Danny Neal
EF5
I am going to try to do an unscientific poll and will have the results on my blog when/if this thread takes off and I get some good feedback.
I post this question. In all the years you (my peers) have been chasing....what have your most successful chase day or days been?
Post one or two days in your careers that you all can reflect on and say "Yeah that was just perfect." Based on structure, productivity, lack of hassle involved, and/or sentimental value (I.E your first)
My goal is to tally up everyone's responses during the longevity of this thread (in my blog) and at the end of its duration I will post the unofficial results (on here) and maybe we can figure out a clear cut day that everyone seemed to gravitate towards.
It is the off-season and it sure beats flaming each other
I look forward to seeing the wide spectrum of results that ST features!
_________________________________
#2 - April 23rd, 2000 - First trip to the plains at 12 years old! Got down there on the 22nd, spent the night in El Reno, OK, and was treated to my first Oklahoma thunderstorm. The next day (23rd) chased SE OK and saw my first Oklahoma tornado just east of Mc Alester. A beautiful supercell formed in SW Pittsburg County at around 2 PM. We were gassing up about 20 miles north of Mc Alester when we noticed this massive Cb to the south. It was so eerie to stand at the Mc Donalds (next to the gas station) and hear constant thunder while the sun was shining with blue sky all around. Everytime I dream, I just imagine looking south at 2 large updraft towers.....while to the west and north.....clear blue sky. As we hit Mc Alester, a large wall cloud came into view to the SE. It was amazing. Directly to the east was the core of rain and hail and then almost immediately a low rain free base with low hanging wall cloud. If you have been to Mc Alester, then you know the bridge on the main road in the middle of town? Passes over some rail tracks I believe. As we crested that, the wall cloud and long flanking line came into clear view. If I am feeling generous I may post a video still of it. (I am very reserved when it comes to posting material, I have loosened up in 08 though so one day I may open up to the world) Anyway we stopped just east of town in a JC Penneys parking lot and filmed a brief needle funnel that grew into skinny cone that dipped 50% to ground level. Never knew whether or not this was a tornado until one day a few years ago I looked it up on SPC.
[SIZE=-1]1900[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]UNK[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] MC ALESTER [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]PITTSBURG [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]OK[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]3493[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] 9576[/SIZE][SIZE=-2] LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED TORNADO ON GROUND JUST EAST OF MCALESTER. (TUL)[/SIZE]
Followed the storm east to Red Oak but never saw any else worth noting. Even if it did produce further east (which it actually did) I wouldn't have seen it in the Rocky Mounta....I mean SE OK terrain.......
_____________________________________
#1 - April 14, 2001 - My first and second Kansas tornado! Got down there on the 13th stayed in Cameron, MO. I was 13 years old and back then all we had was a weather radio. We knew storms were going to fire in OK and KS, but had no laptop and the only other means of media was from AM radio and a small 6 in black and white tv. While fueling up in Wichita (were going to head to OKC) we overheard ICT mentioning tornadoes along US 54 corridor in Kansas. We decided to head west on 54 to Pratt. We got there at about, 1:30 PM and booked a hotel room at the Super 8 across from the Pizza Hut and next to the Mc Donalds along 54 just east of 281 I want to say. A severe T storm watch went up to the north for the Salina area as we ate at Pizza Hut. As we paid, a tornado watch went up for Oklahoma. So we were caught in the middle. We were baited south to Medicine Lodge, thinking if anything went up in N OK we MAY be able to get down there and catch it. Back then the NWR coverage was bad in this area so we were going all visual. Looking for towers and trying to stay away from the stratiform precip to the east. Finally a storm popped just SW of Medicine Lodge. We were thinking showtime. It struggle to do much of anything as we head south. Finally just south of Medicine Lodge we let it pass over and were not impressed. So we sat there for ten minutes admiring the Kansas landscape. We had a brief transmission from ICT of a severe thunder storm warning for the storm we just let pass over (by that time it was near Attica) so we blasted north up 281 to Medicine Lodge, thinking we would be blasting east to Attica.
This is when the best decision I have ever had in my storm chasing career occurred. "Dad I have to go to the bathroom"OH!: Much to my dad and brother dismay we stopped for a minute while I "changed the oil" As we fired up the car, a clear cut radio transmission from the Pratt County spotters. Tornado warning western Pratt County! WOW where are we? Where is that? It's only 20 miles ahead? Lets go! As we blasted north on 281 this LARGE core came into view to the north. From east to west, the northern horizon was filled by dark precip. Then there it was....the large rainfree base to the west and the low ragged wall cloud about 10 miles off (near the town of Haviland) For the next 15 minutes we sat 7 miles south of Pratt and watched this beautiful jaw dropping storm move ESE. We let the wall cloud get within 1/2 mile of us (It was so surreal to see scud developing 100 feet off the ground and get drawn in to the center of circulation within such a close proximity of us) All I can say is thank God we had 3 video cameras rolling (2 camcorders and 1 dash cam). The video I was taking SUCKED. If I wasnt shooting my shoe laces, I was filming the power lines above my head. My dad was taking far superior and amazing footage(well least I think so) of the whole event to this point. I made a nice little presentation for my MET class a year ago of this whole event but again I rarely release my work so again I may change my mind eventually.
Anyway, as this storm was moving overhead we dropped south a mile to see a large cone funnel dipping down around the same area we were in. Then we heard it.....what the.......is that???? whoooosssshhhhhhh! Then it hit, like a giant white fist. The RFD. Winds gusted to 80 mph from the WNW and rocked us. I was standing on the opposite side of the road and was blown to my knees (hell I was only 80 lbs back then) That was the inexperience in us though. We should have went south and continued east, instead of going south and sitting south. We got blasted by wind and dime hail for 5 minutes and then it all stopped and it was a brilliant blue cloud free sky behind it. As it blasted east, we tried catching up to it, but with our crappy minivan, we could not take the dirt/mud roads. So we lost time driving back through Pratt, and then east on 54. We got the beginning of the Pratt tornado, but missed the large hybrid wedge that Mike U and Jay A documented. Just as we got east of Pratt, we saw it again. A stout stove pipe about 5 miles to the SE. With a beautiful rainbow painted across the sky. It was a shot made in heaven. Nothing I have seen since compares to this view.......The only picture I have ever released of this day says it all
After this tornado lifted trailed the storm east to Clearwater, KS, where we saw another brief (30 second if that) touchdown just before dark. Here are the reports from the day.
[SIZE=-1]
2324[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]UNK[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] 7 SSE PRATT [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]PRATT [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]KS[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]3754[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] 9867[/SIZE][SIZE=-2] (DDC)[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]
2330[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]UNK[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] 5 NE SAWYER [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]PRATT [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]KS[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]3755[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] 9860[/SIZE][SIZE=-2] (DDC)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]2339[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]UNK[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]10 SE PRATT [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]PRATT [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]KS[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]3753[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] 9858[/SIZE][SIZE=-2] (DDC)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]2345[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]UNK[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] 3 S CAIRO [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]PRATT [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]KS[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]3759[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] 9856[/SIZE][SIZE=-2] (DDC)[/SIZE]
This far and away blows away anything I have seen to this day by far.
So as I said before, how about you??
I post this question. In all the years you (my peers) have been chasing....what have your most successful chase day or days been?
Post one or two days in your careers that you all can reflect on and say "Yeah that was just perfect." Based on structure, productivity, lack of hassle involved, and/or sentimental value (I.E your first)
My goal is to tally up everyone's responses during the longevity of this thread (in my blog) and at the end of its duration I will post the unofficial results (on here) and maybe we can figure out a clear cut day that everyone seemed to gravitate towards.
It is the off-season and it sure beats flaming each other
I look forward to seeing the wide spectrum of results that ST features!_________________________________
#2 - April 23rd, 2000 - First trip to the plains at 12 years old! Got down there on the 22nd, spent the night in El Reno, OK, and was treated to my first Oklahoma thunderstorm. The next day (23rd) chased SE OK and saw my first Oklahoma tornado just east of Mc Alester. A beautiful supercell formed in SW Pittsburg County at around 2 PM. We were gassing up about 20 miles north of Mc Alester when we noticed this massive Cb to the south. It was so eerie to stand at the Mc Donalds (next to the gas station) and hear constant thunder while the sun was shining with blue sky all around. Everytime I dream, I just imagine looking south at 2 large updraft towers.....while to the west and north.....clear blue sky. As we hit Mc Alester, a large wall cloud came into view to the SE. It was amazing. Directly to the east was the core of rain and hail and then almost immediately a low rain free base with low hanging wall cloud. If you have been to Mc Alester, then you know the bridge on the main road in the middle of town? Passes over some rail tracks I believe. As we crested that, the wall cloud and long flanking line came into clear view. If I am feeling generous I may post a video still of it. (I am very reserved when it comes to posting material, I have loosened up in 08 though so one day I may open up to the world) Anyway we stopped just east of town in a JC Penneys parking lot and filmed a brief needle funnel that grew into skinny cone that dipped 50% to ground level. Never knew whether or not this was a tornado until one day a few years ago I looked it up on SPC.
[SIZE=-1]1900[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]UNK[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] MC ALESTER [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]PITTSBURG [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]OK[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]3493[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] 9576[/SIZE][SIZE=-2] LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED TORNADO ON GROUND JUST EAST OF MCALESTER. (TUL)[/SIZE]
Followed the storm east to Red Oak but never saw any else worth noting. Even if it did produce further east (which it actually did) I wouldn't have seen it in the Rocky Mounta....I mean SE OK terrain.......
_____________________________________
#1 - April 14, 2001 - My first and second Kansas tornado! Got down there on the 13th stayed in Cameron, MO. I was 13 years old and back then all we had was a weather radio. We knew storms were going to fire in OK and KS, but had no laptop and the only other means of media was from AM radio and a small 6 in black and white tv. While fueling up in Wichita (were going to head to OKC) we overheard ICT mentioning tornadoes along US 54 corridor in Kansas. We decided to head west on 54 to Pratt. We got there at about, 1:30 PM and booked a hotel room at the Super 8 across from the Pizza Hut and next to the Mc Donalds along 54 just east of 281 I want to say. A severe T storm watch went up to the north for the Salina area as we ate at Pizza Hut. As we paid, a tornado watch went up for Oklahoma. So we were caught in the middle. We were baited south to Medicine Lodge, thinking if anything went up in N OK we MAY be able to get down there and catch it. Back then the NWR coverage was bad in this area so we were going all visual. Looking for towers and trying to stay away from the stratiform precip to the east. Finally a storm popped just SW of Medicine Lodge. We were thinking showtime. It struggle to do much of anything as we head south. Finally just south of Medicine Lodge we let it pass over and were not impressed. So we sat there for ten minutes admiring the Kansas landscape. We had a brief transmission from ICT of a severe thunder storm warning for the storm we just let pass over (by that time it was near Attica) so we blasted north up 281 to Medicine Lodge, thinking we would be blasting east to Attica.
This is when the best decision I have ever had in my storm chasing career occurred. "Dad I have to go to the bathroom"
OH!: Much to my dad and brother dismay we stopped for a minute while I "changed the oil" As we fired up the car, a clear cut radio transmission from the Pratt County spotters. Tornado warning western Pratt County! WOW where are we? Where is that? It's only 20 miles ahead? Lets go! As we blasted north on 281 this LARGE core came into view to the north. From east to west, the northern horizon was filled by dark precip. Then there it was....the large rainfree base to the west and the low ragged wall cloud about 10 miles off (near the town of Haviland) For the next 15 minutes we sat 7 miles south of Pratt and watched this beautiful jaw dropping storm move ESE. We let the wall cloud get within 1/2 mile of us (It was so surreal to see scud developing 100 feet off the ground and get drawn in to the center of circulation within such a close proximity of us) All I can say is thank God we had 3 video cameras rolling (2 camcorders and 1 dash cam). The video I was taking SUCKED. If I wasnt shooting my shoe laces, I was filming the power lines above my head. My dad was taking far superior and amazing footage(well least I think so) of the whole event to this point. I made a nice little presentation for my MET class a year ago of this whole event but again I rarely release my work so again I may change my mind eventually. Anyway, as this storm was moving overhead we dropped south a mile to see a large cone funnel dipping down around the same area we were in. Then we heard it.....what the.......is that???? whoooosssshhhhhhh! Then it hit, like a giant white fist. The RFD. Winds gusted to 80 mph from the WNW and rocked us. I was standing on the opposite side of the road and was blown to my knees (hell I was only 80 lbs back then) That was the inexperience in us though. We should have went south and continued east, instead of going south and sitting south. We got blasted by wind and dime hail for 5 minutes and then it all stopped and it was a brilliant blue cloud free sky behind it. As it blasted east, we tried catching up to it, but with our crappy minivan, we could not take the dirt/mud roads. So we lost time driving back through Pratt, and then east on 54. We got the beginning of the Pratt tornado, but missed the large hybrid wedge that Mike U and Jay A documented. Just as we got east of Pratt, we saw it again. A stout stove pipe about 5 miles to the SE. With a beautiful rainbow painted across the sky. It was a shot made in heaven. Nothing I have seen since compares to this view.......The only picture I have ever released of this day says it all
After this tornado lifted trailed the storm east to Clearwater, KS, where we saw another brief (30 second if that) touchdown just before dark. Here are the reports from the day.
[SIZE=-1]
2324[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]UNK[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] 7 SSE PRATT [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]PRATT [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]KS[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]3754[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] 9867[/SIZE][SIZE=-2] (DDC)[/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]
2330[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]UNK[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] 5 NE SAWYER [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]PRATT [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]KS[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]3755[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] 9860[/SIZE][SIZE=-2] (DDC)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]2339[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]UNK[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]10 SE PRATT [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]PRATT [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]KS[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]3753[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] 9858[/SIZE][SIZE=-2] (DDC)[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]2345[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]UNK[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] 3 S CAIRO [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]PRATT [/SIZE][SIZE=-1]KS[/SIZE][SIZE=-1]3759[/SIZE][SIZE=-1] 9856[/SIZE][SIZE=-2] (DDC)[/SIZE]
This far and away blows away anything I have seen to this day by far.
So as I said before, how about you??
