Shane Adams
Jo and I convoyed with Chad Lawson, who took one of our co-workers, along with his girlfriend and sister. We left OUN around noon headed to Altus. It didn't take long to clear the canopy of clouds, as the entire SW OK area was clearing nicely. After a brief gas stop in Altus, we decided to head to our original target town of Quanah. We went through town, and took up a position alongside TX6, about ten miles south of town. We waited and waited, noting the obvious cap in place well north of us while the boundary south and southeast of us was producing a long line of turkey towers. Eventually we notcied what seemed to be development west of us, and a call from Mickey Ptak confirmed this. We were hot and getting tired of standing around, so we decided to go after the storms to our southwest. We went south to Crowell, then blasted west on US70 towards Paducah. We eventually came upon three cells which were in various stages of development, and at one time it looked as if one of the original two storms had split to make the third. In any case, we targeted the middle storm, which had the closest thing we could discern to supercell structure. We made it to Paducah, then moved south out of town on US83. As we drove south, rotation was clearly evident in the lowering/wallcloud, although the storm overall was a big hailer and outflow-dominant. Still, broadscale rotation persisted, so we continued our pusuit south. Finally I couldn't stand it any longer, and pulled over to shoot still video. The rotating wallcloud/storm was appx five miles south of Paducah, maybe 1-2 miles west of US83. The rotation was rapid, and very apparent....moreso than I expected upon first seeing the storm's overall structure. I opened the car door and stood on the railings to shoot video (CGs crashing everywhere), while this intense rotation continued. The speed of the rotation was fast enough that I expected a dust whirl at any time to form, but the lowering had that look to it. It was that kind of "look" where you have a ring of cloud rotating rapidly, but the center is hollowed out, kinda like a doughnut, kinda like a storm that spins like crazy but doesn't want to make a tornado. I hoped against hope that we'd get a brief spin-up, but it just wasn't to be; the storm quickly gusted out, and we quickly fled south, thinking we'd given ourselves enough time to beat the core. We were just about to clear the original core when a second one developed quickly southwest of us and buried us. Nothing severe, but spectacular rainbands twirling and whirling across the road all around us as the storm burped out. Kinda gave us butterlies, very cool.
Anyway, we then hit Guthrie and took US82 east, and spent the next hour flying back east through benjamin and Seymour and then Mabelle, shooting NNW on US283. By the time we'd made this move, it was clear the show was over, everywhere. We drove to Vernon, then Altus, where we stopped for a final gas-up. Mick called and wanted to rendevouz near Snyder (he'd been held up at work and was out late today), and we picked him up along US62. Our three car convoy slowly trudged home up I-44 through heavy rain.
Not a bad chase and reward today, and it was all done the old-fashioned way. No nowcasting, no scanner traffic, no NOAA. It was hard as hell and frustrating often, but felt great to get right in front of the day's possible-best rotation with nothing but eyes and guts.
Aside: Jo saw a classic "past meets future" scene today. She laughed suddenly while we were heading west early in the chase, and I asked her what was the deal. She had seen a classic-looking farmer (plaid shirt, worn jeans, John-Deere green hat) standing in a field next to his tractor....talking on his cell phone.
Anyway, we then hit Guthrie and took US82 east, and spent the next hour flying back east through benjamin and Seymour and then Mabelle, shooting NNW on US283. By the time we'd made this move, it was clear the show was over, everywhere. We drove to Vernon, then Altus, where we stopped for a final gas-up. Mick called and wanted to rendevouz near Snyder (he'd been held up at work and was out late today), and we picked him up along US62. Our three car convoy slowly trudged home up I-44 through heavy rain.
Not a bad chase and reward today, and it was all done the old-fashioned way. No nowcasting, no scanner traffic, no NOAA. It was hard as hell and frustrating often, but felt great to get right in front of the day's possible-best rotation with nothing but eyes and guts.
Aside: Jo saw a classic "past meets future" scene today. She laughed suddenly while we were heading west early in the chase, and I asked her what was the deal. She had seen a classic-looking farmer (plaid shirt, worn jeans, John-Deere green hat) standing in a field next to his tractor....talking on his cell phone.
