2007-03-28 REPORTS:TX/OK/KS/NE/CO/SD

[Bryce Stone]

Today was my first chase of the year. Also got a new ride (see avatar), and this was the first time I took it out. Been chasing the last few years in a beat-up old Caprice, so this car is a welcome change. Had to put decals on it so law enforcement wouldn't think I was trying to impersonate.

Went from central Oklahoma to Shamrock, went south a bit, then headed north. Found a storm cycling through wallclouds in far north Texas. Followed the storm into Lipscombe County and stayed with it until it produced. Saw at least 6 separate tornadoes (chase partner claims 8). Unfortunately, I never could get as close as I wanted due to wet dirt roads being the only option. Closest I got was probably 3/4 mi. to a mile away. My video is similar to Brandon Whittington's, only perhaps a bit further away.

The Lipscombe County storm was a very, very nice cyclic tornadic storm. It was a real pity that two people died. An EMT in Laverne, OK told me that the two people had been in the cellar and came out, thinking that the storm was over, only to be killed by it. Have no idea how true that is.

All in all, a great chase day and a great way to break in a new ride. I feel bad that the two people died, but at least it wasn't more. SPC showing 65 preliminary tornadoes. Looking forward to the '07 season!

 

[Justin Walker]

Chased solo today in SW NE. Caught the tornadoes near Grant, NE. Very tired, so here are a couple of pics. Hopefully will get a full report on Thursday.

 

[Zac Flamig]

Saw lots of action between Silverton and McLean, Texas. I'm sure one of the others will post a more detailed account of what happened so for now I'll just toss up some pictures.

 

[Jay McCoy]

About the same report as many others. Caught tornados from Silverton NE through McClean.

Also not reported as a tornado yet but it was was the "wind damage" near Miami in Roberts county that destroyed a trailer house and blew over a semi. We drove through the path with numerous snapped trees and powerlines and it was a tornado. hwy 60 was shut down. We were able to get through the scene because Kananis stepdad is the county sheriff and was onscene. Also 1 man was in the trailer house at the time and was killed. So that now makes 3 fatalities for the day

 

[Jason Boggs]

Got the tornado SW of Brice and also saw the large tornado near McLean. Here are some photos of the tornado SW of Brice and below is the link to the video.

HERE IS A LINK TO THE VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RApzuYGFn4I

 

[Genaro Estrada]

Hi, new member here. I live and work in San Jose, CA, so here are some mammatus pics I took up in Marysville, about 1/2 hour north of Sacramento, CA. from this very same system when it was over California a couple of days ago. Plan to go on my first mid-west chase May 17-May 24.

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

Here is the short report before I sleep. I'll do a whole deal up later.

I tried to bust, I really did. I'd say I should have, but I had some luck out there waiting around for a while now, and I'd say that's what this mostly was. Anyway, short part.....

I drove back west to Grant to check on my storm I'd been waiting on for what seemed like forever. I thought it was pointless behind the stuff to the southeast, but it became tornado warned so I went back to check it out. Before I got to Grant and before I could really see any structure on the thing, I see a large tornado on the ground. I tried to video tape it as I moved west further. These start after that part on the east side of Grant looking sw, then west.

It was doing some pretty wild things with small and larger vorticies under this bowl. I didn't do well at capturing the larger ones with the still cam(I was doing stills and video....or at least trying to).

Same spot but now looking west towards Grant.

It got rather large as it moved west of town. I left about right now and drove north with it. It stayed on the ground for a while longer, changing shapes, mostly large. I glanced at the video on the way back home and one pause it reminded me of Brady, but at night obviously, and without the same kind of storm structure, but the tube sure did make me think of that. It was even moving nw.

It wrapped in rain and just as fast a new area was spinning up to the se. This area soon had another tornado on the ground. This time it didn't last as long, but the funnel/cone tornado was there for a long time, just having a harder time staying down. I grabbed a pop at Ogallala before heading east, while it was still sort of there to my sw. I soon regretted doing this as the power flickered there. I get on I80 and the winds become ferocious. I was a bit fearful something was again spinning up se of the old area. It sounds like something did some damage to the west side of the town. Anyway, more later. Congrats to the large number of folks who bagged today and sorry to hear the dreadful fatalities that came with this day.

By the way this was a storm just north of the Benklemen stuff, crazy to hear there were large tornadoes south of this one that close.

 

[Russel Parsons]

Booker, Texas/Beaver, Oklahoma, Tornado

Wow, what a trip, in more ways than one. I did get to witness the Booker, Texas/Beaver, Oklahoma wedge tornado. I got a few photographs that I will post sometime tomorrow. I didn't get into a very good position, so my photos are not of the tornado at it largest. I want to thank Joey Ketchum for nowcasting. If it wasn't for him, my day would not have been very eventful. I will post more later today, as I just got home a few minutes ago.

I started out by heading west towards my initial target of Pratt, Kansas. After arriving in Pratt, I checked data, and I determined that I would need to get as far south and west as I possibly could, if I was going to see anything during the daylight hours. I proceeded south through Coldwater, Kansas and then to Woodward, Oklahoma. I got as far southwest as Canadian, Texas, when I determined that the supercell northwest of town was my only hope. I zipped up 83 highway and then caught 23 highway. I headed north towards Booker, Texas, and as I was doing so, I got some good photos of a large wall cloud southeast of Booker. I proceeded north on 23 highway past Booker, and I saw a large tornado on the ground, approximaly 1-2 miles north-northeast of Booker, Texas. As I continued north on 23 highway, I did get some video, looking east, of the large wedge tornado. I turned eastbound on highways 270/412, and continued for about four miles. The tornado had already crossed the highway at this point, so I stopped and got some decent photos of it, as it continued moving north. Unfortunately, not too far from this location, the tornado caused two fatalities.

I traveled a little over 900 miles, and I was rewarded for my efforts. I will attempt to get some still caputures of my video posted to the Chase Log and Photos section of my website, when time permits.

The rest of my photos can be found here.
(The best way to view them is to use the slideshow function)

 

[Doug_Kiesling]

Beaver OK deadly tornado

I have been talking with Verne Carlson throught the night and early morning. He was out chasing with his son who is on spring break. They chased the Beaver OK wedge tornado that ended up killing 2 people.

Verne is on his way back to Denver now but I have posted the video up to YouTube for him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgq0QuscU5s

Verne will post the full report later today.
​

 

[edward oneal]

Chased the tornadic storm that passed near Dodge City from its first updraft to Hodgeman Co. Saw 6 tornadoes from this storm and many funnel clouds over 2hr period. most of the larger tornadoes from this storm came after dark, so still pics did not come out only a few before dark. Added some damage shots from 1/2 mile wide tornado NW of Dodge City in Hodgeman Co. Also some video traps of tornado that was west of Dodge City. these are converted to B/W to add contrast to show tornadoes better.
http://spotted.dodgeglobe.com/pages/gallery.php?gallery=310015

 

[Mikey Gribble]

I was on the storm in NW Kansas in Decator (not sure if that's spelled right) county. I only got one tornado. It was high contrast cone that was on the ground for 10-15 minutes. Oddly enough they didn't even have a severe thunderstorm warning out when I called the tornado in. It was showing strong rotation for a good 10 minutes before it produced so I don't know how that one slipped by the weather service. Anyways, not a bad day. I wish I would have gotten multiple tornadoes, but it's tough to complain when you get on a tornadic supercell in March. I'll post again with some video or pics when I get home this afternoon. Congratulations to everybody who bagged the tornadoes yesterday.

 

[Zac Goode]

Had an awesome chase with some new friends. Saw 3 or 4 tors.... AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

 

[Chad Love]

Caught the Booker/Beaver County tornado as it crossed the state line in to Beaver County and stayed with it until it hit the house north of US 270. I'm a state stringer for the Oklahoman so I had to break off and go cover the fatalities but I think the tornado roped out about six miles north of there. I did see one other tornado form and briefly touch down to the east and north of the first one. There was some damage reported near Mocaine and this second tornado may have caused that, I don't know.

The house and good-sized barn were completely destroyed. Bad scene. Wild night. 270 was shut down due to powerlines and the section roads were nothing but mud. I had to get back to Woodward so I could file before deadline so I locked the hubs, crossed my fingers and went muddin'. Took a while but I made it. Intense wind and rain on the way home.

My pics are up on the Oklahoman website and in today's metro edition but for the life of me I can't find a link to them on the Oklahoman website. I know they're there somewhere because someone posted a link to them in one of the local newspaper forums (pasted below).

I have to go back today for a follow-up story and I'll try to post some damage pics later.

Chad Love

http://community.cnhi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/25710611/m/947108287/r/817101387#817101387

 

[Tim Marshall]

TARGET WAS: Eastern Texas Panhandle. RESULT: WOWZA. The Marshall's first got on the Silverton storm and saw a tornado travel from about 10 SW of Silverton to just west of town. A second tornado then formed north of town and headed off the caprock. Since we ran out of road options, we dropped southeast to a second storm. Saw a highly visible, long track tornado travel from near Caprock Canyons State Park to southwest of Clarendon. We ended the chase between Hedley and McLean when it got dark. Each tornado had intermittent contact with the ground. Rather than calling them separate tornadoes, I counted only one tornado per mesocyclone. Thus, we saw three. Shot more than 100 slides and lots of video. Quickly making up for last years bustolas. TM

 

[Jerry Funfsinn]

Chased western Kansas with Skip Talbot. What a chase !! Numerous tornadoes along with following the wedge after dark. Will post more later,
when I get home.

Jerry Funfsinn
http://www.creativejetstream.com