I pursued the tail-end storm on the line of storms in N. OK and S. KS from southeast of Enid, OK to southeast of Winfield, KS. At times it was backbuilding fast enouth to offset the rapid northward storm motion so I could just sit and watch; at others I could barely keep up, even hauling north on I-35. Only saw one severe report for this storm, though it had several warnings, but the tail end was sufficiently isolated and free of surrounding clouds to be beautifully sunlit and produce several nice rainbows - so it was a very photogenic storm even if it did not produce much in the way of severe.
I first got on the storm near Covington, shortly after it went SVR warned at 4:45. Around that time, it produced 67 mph wind at Vance AFB near Enid, and I could see the shelf cloud off to the NW. It tried to produce some small lowerings under the updraft, and the backbuilding made it quite chaseable for a while even though the reported motion was N at 50.
Eventually, though, it got away from me, and I had to blast north on 14 and back east on 412 to I-35. I caught up again around Blackwell, where I cut over on 11 to 77 and followed in N into KS. The updrafts near the tail end strengthened, and it tried to produce an RFD near Newkirk:
The south end of the line of storms had become very low-based and very isolated from any surrounding clouds, so it was well-lit and photogenic. Here's proof you don't need tornadoes to have a successful chase:
This pic was taken from just east of Arkansas City, KS.
Later, new storms went up west of the line, and though numerous, they were less linear and more individual, as shown by this pic:
This picture was taken near Winfield, KS just before sunset.
The trend of more individual storms continued after dark, as upper winds shifted to the west on the back side of the shortwave, creating better shear. Naturally, after dark and around the time I found a motel in ICT ('twarn't easy, with the Special Olypics in town!), new storms in Cowley Co, KS produced multiple tornadoes. Such is fate in 2005! :evil: In fact, a tornado may have occured around 10 p.m. in almost the exact spot of the Arkansas City above.
Edited 6/5 to add more detail and two new pics.