OKWEATHERWATCH STORM CHASE 2011 – SEASON 30

17 Days – 4777 Miles

All times CDT

Chase Day #17

June 11, 2011 / 11-17 / DS / 132557-132880 / 323 / 1:59 p.m. / 10 hr 18 min / OK,TX / Gallery - Map

1 - Monster supercell storm moves into northwest Oklahoma from the Texas panhandle.

It took a long time, but the storm of the season finally showed up. There was a very large threat area which extended from eastern Colorado into Oklahoma, but we felt that one of the best places to be was over the northeast Texas panhandle / eastern Oklahoma panhandle and extreme northwest Oklahoma. High surface dew points were moving northwest on strong southeast low-level flow and a northwest to southeast surface boundary was retreating northward. There was sufficient mid-level flow producing shear profiles supportive of rotating storms.

We worked out way northwest to Arnett, Oklahoma watching several areas of developing storms in the region. While some of this looked well organized at times, we continued to stay focused on our original target. A storm starting getting organized in southeast Ochiltree County just after 5 p.m. We decided that this was our first target storm and we started driving toward Follett, Texas as the storm entered Lipscomb County.

The storm appeared LP in nature both visually and on radar, becoming severe over northwest Lipscomb County. Structure steadily improved, becoming very impressive as the storm became rooted over northern Lipscomb County – moving only about 5 M.P.H. to the east. The storm eventually became strong enough to start ingesting other weaker storms from its west and south. This process may have caused the storm to both transition to more of a classic supercell, and increase its tornado threat. We noted more than one area of strong rising motion and rotation before a tornado developed about three miles northwest of Follett. It was embedded in rain, but we were able to see several vortices at the ground for a couple of minutes starting at 7:49 p.m.

Just after this tornado weakened, a close examination of radar showed that a new storm was rapidly developing along its south flank – or basically, on top of us. We fled east through Follett and into Oklahoma, driving through the developing new core. This storm intensified extremely rapidly and we noted strong areas of cloud base motion / rotation as we crossed quickly into Oklahoma. After we cleared the storm, we carefully worked our way east and southeast ahead of it taking the time to stop several times and shoot pictures of the incredible storm structure. Overall, this storm looked downright mean. Low-level flow was screaming into the storm, which was now clearly HP, and lightning was shooting out of just about every place it could come out of the storm.

Storms this impressive are few and far between. We were quite happy with our interpretation of the day, our reactions, and our results. The storm started to weaken significantly when we were near Seiling and this left us with only a short ride back to Okarche.

Chase Day #16

June 10, 2011 / 11-16 / NONE / 131954-132512 / 558 / 10:24 a.m. / 11 hr 25 min / CO,NE,KS,OK / Gallery - Map

2 - Thunderstorms produce cloud to ground lightning near Cashion, Oklahoma.

With limited lightning in the high plains over the previous few days, and a decent amount of lightning with storms in Oklahoma, we made the decision to head back south. The only trouble was the fact that we woke up in Julesburg, Colorado. We were just barely into extreme northwest Oklahoma when storms rapidly formed in Kingfisher, Blaine and Canadian Counties. Needless to say, we didn’t catch up with those. We were treated to other storms which formed in the wake of the original activity that gave us a few nighttime lightning opportunities around the Okarche area.

Chase Day #15

June 9, 2011 / 11-15 / NONE / 131667-131954 / 287 / 1:03 p.m. / 10 hr 41 min / CO,WY,NE / Gallery - Map

3 - Thunderstorms near Chugwater, Wyoming.

This didn’t turn out to be a very exciting day. We left Fort Morgan early in the afternoon and drifted northwest to Burns, Wyoming where we spent about five hours parked in the same place – throwing rocks at various targets and watching storm attempts fail one right after the other. Around 6 p.m. MDT, a line of storms formed over central Platte and northwest Laramie Counties. For a brief time, a couple of the storms looked supercellular on radar. This didn’t last long however, the storms gradually weakened as they moved east and spread over cooler surface air. With limited lightning and structure, and the plan of getting to Oklahoma the next day, we called it over and made our way to Julesburg, Colorado.

Chase Day #14

June 8, 2011 / 11-14 / NONE / 131334-131667 / 333 / 11:48 a.m. / 12 hr 11 min / KS,CO / Gallery - Map

4 - Eastern Colorado superell produced cloud to ground lightning.

I met up with Pete, Steve and Ester in Byers, Colorado where the target was a fairly small one. Despite dew point temperatures in the low 40’s, steep mid-level lapse rates and favorable shear profiles were expected to support a couple of supercell storms in an upslope flow regime. We were not disappointed.

Cumulus began developing early over the mountains and struggled through most of the afternoon. This one was going to take a lot of patience. Numerous failed storm attempts were producing a lot of virga as they spread overhead during the late afternoon. Still, I thought that we would be able to have a supercell evolve out of the mess. That one storm that I was looking for formed just after 6 p.m. MDT over the east side of DIA. We followed it northeast across Adams and Morgan Counties for over two hours. Lightning was limited, but storm structure at times was quite impressive. The storm weakened rapidly over northern Washington County just after 8 p.m. and we spent the rest of the evening watching lightning in Weld County before stopping at Fort Morgan for the night.

Chase Day #13

June 7, 2011 / 11-13 / NONE / 130983-131334 / 351 / 2:29 p.m. / 6 hr 45 min / OK,KS / Map

Just a travel day that landed me in Oakley, Kansas. Plan is for upslope storms the next few days in eastern Colorado and adjacent areas of Wyoming/New Mexico. The intense smoke plume from Arizona wildfires scares the hell out of me. If it shifts north, photo opportunities will be greatly reduced.

Chase Day #12

May 31, 2011 / 11-12 / DS / 130333-130556 / 223 / 10:48 a.m. / 4 hr 51 min / KS,OK / Map

Travel day back to Okarche – but a little on the surreal side for us. We hadn’t been on the road long before coming across tornado damage about nine miles south of Great Bend. We first thought that the damage looked recent enough to believe that it was associated with the storms we had roll through the night before. Looking closer, the dead vegetation was a little older than that and we ended up tracking down information that it was related to a tornado which occurred on the 24^th of May (same day as the violent Oklahoma tornadoes). Diving into the information further, we found out that two fatalities occurred in the driveway of the residence we stopped at. A vehicle containing a family of three people was driving south on Highway 281 when they were confronted by the tornado. They stopped in the driveway and took shelter behind some large trees. Unfortunately, one of the trees fell on the vehicle killing the woman who was driving and her 16 year old son. Their 21 year old daughter/sister was in the back and survived – but apparently sustained serious injuries. The deceased were residents of St. John, Kansas which is located about 16 miles south of where they encountered the tornado. We were still in the process of discussing what they encountered – what they must have thought – and what actions they took when we came to the St. John cemetery. Numerous law enforcement vehicles were providing traffic control for the funerals of the two tornado victims. All in all, we had a rapid fire flood of events which quickly brought to our attention the harsh reality of the impact tornadoes have on people. It has been brought up ad nauseam, but for all the beauty that storms provide – we really do want them to see them stay away from people.

Chase Day #11

May 30, 2011 / 11-11 / DS / 130018-130333 / 315 / 11:09 a.m. / 10 hr 5 min / KS,NE / Gallery - Map

5 - "Home On The Range"

We had fairly high expectations on the day – not only were there likely to be supercells in Nebraska, but we thought a few could form in northwest/north central Kansas as well. We left Great Bend and moved toward Alma, Nebraska taking the time to stop in a couple of small towns and at a cabin site in Smith County, Kansas. This cabin was the home of Dr. Brewster Higley – who wrote the words to what would become the Kansas state song. The poem was titled My Western Home – you might know it more as Home On The Range. When you look at all the lyrics of the poem – and see where he lived for 25 years, you can certainly understand where he got his inspiration. At the same time, a few of the lines suggest that he was suffering at times from cabin fever – or some other kind of fever. We found it to be, well – small. Still, it was an entertaining stop and we then continued our trip north.

Most of our model guidance gave us hope that storms would be within reach, but appeared to greatly underestimate the strength of the cap. We were suckered in on several weak attempts at storms, but in the end, had nothing more than another pretty Kansas sunset along our drive back to Great Bend.

Chase Day #10

May 29, 2011 / 11-10 / DS / 129733-130018 / 285 / 3:31 p.m. / 6 hr 20 min / OK,KS / Gallery - Map

6 - A little smoke enhances the Kansas sunset.

We left Okarche mid-afternoon and headed northwest eventually reaching Buffalo. “Storms” had formed in the northeast Texas panhandle and were moving toward far northwest Oklahoma. We didn’t expect much out of them, but hoped that they would provide us some lightning photo opportunities as we made our way toward Kansas/Nebraska for what was to be a better following day. We didn’t expect much – and didn’t get much. In fact, there were only a couple of times that we “thought” we saw lightning. We did break out the cameras for a couple of stops at an abandoned house and for the sunset before reaching Great Bend, Kansas.

Chase Day #9

May 28, 2011 / 11-09 / DS,ME,JA / 129696-129730 / 34 / 7:08 p.m. / 1 hr 22 min / OK

Just about not worth putting down. We watched all day as towering cumulus worked to become storms just to our northwest. We waited until one did – which became severe warned – and we headed north to intercept it near Dover. The strong capping won out and our storm looked bad by the time we got there and was just about gone a short time later. The cameras never came out of the bags.

Chase Day #8

May 24, 2011 / 11-08 / ES,PA / 129112-129415 / 303 / 12:58 p.m. / 8 hr 31 min / OK / Map

7- Tornado just southwest of Fairview, Oklahoma.

High risk day with typical high risk blues. We knew this would be a big tornado day in Oklahoma, but what usually comes along with that are fast moving storms. Our initial target storm took us too far to the northwest to recover for what was to be the storm of the day in Canadian County. We missed the largest tornado near Canton Lake, but saw a brief tornado near Fairview. Afterward, we made a hard attempt to get in front of what was the big tornado producer. We drove quickly east to I-35 and south to Guthrie. We should have been rewarded with a nice looking tornado for our efforts and the overall way we played connecting with this storm, but instead, found ourselves playing with a very wet, rain-wrapped tornado as it moved through the northwest side of Guthrie. We knew a tornado was there by the radar display and the quick wrapping motion in the precipitation (along with falling debris) – but seeing anything similar to a tornado was virtually impossible. We called it a day at that point and spent the next hour+ trying to find a way across the damage path to get back to northwest OKC.

Chase Day #7

May 23, 2011 / 11-07 / ME,PA / 128960-129112 / 152 / 2:35 p.m. / 4 hr 25 min / OK / Gallery

8 - Supercell just southwest of Okarche was producing hail nearly baseball size.

Our chase kept us pretty close to home – in some ways – too close. Storms had already formed in west central Oklahoma when we departed to the northwest, expecting additional development in northwest Oklahoma. Widespread storms blew up around 3:20 p.m. from Grant County to Custer County. We adjusted our route slightly and worked into northwest Kingfisher County where we watched a severe storm get organized over northern Blaine and southeast Major Counties. This storm produced a brief tornado in northern Blaine County. It was quite a distance from us and we were unable to see debris on the ground despite observing a well organized funnel cloud. Media spotters closer to the tornado could see debris on the ground with this feature.

The storms quickly became a “messy blob” over Garfield and Major Counties and we started moving south toward more isolated storms forming in Kingfisher and southern Blaine Counties. A well organized supercell – with quite impressive structure – formed about 15 miles west of Okarche. The storm wobbled in its movement to the southeast and east and produced large hail within a mile of the house. There also appeared to be a minor tornado threat with the storm as it approached Okarche. When the storm started a rapid weakening trend – we returned to the house and were home by 7 p.m.

Chase Day #6

May 22, 2011 / 11-06 / NONE / 128502-128960 / 458 / 2:08 p.m. / 9 hr 59 min / OK / Gallery - Map

9 - Tornado north of Oaks in Delaware County, Oklahoma - around 8:20 p.m.

Parameters looked similar to the previous day when supercells produced tornadoes in south central Oklahoma. Not a lot of forcing, but big CAPE and decent shear. Afternoon heating and dry line convergence was expected to be sufficient to form storms.

Normally not an eastern Oklahoma chaser, I didn’t think I would have to stray far – maybe eastern Lincoln or Payne Counties – but each passing mile pulled me farther and farther into the eastern Oklahoma abyss.

The first target storm attempted to form in eastern Okfuskee County and I pulled along the east side of it near Okmulgee just after 5:40 p.m. This storm struggled from the start. It had a few interesting features but was very much on the anorexic side of things. While watching this storm fight to grow, there was explosive growth in a CB to my north northeast. This storm was forming near the southeast Tulsa/Wagoner County line and was close enough to become my new target storm. It didn’t take much drive time farther east before what had been good visibility steadily went downhill due to haze.

I literally stumbled up on the business end of the storm near Moodys in Cherokee County. Driving through trees, hills and haze, the updraft region of the storm suddenly appeared to my northwest around 7:30 p.m. There was a lot of rising motion and some rotation – enough so that I thought a tornado was still possible. It appeared to become somewhat disorganized and strung out from that point on as I made my way up the west side of the storm toward Oaks. I had pretty much accepted defeat just before 8 p.m. and started planning my route back to Okarche.

While planning my route back, there was an obvious increase in lightning overhead and just to my north. The sky was cluttered, but radar showed a rapidly increasing storm just to the northwest of the previous one. I got a few big rain drops on me when I stopped at a gas station just north of Oaks along Highway 412. The updraft was just to my west and only interesting enough for me to make a mental note to check it out when I got through inside the station. With Diet Coke, chips and ice in hand, I was more than a little surprised to see what I saw as I went back to the parking lot. There were some trees in the way, but in all likelihood – a tornado was already occurring to my west. I dropped everything in the car and grabbed the video camera and moved to the northwest side of the building.

Times are good / Locations as always are best guesses:

8:17-8:25 p.m. – from 2 northeast of Leach to 3.3 west northwest of Kansas in Delaware County – about 2.3 miles long

8:29-8:30 p.m. – about 4.5 west northwest of Kansas in Delaware County – about a mile long

It was getting dark and I didn’t attempt to follow this storm even though it appeared to be capable of producing further, and it was also likely associated with a possible large tornado which later occurred near Gentry, Arkansas. I stopped for a little lightning photography near Locust Grove and made it home shortly after Midnight.

Chase Day #5

May 19, 2011 / 11-05 / NONE / 127986-128271 / 285 / 1:08 p.m. / 6 hr 11 min / OK / Gallery

10 - Slowly rotating wall cloud near Butler, Oklahoma.

The decision to stay in Oklahoma was largely based on the rumored number of chasers which were headed to Kansas. Yes, it’s sad that it’s come to this, but shear numbers of chasers on the roads do make an impact on chase decisions. Still, I thought that Oklahoma had a decent shot of seeing tornadoes, and it appeared that would come true given the early start of supercell storms in southwest Oklahoma. What I forgot was that I’ve never really had a good day when storms get going so early. The only somewhat impressive storm I came across was in Custer County. There were two brief periods where the wall cloud was rotating enough to hold my interest. By the time the storm moved into Dewey County, it looked as if it had become decoupled from the surface and appeared fairly high based. I dropped back southeast toward storms that were moving toward the Oklahoma City area and met the leading edge near Minco. These storms were totally uninteresting – the sky had more of a winter look than a severe weather look. I could have made an attempt at catching anvil crawlers out of the front of the storm, but the sky had absolutely no contrast to it and I made my way back up Highway 81 to the house.

Chase Day #4:

May 18, 2011 / 11-04 / DS / 127852-127986 / 134 / 3:56 p.m. / 4 hr 14 min / OK / Gallery

11 - We passed this old house once and decided to stop on the second pass. It sits on the east side of Highway 51a - several miles north of Watonga.

This day was expected to be a lot more and we got a lot less than some of the previous chases so far this year. Doug and I left the house on a fairly short trip to the dry line which was just west of Highway 81, where supercell storms were expected to develop. There was high instability and excellent shear in place – and bubbling along the dry line when we left. The CU and TCU started going rapidly downhill shortly after we departed and a dense layer of high clouds overspread our target area. One small CB was evident to our northwest for a time and produced an echo on radar, but weakened about as quickly as it appeared. We spent a few hours driving some back roads in the area on the way back which provided a few photo opportunities – otherwise, the lackluster severe weather season continued its pace.

Chase Day #3:

May 8, 2011 / 11-03 / NONE / 127131-127194 / 63 / 6:05 p.m. / 1 hr 53 min / OK / Gallery

12- Weak storm in eastern Canadian County.

Not a lot expected of the day. Scattered storms formed in southwest Oklahoma and moved toward the metro area. I took a short drive to Minco and picked up a high-based storm that provided a few photo opportunities as it moved through eastern Canadian County.

Chase Day #2:

April 14, 2011 / 11-02 / NONE / 125385-125850 / 465 / 9:30 a.m. / 10 hr 52 min / OK,KS / Gallery

13 - Tornado warned storm looking west from about 8 miles southwest of Bowring, Oklahoma.

My starting place for the day was based totally on the fact that I didn’t want to be chasing in eastern Oklahoma. I know it’s been covered over and over before, but hills, trees, lakes and bad road options are not your friend when you are trying to navigate a supercell storm. Given the fact that storms would become established east of I-35, I thought I would counter the problem by going to Kansas where the landscape is a little less hostile.

One thing that wasn’t forgiving was the amount of time it took to get decent moisture north of the Kansas/Oklahoma border. By 3 p.m., my decision had been made that if I wanted to see good storms, I would have to drop south into Oklahoma - more specifically, Osage and Washington Counties. There are a couple of places to view from. I did say a couple. Once I used those up, it was back to the hills, trees and lakes.

To be honest, the storms looked the best at one of my better viewing areas looking across Lake Hulah. In the end, a typical combination of smoke, haze and mushy storms didn’t excite me. After driving around Lake Copan and through a couple of towns that it looked like time forgot, I returned to Kansas for one final swing for the fence at a tornado warned storm. I found it in worse shape than when I left it and turned the car toward home.

I always seem to have to make one eastern Oklahoma trip each year to remind me why I don’t go that direction very much.

Chase Day #1:

April 8, 2011 / 11-01 / DS,PA / 124803-125011 / 208 / 5:10 p.m. / 5 hr 53 min / OK / Gallery

14 - The sun shines under the anvil of our severe storm a few miles north of Lahoma.

The proximity of the severe threat allowed us to sit at the house in Okarche for much of the afternoon and monitor weather trends. Between 3 and 5 p.m., we watched as a persistent area of towering cumulus spread out of southwest Oklahoma – toward the north central part of the state. As time passed, a concentrated area of interest moved from south to north, just west of Okarche, and finally started becoming a storm in northern Kingfisher County.

We departed northbound shortly after 5 p.m. with our initial target storm near Hennessey. This storm moved quickly into the Enid area by 5:45 p.m., and we started to believe that we would have issues getting through Enid while trying to run it down. At this point, we began to consider changing our target to storms which were getting organized in eastern Dewey and northern Blaine Counties. On the south side of Enid, we made the decision to change direction and worked our way around the southwest side of the city.

By 6:15 p.m., our new target storm had become severe over the extreme northwest corner of Blaine County. We observed this storm from a few miles south of Meno and at another stop about a mile north of Lahoma. It sent off a strong left split and looked a bit disorganized at times, but always had enough shape and lightning to hold our interest.

While in Grant County, around 8:45 p.m., our storm became rooted and rapidly intensified. We drove through core along Highway 11 toward Medford, encountering hail up to golfball size. It was after sunset, which made it hard to see, but we were able to identify a well developed funnel cloud just west of Medford which persisted for about two to three minutes. Wrap-around core was beginning to spread east across Highway 81 and we retreated southward. For several miles in and south of Medford, we encountered large hail – up to tennis ball size.