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

[Jason Boggs]

Whew! I'm finally getting around to posting some reports. Damon Shaw and I targeted the area of the NE TX panhandle. We made a data stop at the library in Canadian, TX. We looked at data for at least an hour and just couldn't decide where to go. We both got hungry and decided to eat at the Cattle Exchange restaurant in Canadian. It's good barbecue by the way. We saw nice towers going up to the south as we were eating. We finished and headed towards Glazier. We saw the storm split and focused on the right split. We went east out of Glazier and hit some dirt roads until we got about 6 miles south of Arnett on Hwy. 283. At this point, the storm really didn't look that impressive but it got it's act together very quickly and produced the nice cone tornado. I kind of want to kick myself because I focused mainly on getting video of the tornado and didn't get any good still shots. I did get some good structure shots and funnel shots though. Good enough for me I guess.

VIDEO OF TORNADO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgY7va3meiU


Photo from the Barbecue place in Canadian, TX

When it started to really get organized

As it's producing the tornado

Closer shot of funnel

Close shot of meso

 

[Rich Thompson]

My chase mirrors Tim Marshall's experience. We (me and fellow SPCers Corey Mead and Ryan Jewell) sat for a couple of hours in Greensburg (!), but got impatient and eventually wandered all the way N of I-70 and saw the supercell W and NW of Osborne, KS. The storm was non-tornadic and we figured our chase day was done since we were only 34 miles S of the Nebraska line when we gave up around 8:30 pm.

A timely call from my wife and a convenient radar download let us know about the newly tornadic storm down by Protection (other side of KS!). We were heading to Great Bend anyway, and we thought such a late starting storm might last quite a while in the environment of increasing low-level moisture and shear, despite darkness. So, we kept going S past Great Bend and plotted an intercept near the intersection of US 281 and US 50. We were lucky that we had radar and the storm motion was much more N than E, or we would have never made it there.

Around 11 pm we popped out of the forward flank rain and eventually watched some of the same tornadoes Shane Adams saw (I think). The tornadoes were much more rain-wrapped up toward Macksville and Saint John compared to the earlier video captures from near and S of Greensburg. However, it made for a very challenging chase with the rapid meso evolution and difficult viewing conditions. Our chase ended with a tornado on the outskirts of Great Bend. This tornado formed about 8-10 miles W of another tornado to the S of Ellinwood. It was really eye-opening to be able to SEE rapid cloud base rotation at ~1am with a combination of the town lights and lightning. This meso quickly evolved into a classic cone tornado about 1-2 miles to our N and NNE.

It took us almost an hour to make the last 4 miles through Great Bend thanks to the meso/tornado and widespread street flooding. We think we saw 4 tornadoes, but it's tough to say with the combination of LTG and power flashes. We're confident in 3. Interestingly, there weren't very many chasers or spotters around given the intensity of the storm. I guess almost everyone got cut off by the Greensburg damage. I'm glad to hear some of you stopped to help how you could. We were fortunate to avoid the damage that night.

Rich T.

 

[Brian Thalken]

Waited and waited around Great Bend, KS and as well got impatient. Went north and intercepted the cell in Smith County, KS just outside of Gaylord, KS. Rotation really tightened up with a small funnel forming, but it never got focused enough to touch down.

Chase Account:
http://www.nebraskastorms.com/May_4_2007.htm

Structure shot looking north through windshield.

Small funnel forming where the rotation was tightening up, just outside Gaylord, KS looking west.

 

[Rocky Rascovich]

Hey! This was the first of a three day adventure I had the honour of sharing with Bobby Prentice and the American Heathen himself, RJ Evans, along with a new chaser you'll hear more about, Michael Ratliff.. and it was an adventure that even with a frontal lobotomy, I won't forget.

First off, we did not get to the Greensburg tornado, and it may have been better we did'nt... I applaud everyone who braved the chase and still have their wits about them. Most importantly, I want to personally acknowledge all who stopped and rendered assistance in that community after the fact.
It shows there still is a majority of those on this list that will do what is right in the times of need. My prayers and thoughts are out to all whose lives have been adversely affected by this disaster, I know in my heart that you all will come back stronger than ever.

As for my day... we had a late start as Bobby and RJ picked me up around 1pm, with Mike tagging along, we did our best to aim northwest toward Woodward, we were concerned about capping issues in KS. but a surge at the 200/300mb. level that I was anticipating as the vortmax was starting to eject out would hopefully pop the cork unleashing that near 4000+j/kg cape.. which it did as you know, in an unforgetable way. Despite RJ and Bobby gnashing their teeth over constant computer glitches, we made our way toward Kiowa KS. late in the afternoon, KS. was still clear, at least in my target zone which was between Dodge City, Ness City on east to Great Bend/Pratt. But, our GRL 3 data indicated that cells were developing explosively to our southwest over Lipscomb Co. TX. I was hesitant about backtracking southwest as I thought our "powder keg" would blow anytime initially up toward I-70 and unleash a string of rotating pearls on down the dryline.

We all agreed after looking at data that heading back southwest was our best option, we noticed that the supercell that took shape had Arnett in its crosshairs, we were also hearing reports of a tornado on the ground in that area, we were still about an hours drive away. We did notice that the storm had developed a left split, and then that cell split, so we were witnessing these storms about 40mi. to our west, we eventually got near Curtis, Okla. off of Hwy 412 and watched what was left of the Arnett storm do its swirling swan song... and a graceful way it went too... a striated classic LP supercell, that we experienced with the exception of some anvil precip. and very occasional cg's. At one time, I had three of these strung out, corkscrewed updrafts I was seeing. It was quite a sight. I compare this storm to the Pampa, TX. LP of 4/23 except even better. We all hung around as dusk approached, illuminating the shrinking cell and witnessing the birth of what would be the Greensburg disaster off to our north... we gave very serious thought about going after it, but decided that by the time we would have caught up to it, it would have long gone through Greensburg, and we probably would'nt have made that much progress once north of Coldwater anyway. Later as we were dining in Woodward we were in shock as we watched with a heavy heart the radar data of that spectacular hook heading right over Greensburg... I slept uneasy that night thinking about those poor souls... and a town which I have passed through many a time, was erased from the map.

 

[Verne Carlson]

Michael and I jumped on the Greensburg wedge when it moved into the Great Bend area. We drove up behind it and could clearly see it eluminated in the lightning ahead of us. We encountered the damage path in Claflin, KS and finally got back to our motel in Hays at 4am.

Full report here: http://stormchaserco.blogspot.com/2007/05/greensburg-kansas.html

 

[Tony Cook]

Greensburg video/interview on Austin Fox affiliate

I did a brief interview with the Austin Fox affiliate earlier today. A few seconds of my video is up on their website, along with the interview. The story was mostly accurate, although I have NOT caught 11 tornadoes in the last 13 days. I wish... I have chased 13 days this year, on 11 separate chases, and caught 5-6 tornadoes, depending on the total from this weekend's storms, which I have still been unable to review. The Fox station says they will transfer the rest of my video tomorrow, so hopefully, I can post some more images soon.

Here is the story:
http://www.myfoxaustin.com/myfox/pa...n=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

TonyC

 

[David Schuttler]

I finally got to watch some of my video tonight and pull a few grabs. It was a little eerie to relive the sounds and moments of Friday night again. After leaving work at 5 pm from Tulsa,I was just hoping to make it to a cell before dark and then try some after dark structure shots and then get up Saturday for a full day. Well it ended with me creeping back South into Great Bend again about 3 am and getting a hotel room for a few hours.

This next one is S.W. of Great Bend . The tornado is on the left side of the road barely visable.

Since I have to drive up to Hays Tuesday and pick up my repaired vehicle. I'm hoping to make it back down back the same paths during the daylight.

 

[Martin Kucera]

Filmed the formative stages of the Greensburg supercell as it was still S of Protection, KS. It swiftly dropped a tornado while it was still light. Then I followed the storm north until the road was blocked by powerlines. Went around thru Med. Lodge to Pratt and then north and kept up with the cell till 3am.
I drove through the Greensburg area early next morning and a couple more times on following days. Of course, the town was all closed off so I did a damage survey along the hwy183 south of hwy54. Seems like for the ammount of damage this area recieved little to no attention. I talked to a survivor who lived in a house that was hit by a tornado very early on. This was quite south along us183 (intersection of us183/st R) and his house was in an area that shows first signs of tornado damage anywhere north of Coldwater. He said they got no early warning. He heard the winds pick up and when large hail started falling he went to his basement, heard winds hawling and when they all came out the house was gone. He said he would like to thank everybody out there who was tracking the storm and helped put the warnings out and everybody who helped that night in the area.

Full view of Greensburg Wedge and the supercell directly over the town: (Still Photo)

View of the supercell before it hit Greensburg :
http://www.floridalightning.com/files/Greensburg_KS_Supercell.jpg

Damage along us183:
http://www.floridalightning.com/images/Tornado_Outbreak_May4th_2007.jpg

Next morning Greensburg panorama :
http://www.floridalightning.com/files/Greensburg_KS.jpg


Full account will be on FloridaLightning.com shortly including video of initial stages of the supercell just south of Protection, KS.

 

[Dan Robinson]

I finished a final report on the Greensburg tornado intercept with more frame grabs and a long video clip located here:

http://stormhighway.com/may42007.shtml

For an unknown reason, my VX2100 was suffering from a strange glitch during this event where blue static/artifacts flickered on the screen periodically. That's the first time that occured, and it hasn't done it since. This glitch is not evident in the screen grabs.

In fact, the area for a mile or so to SSW of Greensburg has no damage at all. This all seems to point to the fact that the supercell literally dropped the wedge right on top of the town. There is no indication that the wedge was on the ground just S of the town and moved in later.

This might be a discussion for another thread, but there are no visual indicators that the tornado lifted before it hit Greensburg. Visually and on video, it remained steady-state all the way across 183 and over the town. The damage ending on Highway 183 prior to 54 is because the tornado finally moved east of the road and was well east of 183 by the time it hit Greensburg (downtown Greensburg is about two miles east of Highway 183). The tornado's width and directon of travel (NNE, nearly parallel to the road) put it on 183 for quite a long distance - in other words, it took about 3-4 miles for it to cross 183 completely (from the time the right side of the tornado reached the highway to the time the left side exited it).

 

[Mike Hollingshead]

The cell in nc KS near Alton.

Rest here:
http://www.extremeinstability.com/07-5-4.htm

 

[Tony Laubach]

Complete May 4, 2007 Storm Chase Log

We left Denver midmorning for Kansas where we circled from Goodland south to Tribune, east towards Scott City where we dined on Pizza Hut and chatted with a few folks, then back to the interstate where we checked in to our room in Wakenney and waited for storms to finally fire. Most did well south of us, including the Greensburg storm, and we elected to pass on those as our arrival would have been well after dark. However, a storm fired right at sunset and gave us a chance to shoot some lightning. That was about the only thing we saw on this close-to-the-hotel night.

Excerpt from my blog regarding the Greensburg storm...

My chase partners and I were chasing Friday, but did not elect to go after that storm (the Greensburg tornatic storm). Several reasons for this. First of all, I'm not a fan of chasing large tornadoes after dark. As proven in our run-in the following night, large (wedge) tornadoes are hard to see at night and make for a very dangerous pursuit. Secondly, our position north of the storm would have required us to either blindly punch through the massive rain and hail to get into position which could've lead to us driving right into the tornado. Or it would've had us go around a northeasterly-moving storm which would've taken a long time to do. Lastly, I'm not that desperate to see a tornado. We heard early on in this storm's life that major damage had been done as a result of this tornado, and while we could have likely made it into position to view this tornado, I found no reason to add to an already dangerous situation and feel our presence would have done little to help anybody. Nighttime chasing is extremely dangerous for reasons more than obvious, but add to that the intensity of this tornado and its path making it so chasers had to drive through and over debris made this a situation I wanted no part of. Had we been on this storm earlier and safely, we would have continued the chase for as long as safety allowed and helped in any way we could. But to intercept a storm of this intensity midway into its life seemed like a very risky and unwise decision; one I'm going to make the same everytime except in very extreme circumstances. My chase partners and I all agreed after quick discussion that we'd make no attempt to get on that storm and elected to shoot lightning from other nearby storms. Bottom line, I'm not that desperate to see tornadoes.

My thoughts and prayers are with the people affected by this horrible tragedy. While 10 people is 10 too many, the efforts of spotters and NWS employees saved countless lives on this night with their quick thinking, good eyes, and dedication to their passions. If not for those people, this tragedy would have been worse on a magnitude we could hardly imagine. With too many names to mention, there are plenty of heros as a result of this event, and it will not soon be forgotten.​

Complete May 4, 2007 Storm Chase Log

Complete May 4, 2007 Storm Chase Log

 

[mike scantlin]

mikescantlin.chaseblogs.com

wow. what a bittersweet chase for us. me and my buddy randy rhea basically farted our way west slowly waiting for storms to go up. i didnt want to wait for the south cells so we just held our ground. it paid off. we were heading west toward coldwater when we heard the warning. we only had a weather radio. so we were already scared ****-less. night chasing with no radar is not a good idea. so we're about 8 miles east of coldwater flying towards a tor-warned cell. there was a funnel reported. show time. not even 2 minutes later that funnel report turned into a large tornado with a small(er) tornado forming under a new meso. well, that newer "small" tornado grew. at an alarming rate. as we were turning north onto 183 in coldwater, we could see the southern area of circulation, and it looked iffy. then we get up onto a hill, to see a large cone to the west, with a massive wedge on the east side of the updraft base. massive. we were at least 10 miles away and it was a beast. as we got closer, the western tornado weakened, but 2 satellite tornadoes were dancing around the wedge. there were at least 4 on the ground at this time, 2 strong ones. my buddy randy hicks was very close to these tornadoes and saw 6 at once. 2 more satellites on the northside of the wedge. we followed it north and it only got bigger. at one point, it looked like it was wrapping up in rain. we stopped, i got out and took some pictures, and it looked at least 1.5 miles wide. we were more than 5 miles south of it and it takes up the whole picture. i will post the pictures when im not at work. we continued to follow it north as it went through greensburg. the roads were blocked due to significant damage, so we tried to take a county road around town. bad idea. stuck in the mud. with a new meso trying to funnel to our west. luckily, we're awesome, so we got unstuck, and got the hell out of there. then we decided to go home, due to damage reports and basically knowing we couldnt get to it. we left the wx-radio on just to hear damage reports. it stayed on the ground for at least an hour, and a new large tornado formed as the wedge finally occluded. unfortunately there are 12 confirmed deaths as Greensburg sustained a direct hit. it looked way more than a mile wide as it hit the town, but we'll see after the survey. if they can do a survey. with a HIGH risk placed directly over yesterdays MOD, it could be bad news. SPC is expecting a large outbreak with a couple of long-track, extremely powerfull tornadoes. my heart and prayers go out to the families effected by yesterdays outbreak, as well as those that will be effected by todays even larger outbreak.

 

[Jody Radzik]

On Friday I waited in Greensberg for initiation. When it started to fire well to the south, I decided to skip chasing those storms as I wouldn't have made it to them before dark. I cruised the farm roads along 154 looking for snakes instead. When I got back on to 154, the storms were approaching.

The storm behind this one started pelting me with hail, so I headed back to Dodge City through about 5 miles worth of nickel and quarter-sized hail. When I got back to Dodge, I looked at the NEXRAD and saw this:

The light blue line is my path as recorded by my GPS.

God bless the victims of that monster.

 

[Donald Giuliano]

Well, I've taken a bit of a hiatus from Stormtrack--after this weekend I needed a few days to digest what had occurred. Anyway, here's a link to a preliminary site with a few pictures from this season, including Greensburg, about which I don't really need to say much other than it was disturbing to be on a storm knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that people had just died, and that witnessing the raw power of this storm was a very shocking and visceral experience. That storm was like nothing else I have ever seen.

Mike Scantlin, those are truly incredible pictures you captured, and will become a key part of the historical record of this event. Excellent job.

Prelim chase report/pics:

http://ounhat.com

 

[John Hudson]

After so many computer probs this past week, I guess I am the last to post. Arrived in Lincoln, NE Thursday night to meet my chase partner Andy Fabel. We left for KS on Friday morning, and began with a data stop in Salina, KS at 2:00 pm.

We proceeded to Hays, KS at 5:00pm, and waited for initiation. By 7:30 we noticed a scattering of healthy cells firing up to the east, and intercepted a picturesque supercell near Logan, KS that displayed some healthy shear numbers and a nice hook. We stayed with this storm well into the evening hours, and almost ditched it when it weakened considerably. It began reorganizing itself and began a vigorous cycle of rotation at 8:00, but just wasn't able to drop a tornado.

When darkness came we proceeded to Russell, KS and booked hotel rooms. I had just gotten into my room and turned on the weather radio when I heard the tornado emergency bulletin. All at the same time, I was wishing so badly we had hung out in south KS after having been within 30 miles of Greensburg earlier in the day, and feeling terrible for all the residents.

Congrats to all who bagged this beast; definitely a storm of historical proportions.

We spent most of Saturday within the vicinity of Great Bend, KS, and caught a spin-up just south of the town late Saturday afternoon. It never fully condensed to ground level, but my chase partner spotted some dust whirls on the ground beneath the funnel.

Eventually booked rooms in Great Bend for Saturday night, and heard all the reports about the wedge tornadoes on the ground near Radium and Seward. We didn't like the idea of going on the hunt for them with the heavy rains and questionable road surfaces, so we just stuck it out, watching the images of the storms on WxWorx while the sirens wailed across the street.

All in all, a very satisfying first chase of 2007, with some nice storm structures and awesome lightning. Not including my drive to Lincoln, NE, we covered just over 1500 miles through KS and NE.

I documented some extensive flooding at a place called Missouri River, IA on the journey back home.

Looking forward to chasing the Dakotas later this summer. Maybe I'll see you there!

John
VE4 JTH