8/17/09 REPORTS: TX/OK

[Jason Boggs]

I went out today expecting to get some good flood video, which is exactly what I got! I ventured east of Amarillo near Panhandle and Conway on SR 207. Radar estimates in that area approach the 8-9 inch mark, and I believe it. When I got to Panhandle, 207 had a lot of water flowing across it just south of town. I ventured south toward Conway and saw more water on the roads. I then made it north of Groom, where I got sporadic hail the size of golf balls. Most of it was between nickels and quarters, but it hailed so much that it covered the road. After playing in the hail, I decided to head back to the station to get my video on air. I had time, so I ventured back on 207 to see if it was still flooded from earlier in the day. The road wasn't flooded, but there was a lot of runoff from culverts under the road. Lots and lots of water was flowing from these culverts, and it made for some great video. As I made it to Hwy. 60, there was about 4-6 inches of water covering the road for about a 150-200 yard span. This was very close to the Tyson meat packing plant on the extreme east side of Amarillo. I really can't believe were getting all this rain! Amarillo set a record for the most rain in a 24 hour period which was 2.30 inches. This breaks the old record of 1.65 inches set in 1904! Here is the photos and video from the day:

radar estimated rainfall

flood about 3 miles south of Panhandle, TX on SR 207

another photo from same location as above

FLOOD and HAIL VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJFB9SYdI1E

 

[Rocky Rascovich]

8/17/09 Reports: Western OK.

We can't forget Oklahoma in this as it was rockin' and rollin' last evening around these parts!

An unexpected treat for me as I noticed some cells going up near Watonga that exhibited some mid level rotation, along with KFOR's helicopter video of the storm. I thought, what the heck, I could use a nice drive to unwind out in the country. I packed my camera gear, bribed my wife in picking up my son, and out the door I went. I got to Okarche just after 1845cdt and just west of there, noticed a distinct, large lowering. It indeed was a wall cloud but was slightly high based and rotation was minimal. I came within a few miles of this cell that took a hard right turn and was slowly making it's way down toward Geary.

The mesocyclone remained intact with the wall cloud occasionally wrapping up as I watched this west of Okarche and on down to Calumet in western Canadian Co. At this time, I linked up with Dave Ewoldt and his girlfriend who was getting some outstanding pictures of the CG barrage that ensued. The best part of this chase was around 1930-2000cdt north of Calumet and about 10-12mi. west of Okarche when the meso was well exposed, complete with striations and inflow bands. It was probably one of the best looking supercells I've seen all year. During this time, the wall cloud would get pretty wound up and looked like it was going to try to drop a quick funnel, but rotation at cloud base was marginal at best.

I took some great pictures along with a little bit of video. I'll try posting the pictures asap, but it might be through my facebook page that I'll make available. Thanks to Dave Ewoldt for letting me tag along and keeping me abreast of radar trends. This was one of my best chases for August .. and, on the anniversary of the Lahoma event from '94!

 

[Wesley Luginbyhl]

I stayed with storms along the outflow boundary along I-40 all afternoon and got into some nasty hail. Groom got pounded by 2" or bigger hail while I was at the Allsups taking cover. First stone I measured wasn't till 7 miles east of Groom (which had been on the ground a while) that was 2.5 inches. This was directly on I-40, which was getting backed up at the time. People were packing under the overpasses where I-40 was blocked completely. I bet there were some cracked windows out there.

Pics:
I found this tennis ball near Panhandle, before I came across the froozen variety a bit later.

Wicked looking shelf cloud. Picture from near Skellytown looking toward Spearman around 10pm.

Vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1OJusB5maQ

 

[Chris C Sanner]

Hey Rocky, just a note, you can post pictures from Facebook on Stormtrack by uploading them to FB and then copying the image location and then using that url to post an image here.

Very similar story to Rocky on where I was at. I did manage to leave at the right time after seeing the Supercell composite at 20 and the STP at 3 along the outflow boundary with 5500 CAPE. That was more than enough to encourage me to make the 1.5 hour drive NW to catch this thing. Is easily one of the best looking storms I've seen this year, and with the barrage of CGs we got, probably some of the better pics of the year. Here are some from my Facebook account (you can add me to see em all):

Very wide-angle view of the storm (several 18mm shots panoramic) just SE of Watonga

Meso area in between Geary and Calumet on dirt roads.

Meso trying it's best...but it failed, pretty horribly.

Storm just before sunset in the same general area, storm wasn't moving that much. Was backing away due to lack of daylight.

Storm just at sunset, in between Geary and Calumet

I took at least 200 useable pictures from this storm, it was pretty freaking photogenic. Got just a ton of CG shots and such. I uploaded just 16 or so to my Facebook account and will hopefully have my chase website online sometime in the next month or two with all the pics and accounts from this year.

 

[Stephen Locke]

Oklahoma

The Watonga Supercell.

Image above is a preview. I am still working on the Gallery.

 

[Stephen Locke]

Watonga Supercell the Movie

It took me three months to make three minutes of video. No movie camera was used to make this piece. It is comprised entirely of hundreds of still images shot over 70 minutes. Describes the evolution of this storm during it's lifespan as a rotating structure, ending when it finally bows out and races east as a self propagating MCS. It's on Vimeo as that seems to yield the best quality. Dang, wish you could see it on true 1080 HD. Guess I'll have to make a DVD someday. You might want to go full screen.

Watonga Supercell by Stephen Locke here.

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