Quincy Vagell
EF4
I started eyeing today's setup yesterday, but knew from the start it was going to be a marginal setup at best. Still, with a day off and chase prospects only a couple of hours from home, it was worth a shot.
Note that these photos are strictly from my phone, so the resolution is not the best. This was a bit of a stripped down chase, as I didn't expect anything particularly severe,
The initial target was southwestern Oklahoma, somewhere near Altus. I waited until the last minute to leave, because I wasn't sure if I'd take I-44 down toward the Red River, or shoot west on I-40. The late decision paid off, because it was clear that strong forcing attendant to a surface low and approaching shortwave was kicking off early afternoon lightning-producing convection in the Texas panhandle, despite poor boundary layer moisture in the area.
I got to Elk City as a broken line segment moved east toward the Oklahoma state line. I wasn't too impressed with how the storms looked, so there was no point in rushing west. Somewhat better moisture was hanging back to the east in Oklahoma anyway and with cloudiness racing out of the area, there was, in my eyes, a narrow zone for more robust convective development once storms moved into Beckham and Greer counties.
While just south of Erick, I could make out a well-defined shelf cloud. Given the degree of deep layer shear, it made sense, but I was mildly surprised. Maybe this was because February is usually not a month I have much luck in and this was my earliest chase in Oklahoma, by far. As far as the setup went, the main limiting factor was going to come down to low level lapse rates (lacking) and boundary layer moisture (unseasonably high, but still marginal). The tornado threat was close to zero and hail seemed likely given cool temperatures aloft, mid-level lapse rates and low freezing levels.
Probably near peak structure, I was able to set up on a north-facing dirt road and get a few photos of the striated shelf passing by. Admittedly, I was very excited at this point. I haven't chased much since last fall and I had tempered expectations today. Even though storms never reached severe limits, the structure outperformed my expectations, especially given how lackluster storms looked on radar.
The above photo and the last one were both captured near Delhi. I haven't chased in the area much and it's also one of the rare times I've chased prior to the green-up in the Plains, so it looked and felt like new chase territory. The lack of any other chasers in sight may have played into that as well. It looks like Reed and others kept farther north. I considered that, but was banking on slightly better moisture to the south and perhaps a better shot at some discrete, or at least semi-discrete, activity.
I found an abandoned property with several old cars and other remnant structures, but given a lack of time and fencing in the way, I only managed this one picture.
I did drift a bit south for a while, but there wasn't much to see. Low-level moisture was lacking and with sunset approaching, temperatures were dropping. Another note was that there was quite a bit of cloud-to-ground lightning with the storms, especially between about 23-01z. After that, storms quickly weakened as they approached the Oklahoma City metro area.
Overall, this will be a memorable chase for February standards, even if storms remained sub-severe. Most of my early season chases have resulted in messy setups with low contrast storms, but, at least for a short time, storms today were photogenic.
Note that these photos are strictly from my phone, so the resolution is not the best. This was a bit of a stripped down chase, as I didn't expect anything particularly severe,
The initial target was southwestern Oklahoma, somewhere near Altus. I waited until the last minute to leave, because I wasn't sure if I'd take I-44 down toward the Red River, or shoot west on I-40. The late decision paid off, because it was clear that strong forcing attendant to a surface low and approaching shortwave was kicking off early afternoon lightning-producing convection in the Texas panhandle, despite poor boundary layer moisture in the area.
I got to Elk City as a broken line segment moved east toward the Oklahoma state line. I wasn't too impressed with how the storms looked, so there was no point in rushing west. Somewhat better moisture was hanging back to the east in Oklahoma anyway and with cloudiness racing out of the area, there was, in my eyes, a narrow zone for more robust convective development once storms moved into Beckham and Greer counties.
While just south of Erick, I could make out a well-defined shelf cloud. Given the degree of deep layer shear, it made sense, but I was mildly surprised. Maybe this was because February is usually not a month I have much luck in and this was my earliest chase in Oklahoma, by far. As far as the setup went, the main limiting factor was going to come down to low level lapse rates (lacking) and boundary layer moisture (unseasonably high, but still marginal). The tornado threat was close to zero and hail seemed likely given cool temperatures aloft, mid-level lapse rates and low freezing levels.
Probably near peak structure, I was able to set up on a north-facing dirt road and get a few photos of the striated shelf passing by. Admittedly, I was very excited at this point. I haven't chased much since last fall and I had tempered expectations today. Even though storms never reached severe limits, the structure outperformed my expectations, especially given how lackluster storms looked on radar.
The above photo and the last one were both captured near Delhi. I haven't chased in the area much and it's also one of the rare times I've chased prior to the green-up in the Plains, so it looked and felt like new chase territory. The lack of any other chasers in sight may have played into that as well. It looks like Reed and others kept farther north. I considered that, but was banking on slightly better moisture to the south and perhaps a better shot at some discrete, or at least semi-discrete, activity.
I found an abandoned property with several old cars and other remnant structures, but given a lack of time and fencing in the way, I only managed this one picture.
I did drift a bit south for a while, but there wasn't much to see. Low-level moisture was lacking and with sunset approaching, temperatures were dropping. Another note was that there was quite a bit of cloud-to-ground lightning with the storms, especially between about 23-01z. After that, storms quickly weakened as they approached the Oklahoma City metro area.
Overall, this will be a memorable chase for February standards, even if storms remained sub-severe. Most of my early season chases have resulted in messy setups with low contrast storms, but, at least for a short time, storms today were photogenic.
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