2013-05-18 REPORTS: TX/OK/KS/NE

[Dennis Oswald]

First targeted Pratt,KS then Greensburg,KS. Got 4 tornadoes that day. Awesome photogenic chaseday!

 

[Rob H]

Targeted Kinsley, got a late start due to construction in Minneapolis, MN and KC. Pulled into Kinsley 20 minutes before a cell popped near Greensburg. Sat and watched it on radar until it lasted a few scans longer than the other cells that would go up and get squished. Went south of town to watch it try to get it's act together. There was evidence of a rotating updraft, but the base was really high, and it looked like it was struggling to produce a lowering or lower its base.

Kept watching it struggle for half an hour or so, when finally a hail core formed that we sat in for a few minutes. Once we got out of the hail core near Rozel, the rotation really tightened up and produced a nice wall cloud with funnel. The Rozel tornado touched down and this is what we saw:

 

[Brett Roberts]

I left Norman at 9am leaning toward the northern target near and N of I-70, figuring boundary layer mixing would be less problematic there. After lunch in WWR, I meandered N through Greensburg and Kinsley until storms erupted on the dryline to my W. The cluster of cells which eventually became supercellular over Trego and Ness Co. initially only drew me as far N as LaCrosse, where I figured I could hedge and wait for them to show their cards. After over half an hour of said hedging, I could no longer resist, and shot WNW to get under the base as rotation developed N of Ness City. On arriving, though, I found a high-based mess that looked and felt decidedly outflow dominant. I stuck around long enough to take a few structure shots before the cool outflow and maddening chaser convergence sent me packing.

As I drove back SE, I monitored both the Coldwater/Buffalo and Kinsley area storms, unimpressed with the evolution of either. It was only as I approached the latter that things became interesting. From US-183 near Sanford, I observed a nice high-based funnel documented at the beginning of the YouTube video below. Still, the storm itself was underwhelming for the time being. Nonetheless, I figured I'd give it a shot, since it was more discrete than anything else at the time. After pulling off on a dirt road S of Sanford, I noted a marked improvement in the storm structure to my WSW, with the updraft base looking increasingly ominous.

As rotation ramped up and the RFD carved out the cloud base, I hurried a few miles W on dirt roads from US-183, and had my mind blown alongside hundreds of other chasers. Rozel was potentially the most photogenic tornado I've witnessed in eight years of chasing, with the only other candidates being Brice (2007-03-28) and Manitou (2011-11-07). As I had with those, I once again chose to remain stationary as soon as circulation was on the ground -- in this case, about 3 mi. to the ESE of the tornado -- in order to take tripoded stills. One of these days I'll have to bite the bullet and sacrifice still quality to get close, but so far, the OCD photographer in me hasn't allowed it. One nice result, though, was that I obtained stationary dash-mounted video of the entire tornado life cycle, which made for good time-lapse.

Watch video >

Stills from Rozel:

Sanford:

 

[Michael Towers]

One of the most efficient chases I've ever had with an active pursuit of one cell for under 25 miles yielding 4 tornadoes. Instead of a single day marathon from home I did an overnight in Des Moines after leaving work Friday night and departed Saturday morning for my target of Larned. I was in position to intercept the northern cells but opted to remain targeted for my initial area and settled in Kinsley watching the northern storms go tornado warned and cells in the OK panhandle go severe. I was never tempted for the northern cells but quite frankly came a hair shy from pursuing the southern cells. Instead I remained set and hoped the struggling cell near my location would realize the better potential forecast by the RAP. My patience was rewarded not only with multiple tornadoes but what turned out to be one of the most leisurely and least stressful chases I've had. One isolated cell moving slowly in a direction that allowed me to pursue it the vast majority of the time on the same back road...with surprisingly little traffic/chaser convergence considering the hordes that were out there. This day made up for some of the frenzied days where you bust your hump only to end up empty-handed at the end of a long pursuit...while cells you either didn't target or couldn't reach were the ones that produced. But of course that other shoe would drop the following day.

Highlight video of three of the four tornadoes:

Watch video >

 

[Derek Weston]

(will fill with content shortly)

 

[Paul Schmit]

I was driving from Albuquerque to Oklahoma City on I-40 getting ready for the 5/19 chase and got cut off just east of Elk City by the slow moving line of congealed hailers draped across the highway. Pulled off on a farm road west of Elk City to grab my consolation prize while waiting for the storms to clear the freeway:

This was both my first Great Plains chase, and unfortunately I couldn't recruit any help to come with, so 5/19 near OKC turned out to be grueling but very instructive (albeit sorely under-documented due to flying solo). It was actually kind of nice to be able to pull over and enjoy this sunset scene without any pressing need to get somewhere quickly.

 

[Nathan Edwards]

Some pics from our chase on May 18th

And some video

 

[Rick Schmidt]

I will add 2 images from my series, since I haven't seen many stills of the final stages as it was moving northwest. Tim Metz and I were just south of the Weather Channel team, and had a front row view, including a spin-up 100 feet in front of us. No video of that, though.





View attachment 7655



View attachment 7656

 

[Danny Neal]

http://nrnilstormchaser.com/130518/ Full chase log

 

[Adam Lucio]

Caught the tornadoes near Rozel and Sanford as well. After a painful 2012 and first half of 2013, this was the chase I needed! Was able to tripod the entire life cycle of the Rozel tornado from a single location and then fairly close to the ropeout of our last tornado, which actually went back west over our location. GREAT CHASE!

Full log: http://www.aerostorms.com/rozel-kansas-tornado-may-18th-2013/

 

[Cody Taylor]

My initial target was Greensburg, Ks. As the tornado watch was issued i sat 2 miles west of Greensburg on highway 183 to go over some models and observe. I saw the cell fire to our north but i knew we wouldnt be able to catch it. I also had confidence that another storm would fire right where we were at. I got on the storm that produced the Rozel tornado right as it developed. I watched the entire life cycle of the tornado. I also debated on going after the northern storm because the rozel storm took awhile to get its act together. I am thankful i didnt as this was one of my most succesful chases to date. It was also one of the most photogenic tornados ive ever caught. Alot of my photos turned out blurry, i think it was due to my aperture settings or focus.

Here is the timelapse video i recorded of the entire life cycle of the first tornado. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaCnPdtY8Kc

Here are some pictures

This was the storm right as it began to develop

It was producing alot of high based funnels as shown here











This was the second funnel it produced

 

[Zack Hargrove]

Here's the full version of our experience with the Rozel/Stanford supercell and tornadoes. We watched the entire life of this storm.

Watch video >

 

[John Farley]

My video is now up on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGP_aTDJIb8


Full report with additional pictures and detailed chase log at: http://www.johnefarley.com/chase51813.htm

 

[Wes Carter]

Based on the RUC I initially chose Hays, Kansas as my starting point. Watching the visible satellite and METAR data I liked the look of the area just south of Greensburg. So I went to Greensburg and sat in a parking lot at the junction of 183 and 400 and watched the CU field build. It seemed to be having trouble pushing through the cap until after 6PM, then the cell that formed directly west of Greensburg started looking better and better. Shane Adams, Bridget Geaughan, and Adam Reagan showed up earlier so I convoyed with them. We watched the first tornado form and rope out and caught the second one after almost abandoning the storm, thinking it was finished. We ended up following the storm all the way to Larned and Great Bend. That was a first for me: Watching a storm form from blue skies and turn into a tornado producing classic supercell then into an MCS.

 

[StephenHenry]

Left from Albuquerque in the morning with a target on Greensburg. Like quite a few others, I followed the initial cumulus towers from near Bucklin all the way to the Rozel tornadoes. I don't have much additional insight to post beyond what has already been said. But one thing I did notice that hasn't been mentioned yet, is the incredible spike in lightning CGs about 7-8 minutes before the initial tornado. It was so pronounced I pulled over to shoot some video. I remember reading on here about a CG spike as a possible precursor for some storms. (That thread here.) Did anyone else notice this?

Anyway here's my video for the day. Being my first really legit tornado, I might have gone a little overdramatic

Watch video >