2011-05-23 REPORTS: OK

[Doug Drace]

Chased SW OK this afternoon and got on one helluva bad ass Classic Tornadic Supercell! The storm developed near Sentinel, OK, was moving ENE early in its development, then began to really explode east of Sentinel where it began right turning. I got on it about 1 mi east of Cooperton on HWY 19 from 54. It was an amazing sculpture show with some of the most rediculous inflow I have ever experienced! Winds were a minimum 45 mph sustained, with gusts easily to 60 mph! The low level flow was so strong, huge 1-2 mile long plumes of dust and condensing moisture were being yanked into the meso which was a really awesome sight! Further east, about halfway between Cooperton and Apache a brilliant elephant trunk-like funnel spun over head for a good 5 min, with a second shorter lived second one as well. The funnel dissipated, then a new wallcloud began to organize further east, so I shot over to the intersection of 19/58, headed south a few miles to the base of the hills with the wind farms and watched what appeared to be a huge inflow tail/gust front develop on the east side of 58, then 3 seperate areas of rotation. Eventually the eastern most circulation took over about 2 mi east of my location where a huge wallcloud developed with intense vertical motion and what I thought was a good size tornado developing...however the hills were blocking my view of the ground where the circulation was. So I headed a little further south, rolling video out my window to the east (thank god I was rolling video), cause I caught a large stove pipe tornado fully in contact with the ground which had a large debris cloud! After that the cap took over and the storm pulled a fast dissappearing act. Great warm up chase for the fireworks tomorrow in Oklahoma!!!

Intense Inflow Plumes into the Meso ENE of Cooperton

Sculpted Meso that was sucking in that crazy Inflow

Elephant Trunk Funnel west of Boone

Large Stove Pipe Tornado 5 mi south of Boone

Got stopped by a state trooper just before getting to the storm doing 85 mph....thankfully he liked storm chasers and let me go with a warning and wished me luck...pretty cool.

 

[Jason Foster]

NORTH CAROLINA

Not sure this gets a different thread since it's far removed from the action in OK

Mark Ellinwood and I headed out starting around 1pm from the DC area and booked it south. Got stuck for a good 45 minutes on I-495 right on the Potomac River bridge (MD/VA border) just 16 miles from home. Accident shut down the roadway completely. Memories of April 16, NC chase started to haunt my thoughts.

We finally got underway and arrived in Emporia, VA area (far south VA along I-95), but didn't stay long as a couple of blips showed up on radar along the VA/NC border. Storms grew quickly and we got into a decent position while a couplet on radar forms. At this point there were two then three cells...with us in the middle cell's position. But with surface winds outta the SW and the storms forming along that same line, it was time to head for tail end charlie.

We stayed with that storm for quite a bit. That is where the majority of the video is taken from:



We did report a funnel near Ahoskie, North Carolina, but I'm pretty convinced it was on the ground...but I didn't feel comfortable making the official report as such since I didn't have any direct visual confirmation of such. Plenty of ration the entire time though.

 

[Chad Cowan]

Bill Reid, Chris Gullikson and I saw the rope tornado near Okeene, OK from a distance. It never fully condensed but the shape was beautiful. This wide shot shows the storm structure from the east as the tornado was in progress.

 

[Michael Towers]

Got on the cluster of cells as they went SVR warned near New Cordell and stayed with the dominant one until it’s astonishingly quick demise near Lake Ellsworth. It was probably the most leisurely chase I’ve had in years as the cell moved along at a snail’s pace over a relatively decent road network. Staying with the circulation was easy and it maintained a Classic status throughout, enabling excellent visibility and negating any need to risk encountering hail. In fact, I don’t think my windshield got a drop of rain the entire chase; a few stones out of the blue were experienced in the early stages but they were thrown miles away from the core. The closest I saw to it producing was just north of Saddle Mountain at the intersection of 19 & 115. At that point it tightened up and spun a few small funnels along with a small rotating wall cloud. That was basically the end of anything decent for me as I took 115 SE to stay ahead of the SE moving storm, stopping occasionally to observe and appreciate what really was some nice structure. In all it was a nice stress free chase with the Wichita Mountains providing a scenic background.

Funnels & wall cloud:

Watch video >

 

[Ben Holcomb]

Nice local chase after work. The best structure of the year so far! http://www.benholcomb.com/Chase-Accounts/20110523

 

[Tony Laubach]

FULL REPORT WITH VIDEO AND PICTURES HERE.

Intercepted the Longdale tornado which looked more like a Colorado landspout than an Oklahoma tornado. None-the-less, had a great view of the beautiful funnel and debris swirl. Also saw a brief spin-up under a funnel producing area of the storm prior to the pretty tornado.