Game plan for the day was to play off the outflow boundaries from Monday evening's storm in Woods County, so preliminary target was Woodward, OK, with a backup plan to go west to Beaver, OK if things didn't look good in Woodward. Needless to say, I didn't have to use plan B.
I left Norman at 11:00, going solo, with partner Jo Radel acting as nowcaster. I headed west on I-40, then north on Hwy 183 out of Clinton. When I got to about the Putnam area, I could see the tower that would become the Roger Mills storm going up to the west. I called Jo to let her know what I was seeing, and headed on north to the Hwy 183/60 intersection which was the next west option. The storm was quickly growing and the first severe warning came out for Roger Mills/Ellis counties. I headed west towards Vici (to get a quck fill up on gas AND to get on Hwy 34 as my south option). Just as I got to the gas station in Vici (and turned off the camera), a huge CG hit less than a block from where I was, just as the rain and hail moved in.
I then moved south on Hwy 34, and ran parallel with the storms all afternoon, watching many attempts to produce funnels. At one point, when I was somewhere near Camargo, one lowering off to my sothwest was VERY suspicious. I was too far away to know for sure if it was on the ground, but I was definitely pleased with how the day was going at this point. A little further south near Hammon, I had pulled off the road to watch another suspicious area, and briefly talked with one of the locals, who was also out enjoying the weather.
I headed on south to Elk City, then west on I-40 to Sayre, where I watched tail end Charley put forth the best effort of the day. Finally, there was some weak inflow, and a wall cloud struggled with some brief rotation and attempted a couple of lowerings. I sat back for a bit and simply enjoyed the lightning show before heading back to Norman.
It's amazing how one afternoon with bring an entire season out of the basement. BIG thanks to Jo for nowcasting for me and BIG thanks to Mom Nature for the delightful afternoon!!!