Quincy Vagell
EF4
I'll start off by saying that I did not capture much in the way of photos or videos, but did catch at least two tornadoes with the southernmost of two supercells in east-central/northeastern Oklahoma.
I stayed at my apartment in Oklahoma City, just about all day. I initially thought I would target the KS/OK border area, north of Tulsa, but after witnessing flooded roads and reviewing Google Maps, I decided against it. I figured that western Missouri was too far to go, so what did that leave me with? I was very skeptical about sustained convective initiation south/southwest of Oklahoma City, especially after seeing the 17z OUN sounding. I decided to hang back and wait. I even toyed with the idea of not chasing at all.
By mid-afternoon, I was growing increasingly intrigued by cells that were initiating just east of Shawnee. For whatever reason, I waited until just about the last minute and walked out the door around 4 p.m. Luckily I only hit a few bouts of traffic, as if I had waited much longer, the chase might have been completely lost.
I saw two dueling supercells riding along I-40 and I made good time catching up, as they weren't moving very fast. Once I got to Okemah, I had a visual on a very low, grungy wall cloud, just to the southeast of I-40. Vehicles were stopping and traffic was slowing, but thankfully I did not see anyone parked under underpasses and most people pulled off as they got closer to the mesocyclone.
I noticed a few brief funnels/tornadoes, but for the sake of this, I'll consider it one tornado. I had a video camera going on my roof, but due to raindrops and haze/smoke, as well as not being super close, the video didn't seem to pick up on any of this activity.
The wall cloud, very clearly rotating, passed over I-40 in front of me and then I eventually pulled over. The video above is just a brief clip, but it's probably the only interesting video that I captured. I sped up the video to 4x to enhance the rotation. I could feel the rush of the air with my windows open as the wall cloud passed nearly overhead. I don't often get this close to a tornadic supercell and it's probably fortunate that it wasn't producing a tornado at the time, as I-40 might have been blocked off.
I managed to take one picture and it shows the grungy wall cloud, which was literally on the cusp of tornadogenesis. Just a couple of minutes later, a firm stovepipe tornado was in progress. I have little doubt that it was a significant tornado. With that said, I got off I-40 and maneuvered my way north and east, only catching brief glimpses of the tornado. As I got closer, trees became more of an issue, as well as muddy/rough roads.
I continued northeast and near Okmulgee, it looked like the supercell might be cycling. The original tornado had lifted and another low-hanging wall cloud popped up to its immediate east. That's about all she wrote, though, as once I got to Pumpkin Center and hit some really awful roads (large pot holes, mud, etc.), and saw that I was approaching a larger population area, I bailed. That was it. I almost thought about trying to rush toward the storms east of Stillwater, but I'd had enough.
Video was recording for the whole event on my roof, but as I wandered northeast of I-40, trees and powerlines obscured view about 90% of the time, so it's not worth sharing. This low resolution screen capture is the only official image of the tornadoes I can share:
On the way back home, I saw the debris signature of another significant tornado, passing just north of Joplin. It was a grueling day. Chasing in the borderline woods of eastern Oklahoma, fighting with a tough forecast and then watching tornadoes do damage. It was very sobering. The tornado north of Joplin was probably a long-tracker and legitimately large from the photos I saw. A lot of times when a tornado is labeled "large," it's really not, but in this case, it most certainly was.
I'll count this as a two tornado event in northeastern Oklahoma, my first tornadoes up here. As I mentioned on Twitter, I don't mind if they are my last. Over time, I grow less and less fond of tornadoes doing damage in wooded, populated areas. I think most of us would rather chase out over open country, where it's easier, safer, usually more photogenic and less destructive.
With that said, it was a fairly local chase. Even though I didn't leave until about 4 p.m., I was back around 9 and logged one of my shorted distances driving for a storm chase so far this year.
I stayed at my apartment in Oklahoma City, just about all day. I initially thought I would target the KS/OK border area, north of Tulsa, but after witnessing flooded roads and reviewing Google Maps, I decided against it. I figured that western Missouri was too far to go, so what did that leave me with? I was very skeptical about sustained convective initiation south/southwest of Oklahoma City, especially after seeing the 17z OUN sounding. I decided to hang back and wait. I even toyed with the idea of not chasing at all.
By mid-afternoon, I was growing increasingly intrigued by cells that were initiating just east of Shawnee. For whatever reason, I waited until just about the last minute and walked out the door around 4 p.m. Luckily I only hit a few bouts of traffic, as if I had waited much longer, the chase might have been completely lost.
I saw two dueling supercells riding along I-40 and I made good time catching up, as they weren't moving very fast. Once I got to Okemah, I had a visual on a very low, grungy wall cloud, just to the southeast of I-40. Vehicles were stopping and traffic was slowing, but thankfully I did not see anyone parked under underpasses and most people pulled off as they got closer to the mesocyclone.
I noticed a few brief funnels/tornadoes, but for the sake of this, I'll consider it one tornado. I had a video camera going on my roof, but due to raindrops and haze/smoke, as well as not being super close, the video didn't seem to pick up on any of this activity.
I managed to take one picture and it shows the grungy wall cloud, which was literally on the cusp of tornadogenesis. Just a couple of minutes later, a firm stovepipe tornado was in progress. I have little doubt that it was a significant tornado. With that said, I got off I-40 and maneuvered my way north and east, only catching brief glimpses of the tornado. As I got closer, trees became more of an issue, as well as muddy/rough roads.
I continued northeast and near Okmulgee, it looked like the supercell might be cycling. The original tornado had lifted and another low-hanging wall cloud popped up to its immediate east. That's about all she wrote, though, as once I got to Pumpkin Center and hit some really awful roads (large pot holes, mud, etc.), and saw that I was approaching a larger population area, I bailed. That was it. I almost thought about trying to rush toward the storms east of Stillwater, but I'd had enough.
Video was recording for the whole event on my roof, but as I wandered northeast of I-40, trees and powerlines obscured view about 90% of the time, so it's not worth sharing. This low resolution screen capture is the only official image of the tornadoes I can share:
On the way back home, I saw the debris signature of another significant tornado, passing just north of Joplin. It was a grueling day. Chasing in the borderline woods of eastern Oklahoma, fighting with a tough forecast and then watching tornadoes do damage. It was very sobering. The tornado north of Joplin was probably a long-tracker and legitimately large from the photos I saw. A lot of times when a tornado is labeled "large," it's really not, but in this case, it most certainly was.
I'll count this as a two tornado event in northeastern Oklahoma, my first tornadoes up here. As I mentioned on Twitter, I don't mind if they are my last. Over time, I grow less and less fond of tornadoes doing damage in wooded, populated areas. I think most of us would rather chase out over open country, where it's easier, safer, usually more photogenic and less destructive.
With that said, it was a fairly local chase. Even though I didn't leave until about 4 p.m., I was back around 9 and logged one of my shorted distances driving for a storm chase so far this year.
Last edited:
05/22/19. Welch OK to Golden City MO
05/22/19. Welch OK to Golden City MO
05/22/19. Welch OK to Golden City MO
