My Chase Story - May 19, 2013

Throughout the work week leading up to Sunday, May 19, anticipation had been building about a strong upper level trough forecast to propagate eastward over the Plains. Plans had been made: if the forecast looked good, my friend, Trey, and I would be going storm chasing on Sunday, an off day for both of us. As the day grew closer, plans were made with Kenny Tapp and Ashton Cook to go out Sunday afternoon.

We loaded up and hit I-35 northbound around 1:30pm that Sunday. We targeted a location in northern Oklahoma based on the latest available information from the Storm Prediction Center and hourly models. As we drove, storms began initiating and quickly developing to our southwest. We pulled off, looked at radar, and made the decision to head south toward a supercell moving toward Edmond. As we got into town, the many trees and buildings on hills made it difficult to get a good vantage point. A spot was finally found at the entrance of LifeChurch.TV in Edmond and we watched the wall cloud and rain curtains closely for rotation. Around 4:20pm a weak tornado formed to our west (pictured). Later surveys would find EF1 damage in Edmond from this short-lived twister.

As the storm tracked east-northeastward across I-35, we moved to our east to get further ahead of the storm. Large volumes of traffic on the two lane road complicated our efforts but a glance out the window provided a glimpse of a new tornado forming around 4:25pm to our northwest.

The storm continued its track and our east-west oriented highway was becoming further and further displaced from the rotation. Terrain and numerous trees obscured views of the tornado that barreled toward Carney, Oklahoma. The tornado had also become rain-wrapped making us unsure of what we saw but we were fairly confident we caught glimpses of the twister. We tried to keep up with the tornadic storm but limited, unpaved county roads and suburban traffic made it nearly impossible. As the rotation weakened around 5:30pm, we turned our sights to the south as another supercell developed.

We dove south, ahead of the storm, and got into our prime position with a great viewing angle of a wall cloud to our west. We watched carefully for several minutes as it moved to the northwest then north of us, still above the ground. 

The radar indicated circulation was too weak and the storm ended up not producing any tornados. Further to our south, another storm had been brewing over Norman. My wife, Veronica, and our puppy sought shelter at a friend's house as the tornado sirens blared throughout the city. Later, this storm generated an EF4 tornado that ripped through parts of Shawnee, Oklahoma and other small towns, northeast of Norman. Giving up on our weakening wall cloud, we headed south and east once again to get ahead of the next supercell. 

The movement of the storm caused timing issues as we attempted to cross ahead of the storm to the east. It became clear we weren't going to make it ahead of the storm on our north-south highway. Punching through the hail core (with nickel sized hail or smaller), we dove east on another county road. The circulation on radar was to our south but nothing was visible through the rain. We were within a mile or two of the circulation but with no visibility and an uncertain track, we had to bail out and head back west (it turned out the tornado had already lifted but for safety's sake, we made the right decision). We continued to try to follow the storm from a safer position and got some views of the wall cloud but the supercell would not produce another tornado.

As daylight faded and the storms weakened, we began our trek home, stopping in Henryetta, Oklahoma for a late dinner. The day had not been a wild success photographically but we saw two tornadoes and I had now seen three total in my five chases. But nothing prepared us for what was to come the next day...

For more photos, see my Google+ album here

My Tornado Story

May 24, 2011

The latest SPC forecast for May 24, 2011

Tuesday morning arrived. I checked the Storm Prediction Center's forecast for the day before leaving for work at the University of Oklahoma Athletic Department, knowing that severe storms were a possibility later in the day. The SPC had issued a high risk for the majority of Oklahoma. The office, and much of the town, was on edge as the day wore on and the first storms started popping up in western Oklahoma (around 2pm). As I worked, I was exchanging text messages with my friend and roommate, Trey, while keeping an eye on the weather. Soon enough, a tornado watch was issued and my co-worker had her office television on the local news coverage. By 3:30pm, the storms were escalating and looking more impressive on radar. Trey was convinced this was the time to go. I asked my supervisor if I could leave early and received permission. I hurriedly packed my bags and hopped on my bike to ride home.

I had been out on storm chases twice before, once in 2009 and once in 2010. Neither storm chase had resulted in more than a good time with friends and some cool-looking clouds. As the semesters went by, I gained more knowledge and strategies from my meteorology courses and reading materials. I was ready to put the new information into practice and see my first tornado. I had never chased on a high risk day before so hopes were high that this might be a day of success.

Arriving at home, I grabbed all my storm chasing essentials: power inverter to power my laptop, USB cord to tether my phone to my 3G data, and a camera. Two other friends would be joining us on this adventure: Luke (also my roommate for the summer) and Shelby. I checked my car, added some oil, and we were ready to go. We headed west on Highway 9 from Norman and targeted the dryline.

A large tornado (which became an EF5) was already on the ground near I-40 and moving northeastward, out of our reach. We continued westward on Highway 9 then turned northwest, crossing I-44, and stopping near the small town of Amber, north of Chickasha. We were targeting a storm with mid-level rotation but got caught on the wrong side of another supercell to the south. Our stop was brief as the updated radar image came in and small hail started falling. We retreated eastward then turned south ahead of the southern supercell.

As we moved south on small county roads, the storm began to show better signs of rotation. We reached our target, just south of Highway 9 on Colley Road, and hurriedly jumped out of the car to take a look to the west and southwest. The latest radar image showed a hook echo and we were in perfect position to see anything that would form.


Within two to three minutes, we saw low level rotation to our west-southwest. Soon after, dirt started breaking free from the ground and a funnel appeared. At 5:13pm CT (according to my camera's tag data), we saw our tornado.

We stood in awe of one of nature's most captivating and devastating phenomena. The tornado began with a small funnel cloud but quickly expanded and became bigger as it moved from left to right at our vantage point. Unsure of the distance between us and the tornado, we quickly became fearful as the tornado grew larger and appeared to be moving our way. Another group of chasers were jumping in their car and moving south, away from the twister. We made the decision to follow their lead and retreat as the sounds grew louder and the tornado moved closer. Fear and anxiety became panic as we searched in vain for the car keys. My heart had never beat so fast. We soon found them on the floorboard, fired up the car, and got south as quickly as we could.

From a safer distance to the south, we resumed our nature watching and took pictures with the tornado in the background (which my Twitter followers will recognize as my profile picture).

As the storm raged on and moved northeastward, the tornado grew larger and larger. By the time it was due north of us, it was massive. Shelby tweeted a picture (below) that would be picked up by the Associated Press and broadcast to millions on The Weather Channel, Yahoo!, and many other websites.

The tornado was rated an EF4 by the National Weather Service and was on the ground for 51 minutes. Sadly, one life was lost and 48 more were injured as the tornado grew and moved toward Moore. It would disintegrate two miles south of the OKC Airport. Oklahoma saw 12 tornadoes that day and the SPC received 58 tornado reports across the region, certainly verifying the high risk forecast issued.

May 24, 2011 was a day I'll never forget. In my mind, I cannot picture a better storm chase scenario. I spent the day with three great friends, we did not have to wait long or travel far, and I saw a tornado form right in front of me. Though I long to see it happen again, I have not been storm chasing since that day.*

*As of this writing on May 1, 2013.

Forecast graphic and radar images obtained from the Storm Prediction Center and National Weather Service (respectively) in Norman, Oklahoma.

For more pictures, see my Google+ album here: Tornado in OK (052411)