04/09/09 NOW: OK, KS.

[Chip Redmond]

I was wondering if some of that stuff showing up on radar behind the line of storms might be wildfires - especially that return southeast of Enid.

I was wondering that at first too but if you look the west/southwestward part doesn't move and stays focused in the same place. Wildfire. There are quite a few from that one to all the way down into Texas. You can also see them on satellite.

Looks like the storms south of Tulsa temporarily went linear. The northern most cell over Tulsa seems to be splitting and just got a TVS on radar. It is starting to take on supercelluar characteristics too.

I expect this to be the pattern. As each storm moves east they will one by one split northernly and go supercellular. May be a interesting evening after looking like poop there for a bit.

Chip

 

[Adam Lucio]

The cell heading for Wagoner is where I would be heading, its becoming isolated from everything else and might start going nuts soon. Its moving into an area of nicely backed flow so it will be interesting to see what it does.

 

[Jordan Hartley]

I got stuck working today so wasnt able to get out. Things got scary here over wichita as the line of storms to the north of town now developed over wichita. I observed low level rotation with rising vertical motion for about 20 minutes. There were several areas of rotation within a line that extended W-E across town as the line developed and moved north. As the main area of rotation I was observing passed directly over head the winds shifted to the south for about 5 minutes and picked up greatly(Inflow?) Very scary since it was right over town. I dont feel upset for having to work now

 

[Mike Umscheid]

Blech. The ~ 2100 to 2300 UTC cold core play window has come and gone with very little fanfare. I noticed a couple cyclonic shears of interest in Sedgwick county between 2205 and 2220 UTC north of the Garden Plain/Goddard area that caught my eye. Especially the super-res velocity at 2210 UTC about 6 NW Goddard on the 0.5deg slice. Other than that, a null event which I'll add to my list of cases to study

 

[Ryan McGinnis]

The Vinita storm had a nice hook for a while; really seemed like the little storm that could. The storm appears to have now simultaneously split and merged with a cell racing up from the SW. Couple of cams on the right split -- Aaron Cunningham is trailing along with it, and Reed Timmer is closing in from the northeast.

*edit* Cunningham now has a clear shot at the meso. Looks like a pretty pronounced wall cloud on his cam (though now watching it a bit, it's hard to figure if it's scud or not.)

 

[Bryan Stokes]

I'm standing outside of my car just north of Garden Plain listening to the wind. Not much to see in the linear mess to the North. I may shoot to the south to see if I can get some structure shots before heading home.

I work at McConnell AFB in Wichita and I observed the same low level rotation and vertical rising that Jordan saw. I was hopeful at first, but was dissapointed that things went linear so quickly.

Time to swing south.

Bryan

 

[Brian Stertz]

What looks to be a strong or maybe violent tornado is moving towards the OK/AR Border and... has turned right moving towards the city of Mena AR. Hopefully those folks are bunkering down in Polk Co.

 

[Paul Austin]

Nice isolated cell went up rapidly west of Naples, TX. Strong couplet showing on .50 SRV scan between Hughes Springs and Pittsburg.

 

[Brian Stertz]

Looks like the tornadic circulation will miss Mena thank goodness. Looks still very stout n' nasty... and is tracking into NW Polk and then S. Scott Counties.

 

[Paul Austin]

Northeast TX cell has split with a pronounced anticyclonic couplet racing northeast. I thought it was interesting the way the anticyclonic rotation has persisted longer than what is perhaps typical.

 

[Paul Austin]

Just saw a report on CNN of "hundreds of homes on fire" near Choctaw, OK. I know about the wildfires, but is this report accurate? The smoke on the sat loop for the entire day is amazing. I'll have to reassemble the images and post an animation.

You guys out in TX and OK need some of the rain we've gotten the last couple of weeks - 16+ inches since March 1st in many areas. It's amazing how much rain can accumulate over quite a large area when you have training MCS's over several days. The drought appears to be over for much of the southeast for now. In fact, there is talk I-10 will be shut down tomorrow due to the Suwannee River flooding. That river usually can barely be seen from the bridge - it takes a lot of water to flood I-10. Sorry for the aside. I just find the contrast interesting. And that without even bringing up the Red River flooding up north.

Hope the southern plains gets some rain soon, and not just the chaser in me. I'll be praying for it.

 

[Brian Emfinger]

Looks like the tornadic circulation will miss Mena thank goodness. Looks still very stout n' nasty... and is tracking into NW Polk and then S. Scott Counties.

We have some ppl on the way down there to check out the tornado that moved through Mena (unknown how severe at this point and also in Big Cedar (across the border in OK) which had reports of injuries. I couldnt get down that far unfortunately.

 

[Greg McLaughlin]

Interesting cell merger about to take place southwest of Hot Springs, AR.

 

[Paul Austin]

Northeast TX cell has split with a pronounced anticyclonic couplet racing northeast. I thought it was interesting the way the anticyclonic rotation has persisted longer than what is perhaps typical.

Here are a couple of short animations. This is at least 40 minutes after my previous post. Long-track left split? I believe the merger Greg is referring to is a result of this split.

 

[Paul Austin]

We have some ppl on the way down there to check out the tornado that moved through Mena (unknown how severe at this point and also in Big Cedar (across the border in OK) which had reports of injuries. I couldnt get down that far unfortunately.

Brian, I could be wrong about this, but I believe the impressive long-track cell actually missed Mena to the north. But a fast moving/developing cell to its south moved directly over Mena less than an hour later.