Verne Carlson
EF5
Chased the Hennessey to Stillwater, OK 'eastern' storm with Randy Denzer and Bill Tabor. Counted at least 6 tornadoes. Fat cones to needle tornado
Last edited by a moderator:
-
While Stormtrack has discontinued its hosting of SpotterNetwork support on the forums, keep in mind that support for SpotterNetwork issues is available by emailing [email protected].
5/19/10 REPORTS OK
- Thread starter Verne Carlson
- Start date
Chased the Hennessey to Stillwater, OK 'eastern' storm with Randy Denzer and Bill Tabor. Counted at least 6 tornadoes. Fat cones to needle tornado
Jeremy Jones
Intercepted the Hennessey Tornado as well....My recap coming soon....
This was my very first Solo tornado intercept!
I started off the day waiting in El-Reno on US81. I got a call from my meteorologist friend, telling me that there was funnel reported with the little cell that had fired over Okeene. After scratching my head for a minute or two, I blasted North on 81. I caught up with the Supercell just North of Hennessey. It made a right turn and paralleled US51
!! I was able to stay in front of it until I35, and caught the rope stage of the Second Tornado this cell dropped, just East of I35.
I decided to let that cell go, due to how the terrain is East of I35.
I dropped South on I35, to catch the Sup. that was coming into Guthrie.
Got to see the TIV crew making a mad dash on East 105, out of Guthrie!
What a great Chase!! Here's a wide angle shot of the Hennessey Tornado.
This was my very first Solo tornado intercept!
I started off the day waiting in El-Reno on US81. I got a call from my meteorologist friend, telling me that there was funnel reported with the little cell that had fired over Okeene. After scratching my head for a minute or two, I blasted North on 81. I caught up with the Supercell just North of Hennessey. It made a right turn and paralleled US51
!! I was able to stay in front of it until I35, and caught the rope stage of the Second Tornado this cell dropped, just East of I35. I decided to let that cell go, due to how the terrain is East of I35.
I dropped South on I35, to catch the Sup. that was coming into Guthrie.
Got to see the TIV crew making a mad dash on East 105, out of Guthrie!
What a great Chase!! Here's a wide angle shot of the Hennessey Tornado.
Last edited by a moderator:
Chris Hayes
EF5
We got on the first storm of the day that formed in NW Oklahoma. Intercepted it north of Clinton. Got involved in the chaser convergence with V2 on 33. Began trying to get back ahead of it. On the way to get ahead of it we saw an awesome inflow cloud forming up and being sucked in. I decided to head for Watonga. Then things went from cool to BAD. We went through Thomas and then Fay. Saw some smoke and pulled over. Our truck blew a fuel line and was gushing out diesel. We were dead in the water for nearly 2 hours before the tow truck got there and finally picked us up. It was painful going back to OKC from the west and seeing a row of supercells with overshooting tops 
Mike Umscheid
EF4
Observed and photographed a few non-supercell funnels/tornadoes near Cimarron, Kansas during the 7:00 to 7:30pm time frame. This was very near the mid level vorticity center, or the so-called "cold-core" environment. The storms were rather low-topped. One of the tornadoes passed within 100 yards of me along a farm road. It was close enough I could hear it. The sound is kind of difficult to describe, kind of like someone saying "shhhhhhhh" for about a full minute as it was tossing tumbleweeds about 100 feet into the air.
Note the small debris cloud crossing the road about 100 yards away:
Here's an image about 1.5 minutes before the top image showing a better funnel and the cloud base swirl:
Another tornado about 15 minutes later a few more miles to the north at around 7:30pm CDT:
Note the small debris cloud crossing the road about 100 yards away:
Here's an image about 1.5 minutes before the top image showing a better funnel and the cloud base swirl:
Another tornado about 15 minutes later a few more miles to the north at around 7:30pm CDT:
Adam Lucio
EF5
Also on that sad excuse for a supercell south of the OKC metro. It came about as close to producing a tornado as it could. At one point we were right in the cage with swirling clouds just off to our north in a field, large hail started falling so we bailed east. Probably wont know if it ever made it to the ground but it sure came damn close.
Other than that today was a bust for me. Ugh. Worst ever in my career so far, but I guess every year has those days!
Other than that today was a bust for me. Ugh. Worst ever in my career so far, but I guess every year has those days!
Chad Cowan
EF5
Saw at least six tornadoes today. Five of which came from the Hennessey supercell and the last one about twenty minutes ago southwest of Ada. Pictures coming soon.
(edit) Second tornado of the day, taken in Hennessey:
(edit) Second tornado of the day, taken in Hennessey:
Last edited by a moderator:
Brett Roberts
EF5
Brandon Lawson and I followed the storm which initiated just N of Watonga for several hours until it reached I-35 near Perry. Strangely, the storm exhibited ominous wall clouds as soon as we neared it in its formative stages near Hitchcock, even as radar indicated a small reflectivity maximum of 35-40 dBZ. Not long thereafter, around 3:20pm, we observed this nearly-horizontal funnel cloud:
It was unclear whether this touched down from our vantage point, though I believe someone on SN reported it as a tornado. The funnel lasted about five minutes and was quite a site to behold as it snaked around.
After much hesitation and wringing of hands on whether to follow our storm (which we feared would cross the boundary into more stable air, as it took quite awhile to turn right or produce any more lowerings) or abandon it for the Roger Mills/Dewey Co. beast, it finally showed a surge in reflectivity and echo tops on radar as it slowed down and took a more easterly course, so the decision was easier. Most of the next ~3 hours consisted of playing leapfrog with the 100+ other chasers (mainly local yahoos, it appeared) on OK-51 and squinting our eyes to look for any lowerings back in the massive core, but we were briefly rewarded just W of Hennessey with a large cone tornado a few miles to our NW.
By the time this HP beast reached I-35, we decided to call it good and drop S to the "southern" storm, missing the tornadoes which apparently occurred W of SWO shortly thereafter. We met the second storm near Crescent and followed it out to around Meridian, where we decided the nightmarish combination of terrain and chaser convergence was no longer worth the hassle, so were back in Norman by 9pm. Looks like C OK is officially back in the game after today and May 10 -- though it would sure be nice if we could get just one good non-HP storm this year!
It was unclear whether this touched down from our vantage point, though I believe someone on SN reported it as a tornado. The funnel lasted about five minutes and was quite a site to behold as it snaked around.
After much hesitation and wringing of hands on whether to follow our storm (which we feared would cross the boundary into more stable air, as it took quite awhile to turn right or produce any more lowerings) or abandon it for the Roger Mills/Dewey Co. beast, it finally showed a surge in reflectivity and echo tops on radar as it slowed down and took a more easterly course, so the decision was easier. Most of the next ~3 hours consisted of playing leapfrog with the 100+ other chasers (mainly local yahoos, it appeared) on OK-51 and squinting our eyes to look for any lowerings back in the massive core, but we were briefly rewarded just W of Hennessey with a large cone tornado a few miles to our NW.
By the time this HP beast reached I-35, we decided to call it good and drop S to the "southern" storm, missing the tornadoes which apparently occurred W of SWO shortly thereafter. We met the second storm near Crescent and followed it out to around Meridian, where we decided the nightmarish combination of terrain and chaser convergence was no longer worth the hassle, so were back in Norman by 9pm. Looks like C OK is officially back in the game after today and May 10 -- though it would sure be nice if we could get just one good non-HP storm this year!
Bobby Prentice
SHORT: Gene Rhoden and I chased the Leedey-Dover-Guthrie, OK tornadic supercell and then Purcell-Lexington supercell towards sunset. Saw brief tornadoes near Loyal and another rain-wrapped tornado near Dover.
LONG: Gene Rhoden and I first observed the Leedey-Dover-Guthrie, OK tornadic supercell when it was crossing Roman Nose State Park north of Watonga. The storm had a very low base, looked "cold," and had outflow problems. We lost radar Verizon data at this point, but the storm visually looked HP.
We drove east out of Hitchcock and parked just west of Loyal, OK. There the supercell developed a rapidly rotating wall cloud just to our west. I saw a brief needle funnel touchdown out the back window as we drove east out of Loyal and then the meso wrapped in rain curtains while we were parked next to Rich Thompson/Roger Edwards a few miles east of Loyal.
We saw the rope stage of a rain wrapped tornado several miles to our WSW when we were parked on E0730 RD about 2 miles southeast of Dover.
We next saw a rotating wall cloud to our WNW, but no tornado while parked a few miles west of Guthrie. At this point, the storm appeared to be gusting out, so we decided to drop south after a new storm which had a tornado warning for Norman.
We intercepted this supercell from the southwest side near Purcell and followed it east a few miles east of the Lexington, OK prison on OK39. The storm had serious outflow problems and began to line out. We saw one last strongly rotating, but undercut meso to our northeast as the sun set.
Neither of these ever had intense mesos (that we could see on radar) and both had outflow problems.
The chaser storm of the day was the Hennessey-Stillwater storm. The warm front appeared to bow-northeastward and the storm was able to ride warm front for a few hours. We debated whether or not to intercept this storm, but as of 22Z OK mesonet and Visible satellite images indicated it would move into cool, stable air and die. Wrong! VORTEX2 was on the Leedey-Dover-Guthrie storm and perhaps their results will explain why this storm struggled compared to the eastern supercell.
Meanwhile, the Wynnewood, OK tornadic supercell continued to chug along as I type this. Radar indicates it is a cyclic tornadic supercell. Too bad it occurred after mainly dark and in the trees.
LONG: Gene Rhoden and I first observed the Leedey-Dover-Guthrie, OK tornadic supercell when it was crossing Roman Nose State Park north of Watonga. The storm had a very low base, looked "cold," and had outflow problems. We lost radar Verizon data at this point, but the storm visually looked HP.
We drove east out of Hitchcock and parked just west of Loyal, OK. There the supercell developed a rapidly rotating wall cloud just to our west. I saw a brief needle funnel touchdown out the back window as we drove east out of Loyal and then the meso wrapped in rain curtains while we were parked next to Rich Thompson/Roger Edwards a few miles east of Loyal.
We saw the rope stage of a rain wrapped tornado several miles to our WSW when we were parked on E0730 RD about 2 miles southeast of Dover.
We next saw a rotating wall cloud to our WNW, but no tornado while parked a few miles west of Guthrie. At this point, the storm appeared to be gusting out, so we decided to drop south after a new storm which had a tornado warning for Norman.
We intercepted this supercell from the southwest side near Purcell and followed it east a few miles east of the Lexington, OK prison on OK39. The storm had serious outflow problems and began to line out. We saw one last strongly rotating, but undercut meso to our northeast as the sun set.
Neither of these ever had intense mesos (that we could see on radar) and both had outflow problems.
The chaser storm of the day was the Hennessey-Stillwater storm. The warm front appeared to bow-northeastward and the storm was able to ride warm front for a few hours. We debated whether or not to intercept this storm, but as of 22Z OK mesonet and Visible satellite images indicated it would move into cool, stable air and die. Wrong! VORTEX2 was on the Leedey-Dover-Guthrie storm and perhaps their results will explain why this storm struggled compared to the eastern supercell.
Meanwhile, the Wynnewood, OK tornadic supercell continued to chug along as I type this. Radar indicates it is a cyclic tornadic supercell. Too bad it occurred after mainly dark and in the trees.
Dan Cook
EF5
Got the Leedey storm with COD:
Randy Bowers
EF1
Right place at the right time, unfortunately my vehicle got stuck on a muddy county road just north of Hennessey which ended my chase day. I have navigated MANY of these dirt roads throughout my years of chasing and never had a problem until today. Pretty embarrassing. I owe a HUGE thanks to Bart Comstock for getting me out of there and dropping me off at a location where I was able to get help.
Dal Archer
Also chased the Hennessey storm and intercepted. Initially had some indecision about going further west to intercept the storm around Seiling/Vici area, but sure glad that we didn't.
The cell had a beautiful updraft tower and once it got going it really turned into a beast. Here are a few screen grabs from the video (not nearly as good as high quality pics, but better than nothing).
The last shot (of the funnel cloud) is a little west of Stillwater.
http://picasaweb.google.com/darcher17/HennesseyLacieStillwaterTornadoesFunnels#5473206186513966978
http://picasaweb.google.com/darcher17/HennesseyLacieStillwaterTornadoesFunnels#5473206193083079634
http://picasaweb.google.com/darcher17/HennesseyLacieStillwaterTornadoesFunnels#5473206190006241138
The cell had a beautiful updraft tower and once it got going it really turned into a beast. Here are a few screen grabs from the video (not nearly as good as high quality pics, but better than nothing).
The last shot (of the funnel cloud) is a little west of Stillwater.
http://picasaweb.google.com/darcher17/HennesseyLacieStillwaterTornadoesFunnels#5473206186513966978
http://picasaweb.google.com/darcher17/HennesseyLacieStillwaterTornadoesFunnels#5473206193083079634
http://picasaweb.google.com/darcher17/HennesseyLacieStillwaterTornadoesFunnels#5473206190006241138
John Gnuechtel
EF3
Was out today as well. Against my better judgment about how well triple points work, I targeted Lawton thinking maybe I could try for some more discreet stuff. That was dumb. Winds weren't backed. It was just not great down that way. I realized my mistake just as the triple point storm started to fire, so I high-tailed it back up that way and played catch-up for the rest of the day. All wasn't lost though. I managed to catch back up to the massive throng near Watonga, and we all played on that storm for the rest of the chase. At one point I actually managed to get ahead of it and shoot a panoramic:
Full size version here: http://www.amazingcheese.com/Storms/5-19-10_Panorama.jpg
After that it was a slew of bad choices. I tried to escape east on farm roads and ended up a muddy sea of awful, where at one point I very unexpectedly went from thick cold outflow rain and hail to very strong inflow winds drenched in sheets rain. Having been hit by rfd winds on the south side of the storm earlier, I figured it was mostly outflow dominant, and did not expect it to be taking a breath like that. It was an interesting experience, but next time I'll bail south earlier. After that, I got stuck in the chaser traffic jam heading east in blinding rain. Decided to hang it up in Guthrie. Fun day despite a lot of dumb happenings. I owe Subaru a thank-you letter.
Full size version here: http://www.amazingcheese.com/Storms/5-19-10_Panorama.jpg
After that it was a slew of bad choices. I tried to escape east on farm roads and ended up a muddy sea of awful, where at one point I very unexpectedly went from thick cold outflow rain and hail to very strong inflow winds drenched in sheets rain. Having been hit by rfd winds on the south side of the storm earlier, I figured it was mostly outflow dominant, and did not expect it to be taking a breath like that. It was an interesting experience, but next time I'll bail south earlier. After that, I got stuck in the chaser traffic jam heading east in blinding rain. Decided to hang it up in Guthrie. Fun day despite a lot of dumb happenings. I owe Subaru a thank-you letter.
Jason Montano
EF4
Heck of a day. Got on a Supercell near Hennessey and followed it to just east of Stillwater. Saw at least 4 tornadoes one of which was a nice cone tornado near Hennessey. Glad to see, at least so far, no one was injured today. Uploaded clips of two of the tornadoes to you tube. They should be in HD as soon as youtube reviews them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPtMzTAcxIg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZtG_8WmDjk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPtMzTAcxIg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZtG_8WmDjk
cdcollura
EF5
Good day all,
Pretty much stayed on the storm that formed near Leedey, Oklahoma and followed it through to its demise near and east of Guthrie. Many storms today produced tornadoes, so it was a great day for everyone!
Above: Tornado NW of Leedey, Oklahoma.
Above: Possible tornado (or part of the wall cloud) near Eagle City, OK.
Above: Found this "rotating" mess inside the "bears cage" of the storm near Kingfisher, OK.
Pretty much stayed on the storm that formed near Leedey, Oklahoma and followed it through to its demise near and east of Guthrie. Many storms today produced tornadoes, so it was a great day for everyone!
Above: Tornado NW of Leedey, Oklahoma.
Above: Possible tornado (or part of the wall cloud) near Eagle City, OK.
Above: Found this "rotating" mess inside the "bears cage" of the storm near Kingfisher, OK.
Matt Gingery
Well we began our chase in El Reno noticing the towers go up near Kingfisher. We took HWY 81 north to intercept near Boise, Ok. The cell quickly produced a tiny rope tornado that briefly touched down 10 miles to the west. We repositioned and shortly after we witnessed an amazing wedge tornado transform to a large stove pipe and traverse the praire of Ok. Contrast was good on the first two tornadoes. The 3rd was a large cone embedded and shrouded in rain after tornado 2 roped out. Witnessed a total of 4 tornadoes today. Wanted to count 6, although at my vantage point I couldn't clearly see the debris at the base. What a fantastic day though. Some of the most amazing structure. Chaser Convergence was a serious issue on this chase as well but we managed.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTb12E53LzU
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlIMoegrNzI
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTb12E53LzU
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlIMoegrNzI
