Rob Warren, and I (as well as Rob Lee, Kate Brown, Pete Argyle, and Becky Hewins in a separate vehicle) left Norman around 12:30 for our initial target area of Gainesville to Bowie. By the time we got to Ardmore, we decided to head further west on Highway 70 towards the cells forming out along the dryline. We went as far as Waurika before backtracking to Ardmore again and then down to Gainesville, when we realized the supercells were quickly forming a squall line that would be nigh on impossible to safely chase, even if there was anything embedded in it. A little discouraged by how the day was playing out, we still held out hope that we might be able to catch any storms that formed out in front of the line.

After a quick stop in Gainesville to regroup and figure out what we wanted to do next, we noticed a small cell popping up near Graham. Knowing it was our best shot to see something before dark, we headed off to Bowie where we intercepted the storm. We saw a pretty decent updraft base but no rotation to speak of. After watching the cell weaken, we figured it was probably on its last leg, so decided to head back to Norman and get some fun squall line action on the way.

Typical, as soon as we turned our back on the storm it got its act back together. Driving north on Highway 81 and then up on 1816, we stopped to watch the supercell near Nocona. A low, weakly rotating wall cloud formed before our very eyes (just about the fastest I've ever seen one form) and we thought it was about to tornado.

A little farther up the road, we lost the wall cloud in the rain (low contrast as we were at a bad angle when the storm moved to our north). Shortly thereafter we picked out a beautiful, tall, white funnel cloud (though still a a little low-contrast) in front of the rain at about 6:30. It looked to be about halfway down, but we never actually saw it on the ground. The funnel curled up and roped out in less than a minute. We found out shortly thereafter that there was a storm report of an actual touchdown there at that time for a few minutes, so assumed what we saw was probably the dying tornado. I'd love to see pictures and/or video of it, as I was driving at the time, didn't have time to stop, and the pictures Jeff took didn't turn out.

We knew we wouldn't be able to follow the storm much longer, as it was racing away from us and of course we had the river to deal with. The lightning on the storm was amazing; I'd never seen such incredibly beautiful anvil crawlers, and there were a fair bit of CGs as well. After shooting some pictures and video of the lightning (I'm attaching one of the freeze frames from my video; most of them didn't turn out too spectacular, and the photos I took were with my film camera), we drove back to Gainesville for dinner.

Dean told the cashier at Whataburger that we were chasers and there was a tornadic storm headed their way (chased us back to Gainesville) and they gave him a free drink! After eating, we followed the latter supercell just northeast of the city and saw a large wall cloud on that one as well, nicely lit up by lightning. Once again we were stopped by the river, so gave up for the day and worked our back up to Norman.

All in all it was a fun and interesting chase; certainly my best first chase of the season, especially since we did see a funnel cloud. However, we were of course saddened to learn from the radio that the supercell we were following there for a while went on to produce a deadly tornado.

Michael Ratliff

02-11-2009, 11:31 PM

here is the first screen grab as it came into view..http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss9/seeatornado/lonegrove1bmp_2112009110518.jpg

and the second view as it was approching the trailer park
http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss9/seeatornado/lonegrove2bmp_2112009110809.jpg

and the third as it was hitting the trailer park

http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss9/seeatornado/lonegrove3bmp_2112009111113.jpg

I'll I can say is these are the moments when I wish I was God. To witness the tornado striking that town and being so helpless was gut wrenching!
My chase partner Ray Walker and I arrived in Pauls Valley around 11 am with a target of ardmore to gainsville. But as we saw what was unfolding on radar heading towards Yukon ...My place of residence...we blasted north to catch the second cell as it was coming over the logan county line to see fizzle out ...... A little frustrated. We were feeling very strong on our southern target in the upcoming days and it had let us down sdo we thought. As we were heading back south we notice the small cell south of the ok/tx line. It was staying together and out ahead of the line of storms. So we commited back to ardmore. We arrived in Lone Grove about 6:45pm and headed south of town to a dark hill to watch for any sign of a lowering. We got our conformation of a possible tornado...Everybody knows what darkness =tor warn=see make bleive tornadoes/funnels/TREES in the distants. Boy were we right on the money we headed N into town ANd then 1/4 mile west of town. I could not believe what I was filming and little did I know the impact this storm would have in this town. It was absolute horror watching this tornado heading towards lone grove knowing that there nothing we could do. The sirens did NOT sound. I dont care what anybodys says They did Not sound. I have heard several reports that they were just installed in nov/dec. Even though there were warnings issued 30 mins prior by Nws. Yes there were a lot of trailers in this town but no one should of died ! God Bless every family in Lone Grove My prayers our with you! If anybody has a screen grab fro GRlvl could I please have a copy of it. It was to hectic to save one at the time . Michael Ratliff ---Ray Walker

AndyGabrielson

02-11-2009, 11:56 PM

First of all my thoughts and prayers are with those who were directly or indirectly affected in the Lone Grove tornado...
I came down from MN for this event, stayed overnight in Tulsa... Headed southwest and ended up in the Chickashaw area around 2:30pm. Was on a storm that showed some potential, infact in my video I belief I even capture a brief funnel about 15 miles southwest of Yukon. The ground was covered as I watched this unfold by about 3 inches of hail (nickel to quarter in size), so unfortunately when I capture this video it was very foggy (and the heavy precip didn't do much for the contrast either). I did a phoner with The Weather Channel while I was driving in Yukon and unfortunately due to traffic I lost this storm. Met up with the line again around 10:00pm on my way home, however it was non-svr at this point.

Heres a link to my video... I hope to have the HD video up sometime soon this is just from my sony handycam I use to stream.

http://www.findthetornado.smugmug.com/gallery/7334716_8vVjR#471991776_Xy3Pp

(trying not to thread hi-jack but if anyone would happen to have a clip of my phoner with TWC please PM me)

Mike Hollingshead

02-12-2009, 12:41 PM

Full account of two lead supercells in northeast OK now up here: http://www.extremeinstability.com/09-2-10.htm

Tony Cook

02-12-2009, 05:12 PM

Left AUS about 9 a.m. with a newbie chaser buddy. Got up into OK near Walters by late afternoon when all the cells near OK City started to tornado. Watched the southern end of that line which looked outflowish and high-based visually, but it did produce one solid diagonal funnel:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm253/HesterMofet/10Feb2009/WaltersOK_Funnel.jpg

Started heading back east when the cells out in front of the line consolidated into a discrete supercell south of the Red River. Approached this cell from the North on 81 right at the state line, but had to stop at the river because we had no data, weather radio was not receiving, and the core looked mean. Did not want to punch it from the north. Decided to stair-step our way NE and try to work into position to see the active area.

Moving north on 89, documented a very ominous-looking wall cloud around 7:15 near Ringling. This was W or NW of the tornado or incipient tornado which would hit Lone Grove:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm253/HesterMofet/10Feb2009/RinglingWall_1.jpg
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm253/HesterMofet/10Feb2009/RinglingWall_2.jpg

Around 7:30, we were on 70, east of the town of Wilson, but still several miles west of Lone Grove. GPS log shown here, with the approximate tornado track in red.
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm253/HesterMofet/10Feb2009/LoneGroveGPS.png

Witnessed a series of transformer explosions as the tornado impacted Lone Grove just south of Hwy 70:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm253/HesterMofet/10Feb2009/LoneGroveFlash.jpg Here is the same image with some extra light noise cropped out:
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm253/HesterMofet/10Feb2009/LoneGroveFlash_Cropped.jpg

Never had a clear visual of the tornado, but it was quite apparent what was happening (btw Michael R- phenomenal images). Did not learn about the fatalities until we got home around 1 a.m. Sad start to the year, unfortunately.

15.5 hrs
~ 800 miles

TonyC

Jeff Bartlett

02-13-2009, 09:30 AM

All in all, a fantastic chase with my first February tornado! Also, based on most of the reports, Spotter Network activity etc, it doesn't seem that anyone else observed this brief (2-minute) tornado? I'm curious if any other reports begin to surface from the later life-cycle of the Edmond storm.

First picture is from 3:24pm, second is 3:26 pm. Debris swirl is more apparent on the 2nd photo, to the right of the power-pole in the distance.

Chris,

Due to a sick kid and therefore a late departure from Stillwater, I pretty much picked up this storm right after the tornado you witnessed. I was about 1 1/2 to 2 miles further east of your location. This first shot is looking due west on 105 as it was crossing the highway. (Pardon the contrast...I had to borrow an unfamiliar camera for this event since my new D300 wasn't delivered until Wed.....*sigh*)
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg112/ElJeffe76/Random%20Weather/Feb10200911.jpg

I then turned around and headed north on a gravel road about 2 miles as it passed about 1 mile to my north. The green hue of the storm as it neared my location was truly something to behold. Made for some nice pics.

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg112/ElJeffe76/Random%20Weather/Feb10200910-1.jpg

It was hard for me to believe that this wall-cloud/tornado was not on the ground at this time. If it was not, then that has to be about as close as you can get without touching the ground. Due to the fact that it was just on the other side of that ridge, I could not confirm whether or not it was scraping the ground at this time.

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg112/ElJeffe76/Random%20Weather/Feb10200912-1.jpg

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg112/ElJeffe76/Random%20Weather/Feb1020099-1.jpg

I then turned around and zig-zagged through the countryside on these gravel roads as the storm took off to the northeast to terrorize Perkins, Stillwater, and Pawnee. My attention then turned to storm number two as it trekked northeast along the same path. I took this last one just southwest of Perkins before it lost power for the next ~48 hours.

http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg112/ElJeffe76/Random%20Weather/Feb10200913-1.jpg

On the return trip, I was able to witness damage on Hwy 33 from a hay barn that had been destroyed and scattered about 1/2 mile to the northeast of its original location. I have not heard whether or not this was associated with a tornado, RFD, or straight-line winds.

Matt Gingery

02-13-2009, 08:19 PM

I began the chase day on February 10 leaving SGF around 9:30 a.m. I headed down 44 to HWY 71 south towards Ft. Smith. Once in Ft. Smith I began heading towards OKC and once I passed Checotah cells began to initiate to my south along the warm front in SE Oklahoma and along the Dry line from OKC to Lawton. I was sort of between a rock and a hard place. I had a big decision because the cells to my south looked really good, and had rotation evident. However, I was an hour from OKC, and those cells were already being tornado warned, and it appeared on radar as if the cells were becoming linear. I decided to hang back and chase cells near Checotah.

Supercell near Checotah Ok.: http://i40.tinypic.com/140b2c8.jpg

There was a strong updraft associated with these cells. 1" hail, and lots of CGS. At this point I decided to head to the north on the turnpike to Tulsa to intercept to the west of town. I caught up with the massive HP cell in Pawnee county, and chased into Osage county. That particular cell wandered north of the warm front shortly after as it headed to the SE of Independence Ks. I ran into some very large hail. I am still getting the video together. I managed to catch the wall cloud that produced the Pawnee tornado, and a new area of rotation near Hominy Ok.

Large Hail Hominy Ok.: http://i42.tinypic.com/ifvrzr.jpg

Supercell Hominy Ok.: http://i41.tinypic.com/16a4lsj.jpg
Supercell Hominy Ok.: http://i44.tinypic.com/2vm6fxz.jpg

Hail covering HWY 11 from Hominy towards Bartlesville Ok.
http://i44.tinypic.com/1zgsqvm.jpg

I feel the trip was a success, and it felt good to get an early start to the season and get up to speed with the new equipment

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kITIZzQ8_-s

Brandon Headley

02-13-2009, 08:52 PM

I started my chase day WAY TOO LATE. I had looked early the day before and thought nothing would form in C. OK so I threw the chase day out. The day of I happened to hear some people talking about the storms down in Chickasha. I pulled out my iPhone and looked and saw storms firing along the dry line to my SW. I contemplated skipping my next class and setting up somewhere in Edmond and wait for them to come to me. I decided to go to class. That was a mistake. I dismissed myself when the sirens went off and started my chase. I saw a large hook and a great velocity couplet just a few miles north of my location.

I drove to I35 and planned to jump on. However the highway patrol had other ideas. I drove over I35 and then headed north on Air Depot. I got a little bit of video with what appears to be a lowering. It is hard to tell due to the contrast. Tree cover and urban chasing prevented me from catching the storm.

I quickly turned around and headed back to 2nd street as the 2nd storm rolled through. Got a good look at a shelf cloud and then decided to head a little farther south to get the 3rd storm.

Headed down by the Turner Turnpike and sat watching a wall cloud with some really weak rotation. It was really outflow dominant, so I decided to get some damage video and call it a night.

I drove north again, but only got a few trees and some telephone polls. I called it a night and went to chili's with some friends

All in all it wasn't a bad start to my rookie season. I need to learn more and leave when I need too. Here is a video that I put together real fast.

http://vimeo.com/3208051