5/1/09 REPORTS: TX/OK

[Shane Adams]

Bridge, Mickey, Randy Cooper, and myself observed a brief tornado this evening north of Stamford, TX at around 5:23pm CDT. It appeared as a dust whirl beneath a rapidly rotating wall cloud/funnel, and lasted maybe a minute before RFD wiped it out. Full summary and pics will be online by the end of the weekend.

 

[Jason A.C. Brock]

Haskell County Chase

Its amazing how good the view is in Haskell county and then how bad it gets on into Throckmorton. Was on the same cell as every chaser spotter and their dog was on in Haskell county. Had numerous cycles from one wall cloud to another which where quite ipressive but just as things looked to get interesting RFD....TEASE.....RFD...TEASE...RFD. Jumped off the cell to make it to see the Baylor county storm die. David Drummond is the man....saw his stream was still goin strong after everyone gave up after the Throckmorton storm died. Should have stayed at Lake Stamford till dark. The bolts from the blue ahead of storm where also in no short supply. Sheesh

 

[Mike Umscheid]

A pretty successful chase day. Intercepted 3 supercells. I didn't join the hordes to go after the Seymour supercell. I'm glad I didn't. The Roby supercell was very photogenic at sunset and managed to get a few CGs with the structure. Before the hordes arrived on scene for the afternoon Rule supercell, a truncated elephant trunk tornado occurred at 3:40pm west of O'Brien:

Contrast-enhanced version to show the faint dust column:

 

[Greg McLaughlin]

Dan Robinson and I chased the Haskell County supercell like averyone else did today. The storm had a beautiful vaulted updraft at several points in its life. The meso was quite disorganized for most of its life and was undercut by outflow. Around 6pm just to the north of Stamford, TX the supercell produced very strong rfd which completely cleared out the precip to the west of the meso to reveal a front-lit wall cloud. At this point I actually thought the storm might have a chance to produce a tornado, but it never did. Aside from the very first tornado report (I cannot vouch for since I wasn't quite on the storm at this point) I am certain this storm failed to produce a tornado due to the fact it could never overcome the outflow undercutting the wall cloud.


After seeing Mike's pics I can vouch that this storm produced one tornado. We were on the other side of the supercell (northeast) closing in on it at that point. At no other point after this did the storm ever produce a funnel that discernable.

 

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

The dirt road network down there was fairly nice today. They hadn't been rained on too much and were somewhat rocky (unlike panhandle roads) that give you traction even if they are wet. The only times I really saw other chasers is when I had to cross the major highways. I am not sure what was going on today, but I kept getting hail in places I do not normally see it, like south of the storm. I stayed SE to due south of the wall cloud area and continuously kept getting hailed on. I found a really nice flat area (crop fields) which gave me a great view of the wall cloud/tornado Randy posted. My great spot turned out to be a really bad place due to the outflow that hit that area. Instead of seeing the spinup under the wall cloud, all I could see was a wall of dirt from the fields around me. There was small area, but very tight rotation within the wall cloud multiple times at that point and I was not shocked to here about some spinups beneath it.

 

[Kiel Ortega]

SHORT: Maybe a rain-wrapped tornado north of Rule viewed from the east; hail up to 4.25" in diameter south of Rule; lost cover for luggage rack bolts and a cracked tail light.

LONG: Left Norman to adventure southwest of Wichita Falls with Sam Dienst, Tiffany Meyer and Cassie Wingate. By the time we had made it to Seymour, the (I'll say the) storm had fired down west of Knox City. We filled up with gas and continued on and then viewed the storm from south of Weinert. Wanting to get closer (our goal for the day was hail), we headed east on county roads. On county road 118, we came into view of a interesting feature to our WSW. I am 80% sure this was a rainwrapped tornado, which is up from the 50/50 I was at earlier. I'm up to 80% after viewing an LSR which said the tornado was "sitting on the ground" (which I assume means not moving) and this feature didn't really move (only problem is that the times don't match, but I'll ballpark it for now). We turned south and went through Haskell. Once we were a good ways south, we turned west and then turned back north on Hwy 6. At this point, the storm looked to be going downhill as there was a lot of precip where a updraft base had once been and apparently no new updraft area, as we had seen before with the previous occlusions. After checking the warning text and seeing hail up to baseball size was reported in Rule (only 6 mi to our north) we decided to make a run for the hail. About 2 miles south of Rule we started to encounter the hail and parked. Here the hail hit a max around golf ball size. We then turned back to the south and stopped at random points if the hail got blowing again from the north (we would flip and aim the car north) or if we spotted some large stones laying on the ground. We found a 3" stone and a 4.25" along Hwy 6 south of Rule; it wasn't until the 3" stone our data returned and I saw our storm had recovered and that we were sitting in the RFD (wasn't worried about tornadoes, but was starting to get suspicious given the large hail sizes on a storm I thought was going downhill). The CR-V held up great (the hood is becoming a piece of art ), but sustained a cracked tail light (still works, cosmetic damage) and I lost the cover for the luggage rack bolts again (this happened on the Nocona storm at the beginning of the month). We headed towards Stamford and watched a fairly dusty occlusion occur northwest of town. The storm then began to evaporate and we moved on to the storm near Seymour. For this storm we took a more laid back approach and set up on Hwy 222 (away from the chaser mess) and watched that storm do approximately nothing. All in all, good way to end a ~2800 mile week of chases. Saw the biggest hailstone I've ever seen in my life and was really impressed with the size distribution of the hail when we were south of Rule: there was a fairly good scattering from quarter size to baseball+ with the peak around golf ball.

 

[Michael O'Keeffe]

We saw the tornado Mike saw as well from about 10-15 miles away while trying to close in on the storm. We were able to film it for about a minute before it dissipated. This storm was a pretty impressive storm that seemed to produce everything, the structure was impressive, there were multiple "too close for comfort" lightning strikes, golfball sized hail, and several funnels. Will post pics and video tomorrow.

 

[sdienst]

Monster Hail

The highlight from our day was definately the gorilla hail we found along highway 6 south of Rule. Read Kiel's report for the summary. Here are a few shots of the 4.25" stone I ran out to get while the storm was still chunking golfballs.

 

[Shane Adams]

Full summary and pics online now:
http://www.passiontwist.com/5109chase.htm

 

[Bill Tabor]

I was out there with the rest of you. I probably got on the Rule / O'brien part a bit before most as I was already local. Gps shows I was north of Rule at 3:50 only 3 minutes after O'brien tornado began. I was watching the storm, but don't recall an elephant trunk. However I was driving and screwing with equipment as usual. Actually I spent at least 5 minutes in Rule getting gas. Wow! That may have cost me. The dash cam was running wonder if it picked it up? Anyway I got nw of Rule before 4 and watched the large wallcloud / funnels, and ground swirls for quite some time. There were numerous small funnels taking part in the wallcloud but most barely extending below. Dirt was definitely rotating in swirls below numerous times. I debated logging it on Spotternetwork because it was still weak for a tornado or at least what I like to call a tornado. Eventually I pulled the trigger after a bigger funnel and dirt began briefly and then broke down. Bit after that then apparent RFD hit and then it got very large and rain wrapped. I don't know if that means it was a big tornado - even a wedge? I couldn't really tell. It did seem to have a very hard side of delineation at one point. But after that it quickly weakened and cleared out. After that is when line's of cars and TIV2 (I believe it was) began going past on the back road (N to S) toward Rule. After that I broke south and stayed with the storm. It didn't organize for awhile. Seems this storm had a tendency to strengthen / surge and then back off. At first it was developing south and working south or even SSW, but as you know later it started heading SE a bit toward Stamford before it weakened again.

Anyway, as I got south of Rule along with lots of other chasers I began getting some occasional drops of nickel, then quarter, and then even a golfball sized hail. I took a picture of that one lying on my notebook. I continued south a bit more to what I thought was the Sagerton road headed west and was talking on the phone. Too much apparently, - distracted on the phone I had taken the wrong road and I was close to the storm. Suddenly a mile ahead I was seeing the RFD in the fields and just north of me the core was about to overtake me. I thought I would be out quicker and would have if it wasn't the wrong road. Unlike many of you I don't like to camp in hail. Besides it's a new vehicle (mostly unblemished still). I don't think the light golfballs were a problem as I was driving slow. But north it was apparent a lot more was going on. I could see that 'white' falling. I figured that wasn't a good sign. Then I drove up on Randy Hicks (Outlaw Chaser) . I figured that wasn't a good sign either as Randy tries to drive in everything it seems. Somehow I turbo boosted out of there, avoided the 4.5 inch hail reported, and busted south with the rest of the crew. Chasers were scattered everywhere. RFD was kicking up and blowing red dust everywhere as well. A big burst blew it all away downstream toward Stamford. Most chasers left to avoid the RFD dust running over them I stayed. After a while it appeared the wallcloud reorganized some and was very bulbous. Appears a funnel was extended a bit, and quite a bit of red dirt was being lifted up under the wallcloud. This too I will call a likely tornado. This is probably the one Shane is talking about, but I may have been south of it whereas sounds like he may have been a bit E or SE of it.

After that I cruised toward Stamford. Saw Reed Timmer and his red behemoth with the accompaning media circus. Started to follow the storm east, but it fell apart. Next started to head to the Seymore storm but as I was driving it was falling apart too. Saw the writing on the wall and noticed new development on the boundary further west. Shot west through Aspermont and cut between two developing / merging cells that were severe warned. As I came around the backside looking toward Roby I could see the wallcloud / with a bit of a funnel in the distance. I was still quite aways away. A ran the dash cam on it some. Appears Mike Umscheid may have taken a better quicker route based on his funnel shots. Guess I had the right idea but too slow to implement well.

Headed back to my local base after that. Along the way I was talking to my brother in law who has a ranch north of Stamford. Apparently he and his buddy were going for diesel fuel in the truck up in Haskell. He mentioned a storm at Haskell, and I started giving him info. As I did the storm continued to intensify. Threatnet showed 92mph then 103 (or was it 110?). Next GR3 was showing fairly significant rotation via SRV at lower levels. I was warning that it appeared strong and they shouldn't continue and should be cautious. Apparently his friend Greg was determined to get fuel as he was running on fumes and I guess the station was about to close. Then NWS issued a tornado warning for Lake Stamford and their immediate area. It was funny to listen to them as they described what they were seeing. My 'BIL' said he saw what he thought was rotation or a tornado that just went past them. They were on the outskirts and just missed it. I don't know how strong it was or if it was fully planted. I told him it was his first storm chase. He said, 'Heck, I'm trying to avoid them'. I then told him how many times after a chase when I don't want to see them (in the dark) they like to find me.

I'll call it two weak tornadoes. Probably F0 which seems typical for me. I seem adept at finding the weak ones. Though I suppose that makes sense and 90% or more or low end. F0's are the most prevalent. Either way...it was fun. Hope the rest of you enjoyed your day as well.

PS: I'll post pictures when I have time. I need to leave to go chase right now, but I don't have very high hopes for the day. I just now posted my May 25 pics on here. When I get back home I'll post pics from my other chases so look for them if you are interested. I'll keep the number on Stormtrack to only 1 or two, but will likely have a whole series of images about each day on my website.

 

[Robert Rohloff]

05/01/09 REPORT OK

I spent the day on major flash flooding in NE OK. The area near Pryor Ok received over 8 inches of rain, it is estimated 4-5 inches fell in just over one hour. There were dozens of water rescues and significant damage to homes and roads. The main Union Pacific RR line has many wash outs and a bridge washed out on both ends. I grabbed a few still shots from the video. Anyone coming into NE OK we have a FFW until Sunday night and there is going to be ongoing river and stream flooding.

 

[Greg McLaughlin]

After reviewing the HD dash cam video from yesterday I continue to stand firm in the belief that the Haskell County supercell only produced one tornado yesterday. That tornado was the one Mike Umscheid took photos of, and this occurred while I was still to the northeast of the main precip core. I managed to get into position around 4:40pm when the storm was still northwest of Rule, TX. From this point on I was very close to the meso(s)and had an excellent (emphasis added) view of each wall cloud this storm produced.

In my video at 5:23pm I was sitting about 2 miles south of Rule, TX on a county road watching a new meso/wallcloud develop to my immediate northwest. I was about a mile or two away from this feature and from my stationary viewpoint I could see a persistent but quite disorganized rotation with the wall cloud. I commented at this time the storm was looking far more organized than any previous time we had seen it, however it was nowhere close to producing a tornado. Also of note, just minutes prior to this is when the storm produced the largest hail of the day.

Dan Robinson has a few picks on his blog:

http://www.stormhighway.com/blog/

This will be my last post on this matter as I am not interested in getting involved in a heated debate. My criticism is merely meant to be constructional and by no means do I desire to personally attack anyone.

 

[Chris Rice]

Caught same tornado Mike did, although I thought it was just funnel at the time. It lasted maybe 3-4 minutes total. Great pic too BTW Mike. I seem to be camera retarded lately, so my video sucks, I grabbed what I thought was a rural road just to get behind 2 trucks, a tractor, and a school bus. By the time I was able to get close enough it pretty much dissapated. However downstream another mile I was nearly struck by lightning when a bolt hit a telephone pole nearby and hot embers landed only about 8 feet from me. That storm produced a ton of outflow and kicked out some major dust. All in all a great chase day!

 

[Matt Hughes]

That hail is awesome Sam! Observed the first tornado from too far away. Then we got under the storm in Haskell Co. for the rest of the show. Great storm with textbook cycling. Picture below is of the wall cloud at the same time the second tornado was reported.

edit: Just went through my video and I did catch a brief funnel and dust swirl at ground level viewing from the east. Although technically incorrect I call those gustnadoes. Too weak to call it a tornado as far as I'm concerned!

 

[Brett Roberts]

Left Norman around 1:30pm with Bryan Putnam and Vivek Mahale. Although we made good time getting down to the initial storm that developed in Knox Co., we were about half an hour too late for the tornado reported by Mike U. and others. By 4:45pm, we were approaching Haskell from the north and could see a significant wall cloud and possible funnel to our W, just N of Rule. We blasted W on US-380 to Rule, where we noted lots of shredded/downed leaves, presumably from the large hail that had been reported just a bit earlier. Can't say I'm too upset to have missed the baseballs, as I was the driver!

Once we turned S on TX-6 out of Rule, we enjoyed the fairly nice HP structure for awhile as the storm drifted toward Stamford. The widespread dust being kicked up from RFD winds during this period was ridiculous! Here are a couple shots from between 5:05-5:15pm, looking N from TX-6.

As everyone who was out knows, this storm took a nosedive as it crossed US-277 around 5:30pm, so we began flying N towards the Baylor Co. storm just south of the cold front. It didn't take many radar updates to realize it wasn't just our storm trending rapidly downhill, but everything that had developed ahead of the front. We stopped on US-183 between Throckmorton and Seymour to watch the Baylor Co. storm to our N, as it had shown less rapid weakening than other cells (and even a brief resurgence in VIL/tops around 6:30pm), but it wasn't long before it simply evaporated before our eyes too.