2011-05-19 REPORTS: OK/KS/TX/CO

[Brandon Jenkins]

We started today in anticipation of being in Northwest Oklahoma around 4pm to await initiation, so much for that. Initiation near Altus occurred shortly after 1pm and storms rapidly intensified as they moved into a more favorable environment. It took us roughly 2 hours to finally reach Western OK where we got on the cell that was near Hobart. It was tightening up on radar but sporadic data holes left us visual only. After finally coming into view of the base of the storm it became apparent that the storm would pass through the Wichita Mountains, not where we'd expected to end up today. Needless to say it provided for a very scenic intercept of this HP beast.

After winding around the mountains to avoid the core (storm had recently gone tor warned) we came into view of a rapidly rotating wall cloud and watched as it passed within half a mile and moved over a wind farm. It appeared at one point to put down a very brief spin up, but it was too hard to tell from our vantage point if it was in fact a brief tornado.

The color and structure of the storm was amazing and the scenery helped to make this a wonderfully photogenic storm, despite the terrain issues.

As the storm moved off we decided to move on to the more isolated cell near Vernon, TX. Upon arrival the storm looked amazing with great mid level rotation and classic stacked plate appearance. Unfortunately it morphed into an HP mess and despite a few ragged wall clouds it never managed to produce.

Overall an awesome day with some beautiful structure to make up for the lack of tornadoes, and I saved a little gas money in the process

 

[James Langford]

Chased with my partners Zack Biggs and Justin Terveen, with an initial target of Clinton, OK. We left Dallas around 11 and headed up I35 into OKC. Almost got suckered up into KS to play the warm front, but decided to stick with our west OK target. Storms were already firing as we headed West on 40. Dropped south on 54 out of Weatherford to intercept the northern most cell of the three that were going. It was an HP beast with terrible contrast until you were right underneath it. Observed the intense core near the intersection of 19 and 58, and here saw the D2 and it's convoy pass by us heading north into the core of the storm. Decided to wait for the next storm to approach, as it looked pretty good on radar. Observed it along 58 just south of 19. A strong wall cloud passed right over the wind farm to our west and was rotating intensely. We just managed to shoot south out of the core before getting munched. Headed into Lawton and decided to hit the next storm coming out of TX. Ended up on 70 near the town of Grandview and observed this very intense storm with an incredible inflow. A new meso formed just to our west and wrapped up very tightly but failed to produce. All in all, a very good day. Pictures and video to come.​

 

[Chris Vagasky]

No pictures here, since my chase occurred at about 11:30pm. At that time, the supercell cluster was coming into the OKC metro and didn't have any warnings on it. As I was driving home from work, I noticed the storm that was passing through Norman still had a big bowl meso, which is what first caught my attention. As I continued to watch it, I saw it begin to develop a wall cloud, and continued to follow it. The storm cycled through several wall clouds, at least one of which was very close to the ground.

 

[Winston Wells]

Like lots of other chasers, I arrived at my initial target of Pratt, KS just after noon. By mid-afternoon I was worried about the cu field that had developed over Kingman and Reno countries just west of Wichita, and when it fired a small cell I thought that I would have to play catch-up. The dryline, though, was still west of Pratt at that point, so I was happy when convection begin to fire off to the northwest, just south of I-70.

I headed north on US 281, targetting the cell that originated between Galatia and Hoisington. That storm quickly went severe and moved out of range, but I was in good shape to catch the next cell down the line. This storm proved to be a beauty, with a brillant, white knuckled updraft tower rising beneath a thin, expanding anvil. I ducked just a bit to the east of US 281 a few miles north of Hoisington and took the following pictures as the storm wrapped up. The views here are to the N and to the NNE.

I then hopped east on I-70 at Russell and followed the cell as it moved to the NE. It was now TOR-warned. I made two short forays to the north - one from the Dorrance exit up to Wilson Lake, and the other on KS 14 north to Lincoln. Here's one of several lowerings I saw on the southern edge of the cell near Wilson Lake, although at this point the best circulation was off to the NE and was being watched by a significant number of better positioned chasers. The picture below looks to the NW, and was taken just north of the I-70 Dorrance exit.

My detour up to Lincoln yielded little besides a prolonged beating of heavy rain. I then headed back south on KS 14 and east to Salina for the evening.

This was a fun chase in great territory, and I was generally happy with my decision-making. Somewhat surprisingly, I didn't encounter any hail.

 

[Chris Sokol]

Summer and I managed to get a late start on the day, but still was able to pull a rabbit out of the hat. Shot these on CR N2620 about a mile north of Hwy 62, looking toward Ft Cobb. Terrible contrast storm, but between the lens and some enhancing you can at least make it out. Can't complain though...managed to salvage the day at least.

 

[edward oneal]

Chased SW Kansas from Dodge City to Greensburg and back, hail up to quarter size and winds around 60+ that rolled over semi east of Greensburg. Here is link to Pictures http://www.flickr.com/photos/27494159@N04/sets/72157626644155041/