4/26/09 Reports: TX/OK/KS/NE/IA

[Randy Denzer]

David Douglas and myself decided to head south after staying in Weatherford for the night (great chase convergence at the hotel! great pool party!). We made the decision to head south so we could chase on the way home rather than go west and actually SEE tornados.
Made it to the Vernon cell and chased it back north to the Snyder area and shot the video linked below. The guys on the wetern Ok cell (Verne, Reed and gang) had just called to let us know they were on two tornados. You can hear the desperation (And verbal coaching) while we watched this thing NOT produce. Dang.
We had a great chase weekend and we had a blast connecting with so many chasers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6AQdC3BqLA



Randy

 

[Ben Holcomb]

I've finally posted my recap at http://www.benholcomb.com/20090426.html

 

[Joshua Nall]

Finally got around to posting an image. I'm pretty proud of this one! This is the first tornado that developed near Roll, OK just as it was about to cross hwy 33. My first oppurtunity to see a tornado first hand and therefor my first chance at photographying one. Already given a report but just wanted to share this and say I really enjoyed all the different angles and shots of this tornado in everone's reports.... and the other tornadoes. I got pics of them as well, but nothing great.

By the way I need to request that my username be changed to my real name since that is what I have marked my photo with. DSameulson is really Joshua Nall. When I first registered I wasn't crazy about the idea of broadcasting my name on the internet... always been a bit leary about stuff like that.... But anyway, now lets see if I have put in the URL right so this pic will upload. Not computer smart by any means.


http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg31/JoshN2075/IMG_4419resize.jpg


Josh

 

[Sam Barricklow]

Vernon, Texas Supercells

Al Moller and I chased a cluster of small supercells from southwest of Vernon north into Oklahoma. A few photos are posted at the following URL:

http://www.k5kj.net/20090426.htm

 

[Rocky Rascovich]

Mark McGowen, Matt Starkey and myself went out with expectations of at least seeing something worthy of the 400 miles we drove this day. We decided to play the southern part of the risk area after reanalysis of latest data. The DL bulge reaching sw OK, higher cape and just a tad more CINH persuaded me to head down toward Kiowa County, OK. we targeted the supercell that was coming out of the Vernon area and heading toward Snyder. We intercepted it about 15mi. below Carnagie, OK. and watched it as it tried to produce a wall cloud.

A few miles south of Carnagie, a barrel shaped wall cloud with a pronounced clear slot evolved.. we thought a tornado was imminent but it could not quite make it.. with good fortune to Carnagie. From then on, it turned into a HP outflow dominant mess with lots of rain and cg's. I was actually relieved as this for awhile seem to target areas north of I-40 toward my farm.. was a little nervous about that for a bit. Overall, enjoyed the company but I was amazed how few chasers I saw down in this part of the state.. geeze, I wonder why?

 

[Adam Lucio]

My full account is up at my site linked below. No tornadoes though but we did catch a rope funnel.

 

[Bill Tabor]

As we last left our intrepid adventurer...per the 25th chase account I was holed up in Weatherford, OK after meeting up with Gene Moore, Randy Denzer, and David Douglas. Gene was in a separate vehicle and Randy/David had both ridden up from Austin together. We all decided to join forces. It appeared the day would start early. After fueling, we sat facing west in the Volero parking lot with the dash cams / streaming video going. We didn't have too long to wait. Basically our general area was ground zero. We started with a Mod risk, but it was soon upgraded to High. A cell formed to the SW and we waited - monitoring for some time. It continued to take on supercellular characteristics so we finally broke camp and headed west on I40 then south at Clinton down 183. David/Randy diverted down 152 at Cordell while Gene and I continued south then west on 1230. This began a series of back mud road navigating to the storm for Gene and I. He was in his Jeep, but I was in my SX4 AWD but with street tires so I couldn't go in much mud. Long story short we avoided getting stuck and managed to briefly see a wallcloud, but not a lot more as I recall as the cell continued north and we let it go as we noticed another cell from the SW in Tx headed our way. Both groups proceeded down toward Vernon. Randy/David managed to stay east and arrived a bit before us. Gene and I took a more direct route. We went straight down 283 through Altus and right through the core of the storm which was either severe or tornado warned and showing some rotation as we approached through the core. We got into perhaps up to golf ball hail, but most was smaller. I wenced knowing I was driving my virgin, red Suzuki SX4 in the hail for the first time. (Foreigner: 'Feels like the first time' - ). By the time we made it through the core and to just outside northern Vernon city limits the storm inflow region and core primarily west of the hwy was begining to dissolve. It was tornado warned, but nothing much came of it. I saw and photographed some lowerings.

Now it was getting a bit late and Randy/David had to head back to Austin. Gene and I continued to chase. As I recall my favored area was toward Childress/Altus and some new cells were forming along a N/S boundary in that direction. We headed to intercept. We went back north on 283 and then west on E1750 Rd most of the way to hwy 6 east of Eldorado, OK. Our first cell showing rotation on radar was already north of our road. We looked toward to inflow region but didn't see much. The road was getting worse so we opted to turn around as the main core of the next southern cell in the line was starting to come over us. We pulled back east and waited for the inflow region to appear. According to my gps...somewhere around 6:10 to 6:20 a wallcloud appeared over the hill to our SW. This was an amazing wallcloud and appeared to be already producing a possible tornado. We snapped off pictures and ran video. It was still a bit distant, but appears after review of the photos it very well could have been a tornado. The funnel/tornado lifted as it approached past the hill. Still amazing to watch with occasional quick flick silent cloud to ground strikes in front of it. We continued to follow the storm north through Altus but it had already done it's best.

Pics when I have time.

 

[James Wilson]

Wrong thread ... moved to 4/25/09.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Here is a completed log of the chase on the 26th.

http://stormhighway.com/chasing/2009b.shtml

 

[Chad Cowan]

Finally got my video up on YouTube. We intercepted 3 tornado warned supercells in east-central KS, 2 of which produced tornadoes, 0 of which we saw. As a consolation prize we got munched by some 90 MPH winds near Wichita as the huge bow echo overtook the supercell we were on. It looked like a water-wedge coming after us. We eventually stopped trying to outrun it and pulled over as power poles and street signs were getting knocked over around us. Then the wind speeds increased and changed direction, I was sure we were about to get hit by a rain-wrapped tornado:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4-wIX2IHok&fmt=18

 

[Dann Cianca]

Myself with chase partner Jason Burns intercepted the Crawford and Packsaddle tornadoes in Western Oklahoma.

Tons of pics and video can be found here:

http://blog.bigskyconvection.com/2009/05/2009-storm-chase-vi-brief-day-two-april.html

PS: Does anyone know of a damage survey done of these two tornadoes? There is only one mention of the tornado in Crawford on the SPC reports page. I heard the first tornado had done some damage ... and the second one (the Packsaddle tornado) did hit that trailer house. I didn't ever see any mention on the OUN page. I suppose the response wouldn't be fit for this thread, so if you want to PM me or start a separate thread, that would be best. Thanks!

 

[Stephen Locke]

The Canadian River Tornado

Photographs, account, time-lapse, right here.

 

[terra seright]

No problemo Terra....viz was pretty nasty and couple that with a blasting cross wind and it was not a fun cruise through the ole' Oklahoma carwash. Here are a couple of my better pics of the approaching meso and then cone funnel...which abruptly got lost in the heavy duty rain curtains...and gave our chase crew some brief nervous times.

Oh, but it was so very exciting!! I wish I could find the correct software to use, I got the front-end view of the meso. I was amazed at the ferocity of that wind!! My dashcam caught the rotating rain pretty well (reference your first pic there). Funny, tho-visibility is not as bad on the video as it looked to us humans!! We could see about 10 ft in front of the truck...the cam showed about 40 ft.