2013-05-31 REPORTS: OK/KS

[Hank Schyma]

Here's the big El Reno Tornado. More footage of a second tornado, maybe a third... too tired to sort through.

 

[Skip Talbot]

Video grab of Jenn shooting the El Reno tornado:

Sat in El Reno all day with Jennifer Brindley Ubl and Nick Nolte watching people, including chasers, swim in the lake, before dropping just south of town to watch this supercell pass by. Noted a cone tornado west of town, which may have transitioned into a wedge, but the contrast made it difficult to discern the continuity. We noted power flashes and several suction vortices east of town as well. Gave the storm a wide berth, and stayed south of the updraft base/wall cloud since we could see funnels (possibly anticyclonic on the southern end of the RFD bookend vortex) spinning up under the rain free base. We took our south escape route with time to spare once we approached the OKC burbs. The traffic was straight out of an apocalypse movie, but we made it out only getting clipped by the edge of the RFD. We spent the next two hours going the long the way around OKC. Every south and west highway was packed solid with cars fleeing the storm.

 

[Brandon Jenkins]

Updated to reflect exact driving route.

We observed the initial touchdown from Reno RD. and drove east stopping a couple of times before turning south on Airport Rd after the tornado had transitioned south across Reno Rd. After encountering slow chaser traffic and becoming engulfed in the outer circulation/rain bands we turned east on SW 29th to attempt an escape to the east. After roughly 2 miles we again turned south where we were able to escape East on 59th and subsequently S on US 81 (where we encountered heavy traffic).

 

[Mike Talbot]

It's not the best quality, but here's my video of the El Reno tornado.

Watch video >

 

[J Allen]

After an epic bout of structure on the 30th, the final day of this chase trip from our home in NY ended with one heck of a bang. We watched the storm from the lake on the west side of El Reno from its birth, to its first severe, its first tornado warning and watched it structure to the nines, before planting the tornado and wedge near El Reno. Heres one of my pictures of the wedge from southeast of El Reno, we stayed a little further out to enjoy the structure. Have plenty more that will be put up on the facebook page (www.facebook.com/HuntersofThunder) in good time including panoramics (will update this thread as well when the log is complete. Despite the destruction and death, one positive note was this was my girlfriend Rose's first US tornado (not a weak dust swirl anyway).

 

[Brandon Clement]

Started the day just south of El Reno and worked our way into the area before the first storm fired. Immediately got on the southern cell and watched for a good 10 minutes before it started to produce. We came in from Hwy 81 and then went west on a dirt road. Just knew we were in for something big. What we didn't realize was our first east option back out to Hwy 81 only existed on maps. The next thing we didn't realize was some boneheaded State Trooper took it upon himself to block traffic from dropping south on 81. We decided to reposition when the tornado was still a couple miles from us. However, by the time we found out the road didn't exist and back track out to 81 the tornado was uncomfortably close but not what I would consider dangerous. When the State Trooper on 81 had the hwy blocked we tried to go around him but he pulled his car up to block us. Then tried to go behind him and he backed up and did the same thing. This left us (and quite a few others) only a due east option with a monster on our trail. The inflow winds were so intense it limited how fast we could go down the road and it quickly became obvious it was going to overtake us. I attempted to take a south road in a last ditch effort but it the inflow winds were pulling my car so hard that I had very little control. I had the cow scene from twister happen, except it was a wheel barrow and just tucked into someones driveway and got behind a semi truck that was parked behind a mound a couple feet tall. I put my front bumper against the bumper of the semi and held on. The metal building to the left of the car got sucked up in an instant and things got very interesting. As the wind turned I kept the nose of the car facing the wind. We were in a Prius and since it is shaped like a wedge we could feel the wind actually pushing the car down. The semi rocked and shook but never went over and that was our saving grace. We weren't in the center of the tornado but it wasn't a glancing blow either. At one point we could see nothing. My windshield and headlights look like they've been wet sanded but other than that we were good to go. My father had been wanting to go chasing with me for a decade and this was his first chase trip, pretty sure he got his money's worth but I really don't think he fully grasps the situation we were in.

Today's chase went from pleasant to life threatening on a whim of a single cop. If anyone happens to have a way to identify the officer please contact me.


Last shot I took of the tornado before moving.

So disappointed we didn't get video but hard to get made at the old man in that situation. He did manage to get this shot just before we went bumper up to the truck. The tornado expanded and contracted faster than any storm I've ever witnessed. The white cargo container in the pic came by us well over 100mph just rolling and flipping.

 

[Bob Schafer]

It's important to note that this is a copy/paste of an email I just sent to a friend. Also, you've all seen the pics and vids, so I'm not going to bother. Here is my tale:

I started out in Kingfisher, which is where the storm essentially initiated. When a north-south line (multiple cells) developed from I-40 to north of Kingfisher my only viable option was to go east all the way to Hwy 74, taking the shortcut through Cashion. I then took 74 south, which took me right into the metro area, on I-44, and I got on I-40 to get back west toward the storm. By this time, the line of storms had morphed into the single supercell with the tornado tracking down 40.


My plan as I reached the western outskirts of the OKC metro was to go to 92/Cemetery Rd (just S of Yukon) and then south from there, but when I exited there the storm was closer than I liked, so instead I got back on the freeway going east, and then got back off and headed south at Mustang Road.


At this point I felt comfortable. For one thing, I knew that the "main" core of the storm had already passed to the northeast of me. After driving a mile or so I stopped at a parking lot to take a leisurely look at the storm. At no time did I ever see any actual tornado, because as is often the case with these Oklahoma/Texas storms, the air was so thick with humidity, plus falling rain, that my view into the underside of the storm base was obscured. I stopped a couple times more as I slowly proceeded south.

I don't remember when I realized that the storm had made a 90-degree turn southward, but as soon as I did my stopping for gawking breaks ended.

Before getting to Mustang I got in the "slowly moving parking lot" for the first time. I still wasn't panicked, because I had a pretty safe distance between me and the storm approaching me from the north, plus I assumed that the traffic tie-up wouldn't last long. I thought I would be out of it for sure once I got south of Mustang. Wrong.

About 30-40 minutes(?) later I still hadn't made it to the Canadian River, and that was a huge problem, because even though my mapping/GPS is perfect for such a scenario, allowing me to navigate the gravel and dirt roads nobody else would be using, there WERE no other roads that could get me across the river. As I sat there my radar indicated a hook was passing right over my head. The wind blew ferociously and rain whipped horizontally, and I thought I might die right then and there. All my windows fogged up inside the car as the pressure suddenly dropped. I saw curtains of rain wrapping around me about a quarter mile ahead. People in other cars were panicking. They were driving south in the northbound lanes, squealing tires, driving on the grass, you name it. And then, all the drama stopped and a gentle rain resumed. Phew. There were a couple other times when hooks went right over me, but with less drama.

Eventually I got past the river and took the first side street indicated on my mapping software, and for the next hour I pounded southward, then westward, down one gravel road after another until I felt I could call it a day.

I ended up near Apache, which is where I spent another hour or so looking for a good spot to park and settle in for the night. I found one north of Apache where there was a turnoff in the trees for an old abandoned oil well.

This was my fourth night of sleeping in my car this year. I've found it to be pretty convenient, actually, because when I wake up at dawn I'm ready to go. Just turn the key and I'm off. Not to mention the cost savings, and I've found that I sleep just fine behind the wheel. (No jokes, please!)

 

[joel ewing]

Landed in Omaha Wed. the 29th at 5:30pm to begin my annual 3 week chase season. Next I grabbed my rental SUV and decided I'd hook up with my buddy Warren Faidley down in Oklahoma for Saturday's action. As soon as I turned on the radio I heard tornado warnings for just one county to my west! That doesn't happen very often, and it reminded me of flying into Omaha on May 29th 2004 and bagging a wedge and an elephant trunk tornado in Southern Nebraska just 90 minutes after landing! I was proud of myself this time for opting not to jump on these warnings, as it was chilly and soggy at the airport, and I knew that whatever tornadic storm was next door to me was doomed to a quick death as soon as it would move into this cool environment. But oh man... was it tough not to go blasting after it! Heck, the same system had dropped 8 or 9 confirmed tornadoes already around that area a just a couple of hours before I landed. As I worked my way south thru inner Omaha I looked off to my west and saw a beautiful wall cloud and a fat funnel halfway to the ground, but this chaser boldly and with extreme courage (not really) stayed firm and just kept on driving away from it. I was tired from the nite before, so when I finally drove into Beatrice, Nebraska (btw...pron. BEE-AT=RISS) which is about an hour south of Lincoln, I grabbed a "HIX" (Holiday Inn Express) and crashed for the nite. The next morning, I was ready for a drive! I called Warren, and then right around dinner time Thursday evening I finally hooked up with him and his clients in OKC. We had a really nice steak and wine dinner and then headed out to grab motels for the nite. Warren and his crew grabbed a HIX at El Reno, and dangit...it turns out those were the last 3 rooms in the entire place, and with all the motels in El Reno completely full, I had to drive another 45 min. west (just my luck) all the way to Weatherford, Oklahoma to find a decent motel. I WILL NOT stay in a fleabag....and I've had bedbugs bite me in cheap motels, so I've learned my lesson. The next morning (Sat.) we all met at the El Reno HIX and planned our moves. We figured El Reno would be in the action for sure, but we also knew from past experience that IF El Reno got hit, we'd get stuck on the freeway and our chase would be over quickly. We decided to play the southwest end and opted for a town near Lawton, the name escapes me at the moment...but it was close enough to Lawton to hear the bombing practice. You know.....a good chaser has to know when to hold 'em and when to fold 'em. Our little armada of 3 chase vehicles sat together as a group near a convenience store (man...we went thru the bottled water, it was HOT and HUMID). We saw the 3 cells go up over El Reno both visually and on radar from about an hour south, and it was agonizing to not just cave in and go after them. However, we felt very strongly that with their close proximity to each they'd soon seed each other with outflows and get killed off, and I'm still stunned as I write this that it didn't play out that way. As we kept watching the "Big 3" we also kept a very close eye on tail-end-Charlie prospects that we just off to our southwest. We were sure we were in the perfect spot. As the minutes ticked by we kept continually shaking our heads at the inability of the southern prospects to gain much size or strength....as they were in what we felt was an ideal atmosphere to prosper. These updrafts were surrounded by blue skies with nothing but heat and juicy dewpoints, with seemingly nothing that we could see to impede their progress. Warren switched on legendary OKC weatherman Gary England on live TV, and even HE was talking about how the Big 3 would soon hopefully start working against each other and diminish in size and strength. Unfortunately...the rest is history....it wasn't long afterwards that the show started in earnest and the tornadoes began dropping down. As we began hearing about the first tornadoes near El Reno it made me immediately think back to the nice old lady working the front reservation desk at the Holiday Inn Express in El Reno who... when she saw my "storm chase-team" T-Shirt, began asking me "Is it supposed to hit here??" I told her in quite serious terms that she really really needed to pay close attention to the weather for the next few hours, as this was a very serious day shaping up in her area. I've thought of her a lot since that afternoon, because when our chase team was finally done for the evening, I attempted to call her in an attempt to get rooms for all of us, but could not get the hotel answer. For all I know, the Holiday Inn Express took a hit, but haven't been able to get any info on that yet.....does anybody happen to knowabout that?? OK.....back to our chase. Once the live tornado reports began coming in, we had a decision to make. We either needed to break off our tail-end-Charlie that was giving us mixed signals..(.showing strengthening for awhile, then looking tepid again 10 minutes later) and go for the OKC action or sit tight where we were. Knowing that history was probably being made in OKC as we sat there, I told Warren that since 2 of his paying clients (a husband and wife all the way from the U.K.) were only going to be here one more nite...it might be prudent to to try and make it up to OKC and perhaps get a long-distance view of what would probably be ongoing tornadoes. We were @ 65 miles from OKC at this point. We all took a vote, and it was unanimous......bail on the southern storm we'd been babysitting and go for it up north. So....that's what we did. We didn't speed, although the temptation was sure there to do so. Finally, we got thru Marlow...then north of there we began to see power flashes, and then a storm base and wall cloud. Not too long after that we saw the first of several tornadoes. We've all seen the photos, I won't post any. I was most happy because the husband-wife from Liverpool, England that were Warren's clients DID get to witness something that they'll remember for the rest of their lives. You know, it's one thing for a person to see a tornado out in some obscure field somewhere. But it's a whole different scene when a major city is being chewed up as you watch it happen live knowing that surely there are fatalities unfolding before your eyes. And I won't even get into discussing the insane traffic near the city. Hey...no longer will I sit quietly when some fool tries to blame chasers for clogging up the roads. Forget that....the LOCALS were the ones who were absolutely being ludicrous. It was insane. Bumper to bumper of rubber-necking moronic locals....for miles. We even witnessed the proverbial local-yokel in his pickup truck drinking beer as he was driving while looking at the sky....then throwing the empty beer cans out his window into the back of his pickup bed! And in closing let me go on record by saying that I'm thankful to The Good Lord that the crew of the Weather Channel didn't get themselves killed. I mean that sincerely. That being said...I DO FEEL that it is because of entities like "THE GREAT TORNADO HUNT" and similar hype-driven storm chasing shows that we now have a river of humanity in their vehicles driving bumper-to-bumper after anything remotely tornadic. What did they expect??

 

[Bob Schafer]

I had to drive another 45 min. west (just my luck) all the way to Weatherford, Oklahoma to find a decent motel. I WILL NOT stay in a fleabag....and I've had bedbugs bite me in cheap motels, so I've learned my lesson.

Please see this: http://www.bedbugregistry.com/location/OK/

Names on that list: Doubletree, Hilton, Clarion, Courtyard by Marriott, Crowne Plaza, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Sheraton...

 

[Scott Weberpal]

MOD NOTE: Cut the crap folks and stay on topic. I just deleted a bunch of off-topic posts and if I see any more, infractions will be issued. If you don't like how someone formats or writes their report, don't read it.

 

[Winston Wells]

I too had a tense experience south of the El Reno storm on what we now know was a terribly tragic day for our community. I waited for initiation at the Waterloo exit off of I-35 just north of Edmond, hoping that the day's chase would track north of the metro area. As it turned out, the many chasers who started west of the city on I-40 were much more on target.

The beginning of my chase mirrored the account of Bob Schafer above. Once tops became apparent on KTLX's radar around 4 p.m., I actually moved north on OK-74 and waited a bit at the intersection with OK-33. Once the initial three cells fired off of the dryline to the west, I headed west on OK-33 toward Kingfisher, hoping that the most northern cell of the three - which was directly to my west - would somehow be able to stay discrete. Unfortunately, it quickly got seeded with precipitation from the two cells to the south just as its updraft base was starting to look promising.

So, the only obvious play was to get south and try to get in front of the rapidly developing El Reno cell. I opted to drop south from OK-33 on a pretty good road toward Reeding and Piedmont, eventually then heading east on Waterloo Road until I reached OK-74 again. I was then able to move south quite rapidly on OK-74 into the metro area, listening to Gary England's increasingly worrying coverage on the radio. I continued south as OK-74 turned into I-44, and at this point the Friday afternoon traffic wasn't too bad. Once south of I-40, I hopped on OK-152/Airport Road and headed west toward Mustang. By this point the tornadic (and very broad) circulation was just a few miles directly to my north, but I couldn't see much. I took the following picture in Mustang just north of OK-152 and just west of OK-4. The view is to the north:

I had no desire to chase this possible tornado back east into Oklahoma City, so I opted to move a bit further west on OK-152 to catch the trailing area of rotation that had just been TOR-warned. But it moved further south more rapidly than I had expected, so I felt compelled to try to get south out of its way. I was now on OK-152 between Mustang and Union City, closer to the former. The unpaved road network was limited here due to the Canadian River, and sure enough I got raked by the second circulation's downdraft winds that brought down lots of tree branches around me. I had had enough and now simply wanted to get south out of the precip and hail core bearing down on me.

Unfortunately, I soon found myself in the uncomfortable situation of losing nearly all of my options for manuvering out of the way. My first plan was to head west on OK-152 to Union City and then south on US 81 toward Minco. But as I crossed the river on US 81, I soon got caught in a mile-long traffic jam evidently caused by a police roadblock further to the south. I don't know what the reason for the roadblock was, but a fair number of chasers appeared to be caught in it as well. The problem, though, was that yet another area of circulation was beginning to tighten up on radar just to our northwest. It quickly became TOR-warned and was bearing down on us. I knew I had to act. So, I pulled out of the traffic jam and headed back north on US 81 toward Union City, getting whipped by strong winds and driving around fallen branches the whole way. Once I got back to the intersection of US 81 and OK-152, I figured my only real option was to head back east toward Mustang. I made it nearly all the way back into Mustang in heavy rain and near-constant lightning when I came across a large fallen tree that was blocking the road just east of Frisco Road. Agghhh. I then decided to simply park on a nearby residential cul-de-sac and wait out the storm. I could tell from radar that I had gotten far enough east to avoid the possible tornado and hail core to my west while the second possible tornado to my east moved out of the Mustang area.

Essentially, I ended up riding out the storm between these two cells. A solid hour of heavy rain with some 1-inch hail followed, after which I was finally able to drive - yet again - back west on OK-152 to Union City. It was turning dark now, but I was able to head north on US 81 to El Reno and then east on I-40 to start my trip back home to Illinois. Lots of tornado damage was visible on both US 81 south of El Reno and for at least a mile heading east on I-40; I saw flipped cars, overturned trucks, and lots of metal wrapped around the highway and interstate guard rails. Further to the east and south the countryside was dotted with the lights of emergency responders helping homeowners who had been hit.

 

[Charles Kuster]

Emma Fagan and I chased the El Reno/Union City supercell and observed some impressive structure as well as the El Reno tornado. We approached the storm from the east and first observed the updraft from near Tuttle, Oklahoma. The storm quickly organized and the following pictures show some of the structure of the storm as well as the tornado observed from a location 4.9 miles southwest of Yukon, Oklahoma.

Early structure of the storm. Picture taken at 5:47pm CDT from .5 miles north of the intersection of Highway 152 and Alfadale Street (about 1.3 miles NE of Union City) and is looking northwest.

Two pictures that show the relatively impressive structure of the storm. Both pictures taken at 6:07pm CDT from near the intersection of S Evans Road and SW 15th Street (about 5.1 miles NE of Union City) and are looking west. http://i39.tinypic.com/1t8tgk.jpg http://i44.tinypic.com/30co953.jpg

Structure of the storm and heavy rainfall obscuring the tornado. Picture taken at 6:15pm CDT from .5 miles north of the intersection of N Evans Road and Reno Road (about 6.2 miles NE of Union City or about 5.8 miles SE of El Reno) and is looking west.

More storm structure from a position farther east. Picture taken 6:26pm CDT from near the intersection of Reno Road and Gregory Road (about 4.9 miles SW of Yukon) and is looking northwest.

El Reno tornado. Picture taken at 6:28pm CDT from near the intersection of Reno Road and Gregory Road (about 4.9 miles SW of Yukon) and is looking WNW.

As the tornado moved to the northeast, we broke off the chase because we did not want to chase into highly populated areas. My thoughts and prayers are with all of those affected by these tornadoes.

 

[Scott Sims]

Watch video >

I was in the area with the rest. I opted to stay a mile or so south of my 'originally estimated' track, and hang back to the east, rather than pop north for the more contrasted view. I am glad i did, as I probably needed that mile to have a fairly uneventful escape. Most of the first 2/3rds of the video were taken on 15th Street Road between Airport Road and Reformatory Road. The part when I bailed south is on Reformatory road, and the part where I saw the wedge was on SW 44th St between Reformatory and Country Club road.

 

[cdcollura]

Good day all,

Below is my detailed chase log for this day... Again - God Bless the victims, including great chase comrads of mine, Tim & Paul Samaras, and Carl Young. Pictures are below.

Above: Wedge tornado approaching El Reno, Oklahoma on May 31, 2013. This view is looking WSW from a cemetary in El Reno and the tornado is a few miles away.

Above: Developing wedge tornado and wall cloud (these features had violent motion) and my chase vehicle near El Reno, Oklahoma on May 31, 2013. I am heading south quickly on Highway 81.

Above: Wedge tornado - Near El Reno, Oklahoma on May 31, 2013. This tornado is rapidly intensifying and part of as larger circulation that will eventually become a 2.6 mile wide EF-5 tornado with 296+ MPH winds.

Above: Yes - I'm scared - And close to being killed in this picture. I am trying to race southward on Highway 81 (south of El Reno, Oklahoma) to get out of the outer circulation of a rapidly intensifying EF-5 tornado that would quickly become 2.6 miles wide and pack winds near 300 miles per hour. I am in the 100+ Knots inflow and looking back, the massive tornado looms behind me in the extreme wide-angle shot. Holding the camera (GoPro 3) was almost impossible, and the raindrops caused abrasive-like scrapes and cuts on my wrist. Scientists Tim Samaras, Paul Samaras, and Carl Young were behind me somewhere and lost their lives in the tornado. This is May 31, 2013 and the view is looking N to NNW.

Above: Wedge tornado moving away and to the east of Highway 81 and southeast El Reno, Oklahoma on May 31, 2013. This is at the point where the EF-5 tornado grew from a mile wide to 2.6 miles wide in 30 seconds! Most likely, this WEDGE tornado might be a "sub" vortex rotating around the large circulation! The actual left "edge" of the 2.6 mile-wide tornado is far out-of-frame to the left and not visible in this picture. Windspeeds were near 296 MPH at this point!

Above: Quick shot of the flooding in suburban Oklahoma City late on the evening of May 31, 2013 ... Note the cars floating just upper-right of the center near the yellow hydrant. Trees are down and flash floods are ocurring, with rushing water in the streets! All this in addition to record-breaking tornadoes.

-- Storm Details --

1). May 31, 6:00 PM - Interception, observation, and penetration of an extremely severe and violent tornadic thunderstorm near and to the south of El Reno, Oklahoma in Canadian County. The storm was a violent classic / HP cyclic supercell storm, and produced at least three tornadoes (most of these being mile-wide multi-vortex / wedge type). The storm also contained grapefruit sized hail and 100 MPH winds in addition to heavy rains and tornadoes. The main core was avoided. Conditions encountered during this storm were winds over 100 MPH (tornadic inflow and RFD), frequent lightning with close hits, hail to baseball sized, and extremely heavy (horizontal) rains. The storm caused damage and deaths in El Reno. The large tornadoes were observed with this cyclic supercell, along with a very impressive striated updraft, wall cloud, inflow bands, RFD clear-slot, and supercell structure. The tornadoes were all wedge tornadoes / multi vortex, a mile wide in some cases. The outer circulation of the third wedge tornado (during its development stages) passed very close to, if not over, the chase vehicle (nearly blowing it off the road). Other storm chasers had their vehicles destroyed from this storm. Conditions causing the storms were surface heating, low pressure area, a dryline, stationary frontal boundary, and strong upper trough. A 2013 Kia Sportage was used to chase the storms. Documentation was digital stills, audio, and HD video. A PDS (particularly dangerous situation) tornado watch was also valid for the area until 12 AM CDT.

2). May 31, 7:30 PM - Observation and penetration of another very severe and tornadic thunderstorm from near Mustang, OK in Canadian County and eastward to Will Rogers International Airport in Oklahoma County along State Road 152. The storm was an HP supercell storm, and took a direct hit on the town of Mustang. While in traffic, with people panicking, a car struck me in the middle turning lane damaging my front passenger door and wheel, destroying the tire. After that, the other motorist left and I was forced to retreat behind a church / gas station before the storm hit. I never saw the person who cut in front of me again. The vehicle could only do 20 MPH after quickly changing the spare tire. A tornadic circulation passed over my vicinity, and had gusts near 80 MPH with flying debris and power poles / signs down. This HP supercell evolved into a very large cluster of severe thunderstorms. Other conditions encountered were 80 MPH winds, hail to golfball sized, frequent lightning, and torrential rains. I had to "limp" to the airport to take shelter during the storm in their parking garage. After finding out I could not get any help from their car rental facility (power out and not same company / franchise), I had to hobble 10 miles to a motel off I-44 in heavy rains, flash flooding (cars were floating in rushing water in some streets), and hail to golfball sized. The storm ended after arriving at the motel off I-44 and Penn in NE Oklahoma City. Many trees down, power outages, and flash flooding were observed with this storm. Conditions causing the storms were surface heating, low pressure area, a stationary frontal boundary, and strong upper trough. A 2013 Kia Sportage was used to chase the storms and sustained damage (from the accident in Mustang). Documentation was digital stills and HD video. A tornado watch was also valid for the area until 12 AM CDT.

-- Summary --

May 31 was the final chase day of this expedition, and certainly was not for the faint of heart. At least 4 tornadoes were observed in SW Oklahoma, with 3 of them significant (wedge tornadoes), and with another toll on human life and property. I left Wichita along Highway 400 to I-35 south after doing a thorough forecast, with the primary target area being in the general vicinity of El Reno, Oklahoma. I continued down I-35 to Guthrie, to finally fix the slow flat tire, and continued to Edmunds to look at more data, get a quick lunch, and start heading west around the OKC area along Edmund Road to Highway 3, then eventually Highway 81 into the "target" city of El Reno, where I stopped. Many chasers were in El Reno, including Howie Bluestein, Melanie Metz, Bill Hark, Dan Robinson, Mark Robinson, just to name a few. The SPC was volatile in their outlooks, with a moderate risk in place, and probabilities of tornadoes at 15% hatched, wind at 30% hatched, and hail at a staggering 60% hatched. A surface frontal boundary intersected the dryline west of El Reno, with dewpoints in the upper 70's! Mesoscale discussion 907 and subsequent PDS (particularly dangerous situation) tornado watch box 262, valid until 12 AM CDT. Supercell storms (and strong wedge tornadoes) were intercepted west and through El Reno, basically around I-40 and Highway 81.


At one point, a developing multi vortex tornado developed nearly on TOP of me while struggling south on Highway 81. I continued east towards Mustang on State Road 152. This is where the traffic was very bad, and people were running around and panicking in their vehicles. I decided to turn around, as another supercell was rapidly intensifying and moving ESE towards Mustang. In the middle turning lane, moving at about 20 MPH to find a good place to make a left turn (with bumper to bumper traffic in the right 2 lanes), BANG! Someone pulls to the left out of the traffic jam and hits me, blowing out my front passenger tire and causing damage to the door and passenger side of the vehicle. I stopped, but looked back and could not see who hit me. I pulled off (with the broken wheel dragging), and went left into the backside of a gas station / church. I scurried in 70 MPH winds to replace the tire with the spare, but as I drove again, the right wheel was clanking and I could not go more than 20 MPH. At this point power went out, powerlines fell, and NO one was on the roadways. I saw an intense swirling of debris across the roadway with rotating clouds and rain-wrap all around (possibly the 4th tornado).


Heavy rains, hail to golfball sized, and strong winds ensued, driving all the way to Will Rogers airport to wait out the storm in the parking garage. Power was out everywhere, and there was no one at any rental car facility. I contacted my rental car company, and arranged for a pickup of the vehicle, but this had to be at a hotel off I-44, and a slow limp another 10 miles was required, through flash flooding and severe weather. I finally arrived at the motel off I-44 by around midnight and since they had power, stayed the night there. The next day was to wait for a vehicle replacement to be brought down from Tulsa and return to Denver, CO to leave back to FL June 2.

 

[JeffGonzales]

Well I left Omaha early in the morning and we made it to OKC area and had lunch in Moore. Our plan for the day was to head to El Reno and be west of the city and hopefully chase it to the north east and bypass the city. We absolutely did not want to get caught in traffic in a chase in OKC. First storms formed and we went to the first one north of El Reno. Very shortly 2 more cells formed in a line from that one to the south. We waited for the southern storm to get its act together and head to the north east. The goal was to place a video probe in a tornado so we wanted to be ahead for the storm. The southern storm then took a right turn and started moving to the south east. We knew we were to far north and the base was getting wrapped in rain so we blasted south. We were right in between El Reno & Yukon when we saw the rain wrapped wedge make a left turn and come at us. We decided to blast south to get to the other side of the storm. All was going good then our south road was closed. We had to go back to the north and forced to go into the city. We blasted east on I-40 and dropped the video probe on the side of the road near the turnpike and got this intercept as a new large rain wrapped tornado was entering OKC.

Watch video >