Lance Maxwell
EF2
One thing I was really happy with today was the storm speed. I was expecting 35-45 mph to be the norm today when 20-30 was the actual......perfect speed.
Joel Taylor
I didn't take any stills of the others.
Storm motion was very nice today and made for enjoyable chasing. The big tornado occurred right around 1:30 this afternoon and I really thought that there would be several more throughout the day. The storm kept trying to wrap again but could just manage brief small tornadoes. And then after about 2:30, the show was over.
I hope to see video of the one up in Kansas. It sounded pretty big.
Joel Taylor
Storm motion was very nice today and made for enjoyable chasing. The big tornado occurred right around 1:30 this afternoon and I really thought that there would be several more throughout the day. The storm kept trying to wrap again but could just manage brief small tornadoes. And then after about 2:30, the show was over.
I hope to see video of the one up in Kansas. It sounded pretty big.
Joel Taylor
Simon Brewer
GREAT JOB REED!
Once again Reed kicked some 'behind'!!!
Reed Timmer is pretty good!
Yeah, that 'Deer Backwards' guy really saw that tornado coming!
Once again, good job Reed!
Once again Reed kicked some 'behind'!!!
Reed Timmer is pretty good!
Yeah, that 'Deer Backwards' guy really saw that tornado coming!
Once again, good job Reed!
Jim Bishop
EF4
Way to go Reed! Great pictures from you and your crew.
Reed, once again you've captured the first major tornado footage of the chase season. Great job.
Jim Bishop
Reed, once again you've captured the first major tornado footage of the chase season. Great job.
Jim Bishop
Amos Magliocco
EF5
march 27, 2004 tornadoes
The day began with two storms competing for the attention of chasers, one north (which produced the Vici tornado—great TWC footage, guys!) and one south storm. I was on the southern storm from initiation, and spent quite a while in Elk City waiting for it to come toward me as it dropped baseballs on Sayre. My idea was to follow it up 33, though I hoped it would turn more easterly as it became rooted in the boundary layer. As the storm approached, the crown of the northern storm dominated the skyline with bright sunlight glinting off the knuckled anvil. I drifted north, and, when the tornado warning came, broke something of a cardinal rule and raced north, leaving a very healthy storm then approaching Hammon.
I didn’t make it to Vici in time. When I closed on the storm, and saw also the second development to the west of Vici, I didn’t like the looks of it and headed back south. Back and forth, back and forth. I just knew I was going to manage to miss all the tornadoes by chasing NOAA tones, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. Fortunately, I cut east to 183 and dove south in time to observe a long rope tornado from the intersection of 33 and 183 facing west toward Butler. I estimate this tornado was about one-half mile from me and lasted only about four minutes. Time was 3:05 PM.
I followed 33 northeast, paralleling the storm’s course, and observed a second tornado, which began as a thin rope, then expanded into a narrow elephant trunk and finally displayed a very narrow condensation funnel extending to the ground from the larger upper half—this is what Shane referred to that we called “half a tornado.†No question from the size of this tube that it was on the ground. This tornado appeared very soon after one of the storm’s frequent occlusions, and almost appeared to be on a gust front. However, it was obviously a full tornado and not a gustnado, just in an unusual spot. This was approximately 3:35 PM near Fay.
I then dropped down to Clinton and watched the beautiful supercell sit on the interstate and make one effort after another to produce a fully-backlit tornado, but to no avail. Finally this storm began drifting east northeast, cycling from a compact classic into a small HP and back again, but not with the same success at funnel production. Then, intending only to shoot structure, Eric Nguyen, Scott Currens, and I saw the twin funnels, one of which apparently dropped, southwest of Okarche. This was a complete surprise, as were most of the day’s tornadoes, forming quickly from hastily-organized wall clouds then disappearing without a trace soon afterwards. Later we wondered if both storms interacted with leftover outflow from the morning’s convection, as they seemed to produce tornadoes when structurally they did not seem at the height of their powers.
Had a fun dinner at the Pizza Hut in Oklahoma City with Eric Nguyen, Scott Blair, Jason Politte (whose excellent video I owe a review), and some others from OU. Nothing better than celebrating a great chase with old friends. Also enjoyed running into Shane, Chad, Jo, Blake Naftel (a true road warrior), Graham Butler, Dave Drummond, and Tony Laubach. It was quite a chaser confab out here today. So I had the best of both worlds this weekend: the caprock all to myself Friday, and a wild tornado chase with friends (and every chaser within 250 miles) on Saturday.
I’ll post captures and stills when I return to Indiana tomorrow night, and post some video segments as well. I can’t say enough about the flawless nowcasting of Jeff Gammons and Mike Hollingshead. Huge thanks to both.
Amos Magliocco
The day began with two storms competing for the attention of chasers, one north (which produced the Vici tornado—great TWC footage, guys!) and one south storm. I was on the southern storm from initiation, and spent quite a while in Elk City waiting for it to come toward me as it dropped baseballs on Sayre. My idea was to follow it up 33, though I hoped it would turn more easterly as it became rooted in the boundary layer. As the storm approached, the crown of the northern storm dominated the skyline with bright sunlight glinting off the knuckled anvil. I drifted north, and, when the tornado warning came, broke something of a cardinal rule and raced north, leaving a very healthy storm then approaching Hammon.
I didn’t make it to Vici in time. When I closed on the storm, and saw also the second development to the west of Vici, I didn’t like the looks of it and headed back south. Back and forth, back and forth. I just knew I was going to manage to miss all the tornadoes by chasing NOAA tones, but I couldn’t seem to help myself. Fortunately, I cut east to 183 and dove south in time to observe a long rope tornado from the intersection of 33 and 183 facing west toward Butler. I estimate this tornado was about one-half mile from me and lasted only about four minutes. Time was 3:05 PM.
I followed 33 northeast, paralleling the storm’s course, and observed a second tornado, which began as a thin rope, then expanded into a narrow elephant trunk and finally displayed a very narrow condensation funnel extending to the ground from the larger upper half—this is what Shane referred to that we called “half a tornado.†No question from the size of this tube that it was on the ground. This tornado appeared very soon after one of the storm’s frequent occlusions, and almost appeared to be on a gust front. However, it was obviously a full tornado and not a gustnado, just in an unusual spot. This was approximately 3:35 PM near Fay.
I then dropped down to Clinton and watched the beautiful supercell sit on the interstate and make one effort after another to produce a fully-backlit tornado, but to no avail. Finally this storm began drifting east northeast, cycling from a compact classic into a small HP and back again, but not with the same success at funnel production. Then, intending only to shoot structure, Eric Nguyen, Scott Currens, and I saw the twin funnels, one of which apparently dropped, southwest of Okarche. This was a complete surprise, as were most of the day’s tornadoes, forming quickly from hastily-organized wall clouds then disappearing without a trace soon afterwards. Later we wondered if both storms interacted with leftover outflow from the morning’s convection, as they seemed to produce tornadoes when structurally they did not seem at the height of their powers.
Had a fun dinner at the Pizza Hut in Oklahoma City with Eric Nguyen, Scott Blair, Jason Politte (whose excellent video I owe a review), and some others from OU. Nothing better than celebrating a great chase with old friends. Also enjoyed running into Shane, Chad, Jo, Blake Naftel (a true road warrior), Graham Butler, Dave Drummond, and Tony Laubach. It was quite a chaser confab out here today. So I had the best of both worlds this weekend: the caprock all to myself Friday, and a wild tornado chase with friends (and every chaser within 250 miles) on Saturday.
I’ll post captures and stills when I return to Indiana tomorrow night, and post some video segments as well. I can’t say enough about the flawless nowcasting of Jeff Gammons and Mike Hollingshead. Huge thanks to both.
Amos Magliocco
Jay McCoy
EF5
My report is pretty easy.. Read David Drummond's since we chased together. One difference is I had to be at work this morning so I had to drive back home
663 miles
3 funnels
2 tornadoes
NOTE.. I second davids comments about that girl in the red van. While she was yelling smartass remarks at David her and her chase pals drove right into a private field behind a fence to set up. sad part is David and I both have been chasing as long as this girl has been alive. You could tell out there who knew what they were doing from those that just followed the convoy. It is apparent that a number of "chasers" need some education in storm structure and cloud feature recognition. A number of times we stopped to shoot a funnel or one of the tornadoes as other chasers drove right by oblivious to what was occuring. And ofcourse the usual 40mph line of cars. The storm we decided to dump near Watonga and go back SW toward Clinton had become disorganized and there was alot of cold air advection occuring which makes for scud flying in every direction. thats when some of these "chasers" stopped and filmed and pointed like it was the apocolyps. Learn what your looking at!! All that said it was a very nice chase for us. Most of our decisions put us in the right spot every time. alot of back roads (mostly to get away form the horde). Look forward to readings David's post on his webpage.
663 miles
3 funnels
2 tornadoes
NOTE.. I second davids comments about that girl in the red van. While she was yelling smartass remarks at David her and her chase pals drove right into a private field behind a fence to set up. sad part is David and I both have been chasing as long as this girl has been alive. You could tell out there who knew what they were doing from those that just followed the convoy. It is apparent that a number of "chasers" need some education in storm structure and cloud feature recognition. A number of times we stopped to shoot a funnel or one of the tornadoes as other chasers drove right by oblivious to what was occuring. And ofcourse the usual 40mph line of cars. The storm we decided to dump near Watonga and go back SW toward Clinton had become disorganized and there was alot of cold air advection occuring which makes for scud flying in every direction. thats when some of these "chasers" stopped and filmed and pointed like it was the apocolyps. Learn what your looking at!! All that said it was a very nice chase for us. Most of our decisions put us in the right spot every time. alot of back roads (mostly to get away form the horde). Look forward to readings David's post on his webpage.
Aaron Kennedy
EF5
Very similar chase compared to many others... makes sense, since I saw bazillions of people I knew out there. Long Story short: was suprised at how early convection went up. We were at Elk City and I was able to check radar. Both cells looked decent in their own right so we decided to first skirt a bit south to see if the cell near Elk City had a rain free base (we were ahead of the FF downdraft). We did, and sure enough, it looked like it was trying to get its act together. For the next couple hours we followed this storm... east to Clinton, north on 183 to 33 etc. etc. We caught the narrow "needle" nado near Butler, then also saw the various funnel/rope things north of Custer City.
At this point we were pretty satisfied.. then again, I didn't know we missed the best photogenic tornado near Vici. DOH. The kicker was I was still interested in this area...it was just that I couldn't justify leaving the cell near Elk City. Unlike Amos, I didn't leave after the tornado warning went out for it. Although the cell's tower looked nice, I couldn't tell how good the one was on our present cell. I had been burned by ditching the southern storm before, so we decided to stick to it.
Anyway, we probably followed the Elk City storm a bit too long... we got up near Watonga and its struture was very confusing/disorganized. Rapid occlusions etc etc. I can't believe this storm actually produced compared to some of the supercells I have seen that haven't.... go figure. We heard about a new cell towards Bessie (the I40 storm) and beelined south. Intercepted it near Weatherford along I40, and had a great view of the it's circulation, tornado sirens going off, and 20 people from a mobile home park huddled around a basketball court pointing to the sky. I sincerely hope there was a shelter under that, cause otherwise we would of had a body count if this storm produced.
Anyway, this storm was much the same story as the previous... it was like it wanted to get its act together, but it had a mental handicap and just kept stumbling on it self... over... and over... We continued to watch it's frequent wall clouds along and north of I40 after it got east of Weatherford. I guess this put down a tube near Ocarche, but we didn't see anything more than some distant funnels.
All and all a decent chase for March. Pictures/Maps etc. will be posted on my website tonight.
Aaron
At this point we were pretty satisfied.. then again, I didn't know we missed the best photogenic tornado near Vici. DOH. The kicker was I was still interested in this area...it was just that I couldn't justify leaving the cell near Elk City. Unlike Amos, I didn't leave after the tornado warning went out for it. Although the cell's tower looked nice, I couldn't tell how good the one was on our present cell. I had been burned by ditching the southern storm before, so we decided to stick to it.
Anyway, we probably followed the Elk City storm a bit too long... we got up near Watonga and its struture was very confusing/disorganized. Rapid occlusions etc etc. I can't believe this storm actually produced compared to some of the supercells I have seen that haven't.... go figure. We heard about a new cell towards Bessie (the I40 storm) and beelined south. Intercepted it near Weatherford along I40, and had a great view of the it's circulation, tornado sirens going off, and 20 people from a mobile home park huddled around a basketball court pointing to the sky. I sincerely hope there was a shelter under that, cause otherwise we would of had a body count if this storm produced.
Anyway, this storm was much the same story as the previous... it was like it wanted to get its act together, but it had a mental handicap and just kept stumbling on it self... over... and over... We continued to watch it's frequent wall clouds along and north of I40 after it got east of Weatherford. I guess this put down a tube near Ocarche, but we didn't see anything more than some distant funnels.
All and all a decent chase for March. Pictures/Maps etc. will be posted on my website tonight.
Aaron
Sheila_Ward
EF4
I decided to make the trip late so I missed most of the show. I left Conway, AR at 11:30 and headed to west OK. The Sprint data service was very sporadic along the way so I had trouble getting data. But I made it to the south supercell when it was near Hydro. I pulled off on Hwy. 58 and watched it for awhile. Then I followed it NE and found a good view from Hwy 281 where I got some decent pics.
This was my first chase into OK and it was awesome. I did not see a tornado, but saw some good storm structure and got some pretty good pics. I got home a little after midnight with NO regrets.
Here's a pic of the storm as I approached it from I40. View is to the west.
[Broken External Image]:http://www.visibleimagery.com/photos/20040327_OK_Hydro.jpg
This was my first chase into OK and it was awesome. I did not see a tornado, but saw some good storm structure and got some pretty good pics. I got home a little after midnight with NO regrets.
Here's a pic of the storm as I approached it from I40. View is to the west.
[Broken External Image]:http://www.visibleimagery.com/photos/20040327_OK_Hydro.jpg
Shane Adams
Just found out that a local OKC news chaser videoed our possible tornado near Thomas from another angle and has a debris cloud under the funnel, so yesterday's tally is now officially 4 tornadoes for us. Strongly suspected, but didn't have visual proof from our viewpoint.
Here's my "official" tornado data from yesterday:
3:03 - 3:04pm 5 W Arapaho
3:34 - 3:36pm 4 N Custer City
3:57 - 4:00pm Thomas
6:58pm 3 NW Concho
Here's my "official" tornado data from yesterday:
3:03 - 3:04pm 5 W Arapaho
3:34 - 3:36pm 4 N Custer City
3:57 - 4:00pm Thomas
6:58pm 3 NW Concho
Jason_Politte
EF2
Scott Blair and I were also out yesterday and intercepted our first supercell south of Elk City, OK. The cell displayed intense rotation at times before producing the first tornado, a beautiful translucent rope, southeast of Butler just before 3 p.m. The second tornado with the cell occurred thirty minutes later near Custer City as we punched through the south side of the hook and observed the tornado from close proximity as it dissipated.
We eventually broke off the cell near Hitchcock and moved to intercept a newly developed supercell near Weatherford. We followed the cell to south of Okarche where we observed our third and last tornado of the day. The storm provided an unusual display of tornadic activity with a large funnel about 3/4 of the way down and a smaller, more laminar horizontal funnel stretching to the south.
Easily the best early season chase to date for myself and a fantastic way to begin the 2004 chase season. Much thanks to Dave Lewison for nowcasting for us.
Tight shot of Butler rope while dissipating:
Other video stills from the day:
Butler tornado
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00297.jpg
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00298.jpg
Custer City tornado
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00300.jpg
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00301.jpg
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00302.jpg
Okarche twin funnels/tornado
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00303.jpg
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00304.jpg
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00305.jpg
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00306.jpg
Jason Politte
Conway, AR
We eventually broke off the cell near Hitchcock and moved to intercept a newly developed supercell near Weatherford. We followed the cell to south of Okarche where we observed our third and last tornado of the day. The storm provided an unusual display of tornadic activity with a large funnel about 3/4 of the way down and a smaller, more laminar horizontal funnel stretching to the south.
Easily the best early season chase to date for myself and a fantastic way to begin the 2004 chase season. Much thanks to Dave Lewison for nowcasting for us.
Tight shot of Butler rope while dissipating:
Other video stills from the day:
Butler tornado
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00297.jpg
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00298.jpg
Custer City tornado
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00300.jpg
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00301.jpg
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00302.jpg
Okarche twin funnels/tornado
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00303.jpg
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00304.jpg
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00305.jpg
http://www.onthefront.ws/images/dsc00306.jpg
Jason Politte
Conway, AR
David Drummond
Member
Jason, looks like you were pretty close to where we were on both the Butler and Okarche viewings.
Chris C Sanner
EF5
My day started out in Snyder as promised. I started late and had to jet north quickly as I got out of the low-cloud crap and got a great view of the Supercell to my north (The first south one). I missed a good view of the Custer City tornado as I was just getting to the storm at the time and I was in Custer City, I drove through the huge line of chasers and found a nice spot to pull off and got the Thomas tornado from start to finish (at the time it looked to be a funnel cloud located in a weird spot in the storm). I got about 20 mins of the second storm from a high hill southwest of Geary. Full report and pics are posted at:
[Broken External Image]:http://www.maddenmania.net/images/chase/032704/15.jpg
[Broken External Image]:http://www.maddenmania.net/images/chase/032704/30.jpg
http://www.maddenmania.net/images/chase/03...032704/m27.html
[Broken External Image]:http://www.maddenmania.net/images/chase/032704/15.jpg
[Broken External Image]:http://www.maddenmania.net/images/chase/032704/30.jpg
http://www.maddenmania.net/images/chase/03...032704/m27.html
JR Hehnly
EF4
Nice first chase of the season. Came up with a long list of to-do's before the next event. Hardware problems, vehicle work, etc. Had pretty good luck with the Sprint/Wilson antenna combo. Saw funnels, but never a debris cloud.
Chase account can be seen at:
http://www.okstorms.com/2004_chases.htm#20040327
[Broken External Image]:http://www2.okstorms.com:8080/images/chases/20040327/20040327_039_cs.jpg
Chase account can be seen at:
http://www.okstorms.com/2004_chases.htm#20040327
[Broken External Image]:http://www2.okstorms.com:8080/images/chases/20040327/20040327_039_cs.jpg
David Schuttler
EF5
I missed most of the good action by not getting out in time but I can't complain. It was still a good day.
I stayed north as everyone else was south. The storm in Woodward County moving into Woods County still tried. Last Funnel around 3:57 over Dacoma and Carmen area.
Went South for awhile after that then wandered my way back to Tulsa
No good funnel pic's but it was still a great way to spend a saturday in March and still got to catch some of the OSU game on the way home.
http://homemyhome.com/id83.html
[Broken External Image]:http://bamlock.web.aplus.net/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/img0175.jpg.w560h420.jpg
I stayed north as everyone else was south. The storm in Woodward County moving into Woods County still tried. Last Funnel around 3:57 over Dacoma and Carmen area.
Went South for awhile after that then wandered my way back to Tulsa
No good funnel pic's but it was still a great way to spend a saturday in March and still got to catch some of the OSU game on the way home.
http://homemyhome.com/id83.html
[Broken External Image]:http://bamlock.web.aplus.net/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/img0175.jpg.w560h420.jpg
Amos Magliocco
EF5
My full report here:
http://www.blacklandprairie.net/2004March27.htm
[click to enlarge:]
[Broken External Image]:[URL]http://www.blacklandprairie.net/images/chase2004/27March2004/2004March27TOR1dthumb.jpg[/url]
Near Butler, OK 3:00 PM CST
[Broken External Image]:[URL]http://www.blacklandprairie.net/images/chase2004/27March2004/2004March27TOR2ethumb.jpg[/url]
Near Thomas, OK 3:35 PM
[Broken External Image]:[URL]http://www.blacklandprairie.net/images/chase2004/27March2004/2004March27_12_thumb.jpg[/url]
West of Clinton, OK
http://www.blacklandprairie.net/2004March27.htm
[click to enlarge:]
[Broken External Image]:[URL]http://www.blacklandprairie.net/images/chase2004/27March2004/2004March27TOR1dthumb.jpg[/url]
Near Butler, OK 3:00 PM CST
[Broken External Image]:[URL]http://www.blacklandprairie.net/images/chase2004/27March2004/2004March27TOR2ethumb.jpg[/url]
Near Thomas, OK 3:35 PM
[Broken External Image]:[URL]http://www.blacklandprairie.net/images/chase2004/27March2004/2004March27_12_thumb.jpg[/url]
West of Clinton, OK
