11:00 PM: If you were following our twitter feed, you know that we picked the spot for a tornado: Guthrie, OK. The tornado formed west of us and tracked right towards our location. We moved and the tornado adjusted, again moving towards us. We moved again and once again, we were
Category: Field Notes
7:30 PM: The storm system has turned into a big rain event. We have had reports of a couple tornados, but nothing in our area. We’re heading home. 3:23 PM: We’re preparing to leave for NC OK, probably around Payne County. We have very unstable air and if it all
I’ll update this post as soon as I get time. :) 1:30 pm: A Tornado Watch has been issued for several counties this afternoon in central and eastern Oklahoma, effective until 9pm. WATCH COUNTY NOTIFICATION FOR WATCH 325 NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 127 PM CDT SUN MAY 22 2011
We left Dodge City around 11 am and focused our attention to the south, in Oklahoma. The models weren’t giving us much hope though. It appeared that today would be a bust. Not having breakfast in Dodge, we stopped in Meade, KS for lunch. Terrible. We drove on the backside
Updated Saturday, May 21st. Added 5/19 photographs. 10:41 pm: We’re in Dodge City at the La Quinta (don’t tell my boss), having a drink or two. We chased a couple storms today, one into Reno County and the other to the south of Dodge, which ended up being a pretty
Mid-week and we’re out chasing. Imagine that. Storms were expected to develop along the dryline in western Oklahoma. Target? Woodward. It’s a long drive to Woodward. Along the way, Justin scanned the latest models, radar and satellite images. The dryline was holding just west of our target area. Once in
It started out as a normal Friday. With a hot cup of coffee in hand, I looked at the model runs and forecasts at 6am, like I do every morning. I didn’t see anything really alarming. Rain was forecast along with a slight risk of severe storms in SE Oklahoma
When getting ready for a chase, I think the most difficult task is deciding where the best area for storm initiation will be. Rarely do two people agree on the same target. Major military conflicts have been waged over varying opinions about where to drive, how far to drive, and
Our first pick for a target area was southern Kansas in the small town of Harper. We weren’t the only ones either. A couple dozen storm chase vehicles filled the parking lot of the convenience store. We found a dirt road and waited for something to happen. All of the
Saturday This chase was no different than many of the other chases we’d been on. The NWS forecasts and models, combined with our interpretation of the information available to us, prompted us to activate a day earlier than we’d planned. The elements necessary for severe weather were falling into place.