5/4/07 REPORTS: TX, OK, KS, CO

[BrandonWhittington]

I chased the storm that was located in southern Ellis County, OK.. Awsome chase day, saw 3 different tornadoes. The best one and most photogentic was of a White one. It was on the ground for over 20 min. I got so close to this tornado that I could actually feel the ground shaking. I know I was in good hands and was in a safe place. Tornado passed in front of me by only 50 to 60 yards..... I really didnt mean to get this close, but at the same time, I did not want to move to a different position in case I would miss something. Also, Only god knows how many storm chasers there were up in Ellis County. Its getting to the point were it is becoming a safety issue. To many of them not paying any attention to the surroundings, and just stopping in the middle of the road......But anyway, I have started to post videos of the Tornado on YouTube and I will be doing so for the next several hours.....

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=brandowoody&p=r

 

[Dustin Wilcox]

Arrived to the storm near Woodward, a little late for the tornadoes but not for the decent structure. Just one picture of many to come I am sure.

 

[Caleb Kimbrough]

The tornadojunkies team was out chasing today in Central/Northern Kansas.

No Naders. We did see some rotation on the storm up in the Smith county storm(s)

Had the chance to shoot some lightning as well, here's one of the photos:

We're sitting in a Motel 8 west of Concordia right now and are heading back home. We'll be back out here tomorrow.

See you then!

 

[sdienst]

Saw two different tornadoes after dark north of Protection. Tried to come into Greensburg from west but road was blocked off.

 

[Melanie Metz]

We also watched the tornado develop and turn into a wedge as it moved through Greensburg KS area. We could not get north on 183. Waiting to hear how bad the town was hit and hoping people are ok. Will post video captures later.

Melanie and Peggy

 

[Skip Talbot]

Chad Cowan and I blasted up to north central KS after sitting in Great Bend earlier and caught a very impressive supercell just south of the NE border between Red Cloud and Franklin, NE and Smith Center, KS. There was a large wall cloud and beaver tail that stretched for miles. We also witnessed a cone funnel that briefly formed into a rope tornado, well east of the wall cloud at about 11 pm. We were unable to get good enough backlighting to capture it on film, although COD passed us just beforehand so maybe they were able to capture it. Pictures of the wall cloud and daylit tower before intercepting will follow

Full log and pictures

 

[Melanie Metz]

Video captures from the Greensburg, KS tornado.

 

[Jay McCoy]

I, Kanani,Steve Miller, and david Drommund all targeted the eastern tx panhandle between Canadian and Shamrock and storms erupted almost on top of us. We tracked 2 seperate cells NNE into western oklahoma where the more souther cell became dominate and really took on a classic supercell shape. We worked a number of "bobs roads" trying to stay close while dodging baseball hail and were able to avoid getting stuck in the wet red clay. we finally hit pavement again just west of Arnett and moved east then south on 283 to get ina good position as the storm developed a nice wall cloud with intense rotation. We barely had time to stop and grab our cameras before it dropped a very picturesque tornado out of what was rapidly becoming an LP. This tornado was just SW of Arnett and at first dropped and lifetd a number of times (only counts as 1 guys the funnel never disappated) before it finally stayed on the ground for over 20 minutes before occluding and another area of rotation formed just east of 283 SE of Arnett. We moved back up to 60 and headed east to get ahead again. We saw another small funnel as the rotation moved north of 60 but never saw it touch but we were driving and apparently missed something since DEM in that area reports damage to a house just NE of Arnett. We followed it until NE of Woodward where it fianlly started to shear apart and we called it a night since the sun was setting anyway and we had a long drive back to amarillo (work issues).

I will post some pics soon as I can but for some reason I cant get into photobucket this morning. The rotation and structure of this storm were absolutely insane. One of the best LP's I had seen in years. One odd thing was it was chunking hail out a good 10 miles ahead of the updraft. even when we had clear skies above us we were geting sporadic golfballs and smaller. It was a fountain of ice. Not alot of chasers on this storm as most were in kansas but I saw some head south quickly on spotternetwork once it became warned. Nice to have a storm where you didnt have to fight 200 cars lining the road. I saw a couple dozen chasers at most and less than 10 as had the tornado on the ground. Mostly local media chasers including ch9's helicopter.

 

[Dick McGowan]

Darin Brunin, Derek Shaffer and I witnessed at least 6 tornadoes, the Greensburg one formed about 300 yards in front of us. A survivor ran out onto the road on 183, and we took him to his family down the road after moving power lines (not hot) off of the road and went into Greensburg before emergency personnel arrived. I can't even describe the smell. This has changed storm chasing perspective for me. Sean Wilson helped rescue a lady out of her basement, hiding in her bathroom under a pile of rubble. Anywhere else in her house, and she would not have survived. Here is the picture of the Greensville wedge. There were several other tornadoes on the ground at the same time, in different shapes. On zero sleep, and ready to head west.

Thanks to Dan Robinson and Fabian Guerra for stopping to help out on 183 south of Greensburg.

 

[Jason A.C. Brock]

I was on the storm in the Arnett area of Oklahoma. Was sitting there when KFOR pulled up and took their video so their ground video is similiar to mine. I only saw one tornado. I dont count ones that lift and touch back down a minute later. It touched down for a few seonds then lifted to produce the 20 minute tornado. Some people were EXTREMLY close to this thing. I guess I will never be as good a chaser or have the ultimate shot until I get close enough to get killed ny one of these things on purpose. Do some of you guys NOT like storm structure? LOL
To each his own. Stay safe. Ill be posting pics and video after this weekends mess is over.
Most chasers I saw were behaving pretty well tho. Getting off the road not speeding etc. One note tho.....LOOK before ya run accross a road. All the excitement can make ya forget but Id hate to have a new hood ornament. ;-)
On of the best chases ive been on as far as being in the right place at the right time and roads working out etc.
Thank you LORD!

 

[Michael O'Keeffe]

Was on the storm that affected Greensburg, KS. I saw 4 maybe more tornadoes including 3 near Protection and the huge wedge that hit Greensburg. The structure was absolutely incredible! The damage was horrific though. My prayers go out to those effected by this historic tornado.

Will post pics and a chase log ASAP.

The Greensburg, KS killer

Another image of the EF-5 beast.

 

[Shane Adams]

Mickey Ptak and I observed two large tornadoes late Friday night, from the same supercell that produced the Greensburg tornado. The first was southwest of Byers and the second was southeast of Macksville/southwest of St John. Fortunately both appeared to stay in open country, at least while we were seeing them.

 

[Van DeWald]

I was following the Greensburg storm, was about 2 miles away from it at 925 pm when I snapped this pic.

This was about 5 miles southwest of Greensburg. I tried to follow it north, and it did have a satellite tornado that I observed. I then came upon the damage. Farmsteads completely destroyed. I stopped at one farm stead to help pull the family out of the rubble. There were 4 survivors there, with a direct hit. I stopped at another farmstead. 3 families there, 10 survivors. Everything there was gone. I then took 2 of the men from that second farmstead to check on their other families who lived close. They were all OK. Then we came upon a farmstead where an elderly couple lived. EMS tried to find them, but couldn't. I'm assuming they're in the rubble somewhere.

This was a very surreal experience for me. Something I'll never forget.

 

[Jason Bolt]

Was on the storm tracking through Stafford County, my county. Sadly one of our police officer/firefighters was struck by the tornado while in his patrol car and he is in extremely critical condition. Got a few glimpses of an approx mile wide wedge and get pummeled by baseball sized hail. We have damage along a 26 mile track. Praying for no repeat tonight. Thanks to whoever that was west of Macksville that let me use there radar.

 

[Tony Cook]

Caught the Ellis County, OK and Greensburg, KS tornadoes/

From Ellis county:
http://home.austin.rr.com/chasing/4May2007/EllisCountyOK_1b.jpg

After dark, went charging into southern Kansas after the Greensburg storm. When I first saw the tornado, I was just north of Coldwater, with the tornado to my NW. Watched it get larger as it approached Greensburg. Saw a couple of satellite tornadoes at one point, although I'm not sure they were on the ground. I need to review my footage. Unfortunately, my video camera died during the Saturday chase (just as i was approaching one of the Great Bend storms, at that!), so it may be a few days before I can actually get my footage off of 8mm.

The tornado went into Greensburg as I encountered debris on highway 183 just south of town. Had to stop the chase at that point. It was a very sobering encounter, to say the least.


715 miles

TonyC