2/10/09 REPORTS: OK/AR/TX/MO/KS

[Erik Burns]

Here is the Real story

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.

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]

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]

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:

 

[Benjamin Rock]

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]

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]

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]

Cant believe it....

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]

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]

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]

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]

(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:

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:

The squall line behind us was now starting to push East a bit, and had some nice structure to it as well:

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:

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]

(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]

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. 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:

 

[Chris Hovanic]

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]

Ringgold Tornado....Almost

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'!