Chased storm of the day from birth to death, getting a brief view of heavily rain wrapped EF-4 tornado near the town of Esbon.  Caught a small rope funnel on the flanking line and also noted awesome HP structure and gorgeous backlit skies during sunset.

Stats:

Tornadoes: 1

Hail: 0.00″

Wind: n/a

Cool fact:  The Esbon tornado was only 5 miles east of the georgraphic center of the conterminous United States.

The Forecast:

Strong instability ahead of the first pieces of energy in what was to become a persistent troughing feature across the plains. Initial speed shear and jet maxes lagged a little behind. Attention was instead more focused along an outflow boundary near the KS/OK border where SPC issued their highest tornado probabilities. Weak cold front/triple point target further west was also another area for potential storm initiation, but there a stronger cap was of concern.

Detailed Account:

This was going to be the first day in a long string of chasing. The forecast had some concerns, but big potential. The more obvious play was in the SPC highlighted area of interest along the KS/NE border however, experience has taught me to always expect surprises further west on these types of slow moving, large target area setups. As we began to monitor the forecast we shifted course in that direction, arriving in Phillipsburg by early afternoon. We continued west out of town where we found a desolate road, which was probably the quietest spot I have ever visited. There was not a sound to be heard except a gentle breeze and some birds. Once in awhile the sound of a distant passing car would ruin the ambience, but Ill always remember that spot as one of the more peaceful places I have stopped.

After sitting there, almost to the point of falling asleep for an hour, towers began to rapidly develop, and soon the first blips on radar began to appear. It was now go time. This tower here ended up becoming the storm we would chase all day.

We didn’t have to drive far to catch up with the storms base, which was rapidly organizing. There were only a couple other chasers around as well since most were still back east playing the more textbook target. The roads in this part of Kansas were like a roller coaster with very steep hills in between the flat plains we love to view storms on. The storm really began ramping up and showed some textbook structure. Pictured below is a large base with inflow tail feeding into it.

The rotation in the storm was very evident, and we were getting excited for the possibility of a tornado. The storm did appear to be going through multiple cycels rapidly however, and areas of rotation would soon gust out. As soon as it happened though a new area would form, so at least the storm was cyclic instead of outflow dominant. The storm, now the dominant one in the area, was attracting the attention of everyone within 100 miles and the convergence issues were beginning to increase. We tried to stick to the gravel roads to avoid most of it as the storm kept getting more and more organized and teased us with tornadic structure, minus a highly visible tornado.

Funnels would routinely dip down, but last for only 20 seconds and then quickly dissipate.

At some point we noted and filmed some dust being kicked up very nearby an area of rotation, but I suspected this was outflow dust or even a gustnado, as the rotation above was broad, not tigheted up, nor above the dust. A couple people reported this as a weak tornado, but I remain skepitcal. We kept east with the storm for another hour, routinely stopped to observe more of the same features. Some of these scud funnels came incredibly close to the ground, but all we could ever note was rising motion and no rotation, it was really bizarre. It LOOKED like a tornado, but the motions told us otherwise.

Finally nearing the town of Esbon, the storm began getting really HP and it was harder to see into the area of rotation. I wanted to go north to attempt looking southwest into whatever notch there would be, but I was out-voted so we sat outside of the town as the storm skirted us to the north. As we sat there observing, cameras in hand, what appeared to be a large tornado came into view for only a few moments. The motion in the sky was obvsiouly rotating, but the visual we had was such low contrast none of us called out a definite tornado, just that it appeared there was one wrapped in the rain.

Chasers who had a better view (to the north of course) were able to confirm it as a large tornado. This is the best screen shot I can pull from video and is contrast enhanced a bit to make it easier to see.

We kept up with the storm a little while longer, but with loads of rain and hail falling, the roads became trecherous and slow going so following the storm on the back roads from behind was going to be a lost cause. The storm was now an HP beast that looked very threatening, but we could not see into the area of interest at all, just a big precip core underneath a wicked shelf cloud.

We joined the chaser circus on the main roads and followed a little while longer as new storms began to form on the flank, also with embedded areas of rotation. We decided to turn around and go to the back of the line for a clear view. There we saw some wild swirling motions in the clouds but the air was outflow and chilly. These were nothing more than eddies in the sky than true tornadic circulations. At one point a small rope funnel did emerge since there was good amounts of shear, but it never touched down and lasted less than a minute.

It was beginning to get late and we switched gears to our plans for the next chase day. We let the storm go and started slowly heading to where we could find a cheap motel. Hays was about an hour away and we were able to snag a room at the Motel 6 so that became the plan. On the way we stopped to shoot some of back-lit structure by the setting sun, which is always very visually appealing since the sun can highlight every little detail in the clouds.

We arrived in Hays, with surprisingly the Applebees still open where we had a nice dinner and then proceeded to our motel for the night, already in decent position for the next days setup.

Conclusion:

Day 1 of the trip was already a success with a wicked HP supercell and a tornado catch despite the view being horribly contrast. The Esbon tornado ended up being rated EF-4 due to a measured wind gust around 180mph. Perhaps a more agressive approach to get north would have allowed us a better view. The day was also a forecast and target win since we were on the storm as it was born with only a couple other chasers around. Its always hard to go against the more obvious target but its nice to see that sometimes it will pay off.

Map not available.

Spc Reports:

Caught large, destructive EF-5 tornado that tore through Moore as it was west of town. Could not pursue tornado due to lack of river crossing so dropped south to other tornadic storms witnessing possible tornado before calling off chase and heading back to Shawnee for dinner/hotel.

Stats:

Tornadoes: 1

Hail: .00″

Wind: n/a

Streak of consecutive chases yielding tornadoes: 4

The Forecast:

Similar setup to previous days as slow moving trough made little progress. Extreme instability under breakable cap with favorable shear for tornadoes and supercells. A slightly veered profile once again made good tornado potential questionable, except for where a boundary sat near the OKC metro area. There was also a CF/TP intersection (cold front/triple point) as well as a mesolow that was forecast to develop in the area to enhance shear. Everything screamed bullseye on the the OKC metro, but I was not thrilled about chasing in the metro so I set my target area for just south of Norman and hoped storms would instead develop there and track through more open areas. SPC went MDT risk, but “only” 10 hatched for tornadoes.

Detailed Account:

Originally when formulating plans to chase this system, Monday May 20th had the potential to be a more local chase across the midwest, but in the back of my mind I kept it open in case the system slowed down and this is indeed what happened. The slow movement of the trough meant the days target area would shift further south which each progressive day, and so would our tactics. As mentioned above, everything on the models screamed the Oklahoma City Metro area as the target zone, but I did not want to believe it nor set my target area in the city. Everyone in the car agreed and we never even considered another target, so we set course for Ben Holcombs apartment in Norman, since that was at least on the southern end of the big city area. I wanted and hoped for storms to form further south…in hindsight I let this get in the way of a more successful chase as you will read about soon.

We arrived at Ben’s where we were greeted by many other familiar faces. David Drummong, Bill Oosterban, Jari Ylioja and new chaser Jolayne Limoges. We weren’t there long when the first storms began popping south of the near the town of Purcell. “Good” I thought to myself, this is what I wanted to happen, yet that boundary was still there across the metro. Everyone was antsy to get going after the storms going up by Purcell so we parted ways to get gas and began bolting south for the storms, which looked good on radar.

On our way down, it began happening. A tower exploded to life just west of the metro area, we knew what was going to happen, but for some reason I tried to block it out of my mind and we kept on course for our storm. The Moore storm going up.

We skirted the core of our storm briefly, while watching the Moore storm explode on radar. We knew it was time to turn around because unfortunately, that storm was going to drop a big tornado, and we set course for the metro just as the first tornado warning came out. Reports started pouring in soon after that. A fatal and un-intentional mistake made by us was we got west of the Canadian river, which has NO crossings other than I-44 or I-35. We chose to try going up 44 as reports of a large tornado were pouring in, but our attempt was thwarted by a police roadblock. I managed to get around the roadblock by doing what can best be described as some evasic driving and we found ourselves going east on 130, suddenly through the trees we spotted what appeared to be a very large tornado but I thought “no way its that big.” Right after that Joe showed me a pic posted to facebook that in fact confirmed it was the tornado. I started filming, knowing we would get a view of it again. I turned north on Portland road knowing we only had so much room before it ended, but there was no other choice as going east and then north on I-35 seemed like just as bad an option as 44.

As we traveled north on Portland road, trees blocked our view initially but when they did clear there it was. A monster, 1.3 mile wide tornado about to bear down on the city of Moore.

Danny wanted to stop and get stills but me being the agressive chaser I am I wanted to get as close to it as we possibly could before our road ended, that took us about another mile up the road until the point where it curved back into the highway that was blocked off. I stopped where the last probable clearing of trees was and watched in awe/horror as the violent beast churned infront of us.

At this point it almost doesn’t even look like a tornado. It just looks like a black mass extending from the cloud to the ground, however the visual rotation tells another story.  A storm so massive it looks like the entire sky infront of you is spinning, kind of like being being dizzy, only you’re standing still. It was hard to be excited knowing where the storm was going, though.

Eventually the tornado was lost in the rain, a few powerflashes told us it was still there. It was now entering Moore and was about to unleash total destruction. Thats when the wind calmed around us and I heard the most sickening roar from a tornado I have ever heard. I always criticized the whole “it sounded like a freight train” statement, but after hearing this tornado I now understand where that statement comes from. I’ve heard numerous tornadoes over the years, and theyve all sounded more like a waterfall with a gentle WOOOSH sound. This was more a deep, rumbling growl. I had a sick feeling in my stomach, I have lots of friends in the area, as well as placed I enjoy visiting. We tried to figure out the best way to attempt tracking this tornado which was to take 9 south of Norman and maybe get ahead of it enough to turn north, so that is what we did.

For the first time on a chase we turned in to the radio to hear the live reports coming in, and they were indeed disheartening. We made a very frustrating attempt to get ahead of the tornado again through  metro traffic, police road blocks, and scared locals. We did eventually catch the storm east of the area on I-40, but as we looked at it there was an outflow dominant appearance to it. The tornado had lifted, and we were dealt some cool outflow as we figured the cold front had now undercut it. A whales mouth aided in these thoughts. Now we were left with 2 choices. Go back to Moore and help out, or drop south to the ongoing tornadic storms. On the radio it was broadcast for everyone to stay out of the city unless you had a formal affiliation with an emergency service in the area. That was none of us, so we decided to honor that request and drop south on the new storms heading for Stratford.

Just north of Stratford, we caught up with the storm by core punching into the hook, we somehow managed to find a really flat view in an area otherwise filled with trees and hills and observed this new storm, which displayed classic supercell structure. with RFD clear slot and beaver tail inflow into the wall cloud.

Just about as soon as we pulled over, a funnel developed and dipped half way to the ground. It lasted about 30 seconds but never fully condensed. We could not confirm a touchdown due to the tree line, and I have yet to hear any other chaser accounts saying the tornado touched down, but I would not be surprised at all if it did.

This was all the storm had in store for us though, and it began to move off to the north with no new real attempts at a tornado. We sat there for awhile figuring out what to do next, our minds on what was going on in Moore. We started heading back north when we ran into familiar chase pals Jonathan Williamson, Jeremy Degenhart, Alec Schoelten and Nick Nolte. We decided to grab dinner at Chilis in Shawnee (which was hard hit by tornadoes the day before but still had restaraunts open.) We shared our accounts for the day and had a dinner, as several media began contacting me for potential interviews. Upon leaving dinner we were treated to a pretty wicked mammatus display as the violent storms continued their trek east.

Tragically, 24 people lost their lives in the Moore tornado, which has been rated EF-5. Despite the tragedy of this, it was originally reported as many as 92 had died, which thankfully was not the case.

As of this writing, StormAssist, the storm chaser charity I am associated with has donated $15,000 to the school foundation in Moore. To learn how you can help please check out www.stormassist.org

Conclusion:

This was overall a frustrating chase, not a failure because we did catch the tornado but at the same time I let my hopes and wishes dictate my moves early on as opposed to what I knew based on meteorology. As much as I hate to chase in the metro area, I should probably not allow this in the future. The events are going to happen no matter how much I hope they don’t. Police roadblocks are beginning to really get on my nerves as well. This day was a tragic end to our chase trip, and we would be heading home with heavy hearts and warped minds. I couldn’t get that sound of the tornado out of my head for days, and I still get goosebumps when I think about it. Events like this are not what we want to see, but are an unfortunate reality.

Video:

Incredible radar images showing our location:

Map. Red line shows tornado path, circle shows our location.

SPC Reports:

Played southern end of linear storm complex for best areas of rotation. Caught a beauitful rope tornado from close range right outside the vehicle with funnel passing overhead and debris whirl in field next to us. Debated moving after stronger storms to the south but decided against it. Tracked tail end of the line through Oklahoma before calling off chase and watching lightning display near Ponca City, OK where we roomed up for the night.

Stats:

Tornadoes: 1

Hail: .50″ (dime)

Wind: n/a

The Forecast:

Slowly moving cold front across the plains. Ample moisture and strong instability would exist under fairly weak capping. Numerous storms appeared likely, but a slightly veered profile meant storms may line out quickly, except for areas south and east of Oklahoma city in less favorable terrain. Chose to target the OK/KS border which sat on the northern fringe of the better shear and still allowed for favorable chasing terrain. SPC started the day with a 10 hatched tornado risk but upgraded to 15 once it was clear storm coverage would be greater.

Detailed Account:

Still ecstatic over the amazing tornado we saw the day before, we awoke at our hotel and checked over the days forecast. Today looked like it could be a big severe weather day, but tornado potential was questionable based on some slightly veered profiles above the surface.  I set my target city for Medford and we set course for the day, arriving just as the first towers began going up and the first tornado watch was issued. One particulalrly strong cell began going up near Wichita, it was clear this cell stood a strong chance at producing a tornado and we debated going after it, but we had some solid development going on nearly overhead and decided not attempt racing back north but rather we would let our storms get organized since they existed in a similar environment. Our first look at the base just north of Medford, OK.

The storms were congealing into a line rather quickly, and the name of the game I wanted to play was being right in the cage as I knew there would be quite a bit of rain to deal with. We moved north into Kansas to keep up with the storms, core punching our way through to get into the inflow notch of the southern end of the line, here we figured would be our best chance at a tornado. Some of the roads got pretty muddy and made our pursuit a little dicey. While navigating the tricky roads in the core a funnel began to dip down jsut head of us. It only lasted about a minute and we were never able to confirm a touchdown.

Our road network was unfavorable for a smooth intercept as the complex of storms moved off to the northeast, and with redevelopment continually occurring down the line, the call was made to drop south and stick with that plan. It was a short drive but we had a clearer view of the southernmost end. As we neared the town of South Haven we began to get under the storms base, just as we arrived a new funnel began developing and I pulled us over to watch it.

The funnel slowly began to stretch down as everyone else pulled over started bailing out of the area. I couldn’t exactly figure out why as I knew we were in position to watch something amazing. The funnel eventually stretched all the way to the ground as a brilliant, skinny white tornado against a green core. This is one of my favorite color combinations of a storm and was awed by the sight right outside my window. So close it barely fit into frame.

The tornado slowly moved to our south and began to stretch out into a rope tornado. As it did this the funnel stretched directly overhead. The only way I could capture it on film was to point my camera straight up and then pan down to the ground, where the tornado would touch down intermittently for 10 seconds at a time. As far as viewing tornadoes goes, there is an extra sense of awe when you have to look up at them as opposed to straight at them. The tornado itself wasn’t terribly strong, but our close position to it made for a spectacular show and amazing video. The following 7 images are screen shots from the video.

That is probably the only bad thing about being right next to a tornado, you can’t fit the whole thing in your camera, but there is no better way to view them with your own eyes in my opinion. The tornado moved off to our east and soon dissipated, and we were now caught in the wrap around rotation, which had straight line winds pushing 70mph and made for a hasty escape. To add to the intense moment was an insane barrage of staccato lightning, which has a distinct sound like a loud firecracker going off in your ear. I have only experienced that a couple times, in a more isolated fashion, but this was constant and intense.

By now the complex was becoming more linear, but we decided to stay with the southern end. No new areas of distinct rotation were noted though and it was taking on more a shelfy squall line appearance.

Around this time, a pair of tornadic supercells had gone up east of Oklahoma City, south of I-40. These storms were producing large, damaging tornadoes and we debated heavily about dropping down south after them. They were at least 90 minutes away and in an area that generally does not have the best terrain so we were hesistent to commit to such a move. Instead we continued dropping south on the linear complex we had been chasing, and would detour east after the supercells if we stood a real chance at an intercept. Unbeknownst to me, the supercells were actually moving pretty slow, and many chasers positioned behind us to start managed to get  into the hook regions, but as the storms were finally dying and the tornadoes were dissipating. Had we simply gone for it right away we probably could have made it down there, so I will have to consider slower storm speeds next time (something I am not used to!)

Back on our storms, the southern most end tried to display some rotation structure for a time, and looked pretty neat.

Brief tornadic signatures on radar also kept us in pursuit, until we ended up near Ponca City, OK and finally called off the chase, let the storms go and decided to grab dinner at a Pizza Hut. There we met up with Donovan Grunder and Andrew Newcomb. New storms began developing and they along with Danny and Joe wanted to go shoot lightning so we found a spot for awhile to observe lightning. I don’t really have a camera capable of capturing lightning so I just watched while they fired away shot after shot. The display was indeed impressive, and makes me really want to get an SLR of my own. After about an hour I was itching to get back to the room so I broke off and the 4 of them contiued to shoot the storm for an additional half hour before deciding to head back to our motel.

Conclusion:

The close range intercept of the South Haven tornado made this a fantastic chase. It was the lesser catch of the day when compared to the bigger and much more violent tornadoes that occurred near Shawnee and other places in Oklahoma, but I am ok with that. I will have to remember to consider the possibility of making it down to storms that are farther away when they are moving slower, as I believe if we simply had just diverted down there after our South Haven tornado we could have been easily gotten into position on those storms while they were still producing. Its ironic, I am used to faster storm speeds so I almost consider it a lack of experience with slower storms for that blunder.  Also as of now my streak of chased with tornadoes is at 3 for the year. Impressive considering the slow start.

Video of the South Haven tornado: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151454487093807&set=vb.167447826684097&type=3&theater

Map. Arrow 1 is the location of the funnel, arrow 2 is the location of the South Haven tornado.

SPC Reports:

Sat around in Greensburg most of the day fearing a bust when storm exploded to life. Caught 2 very photogenic tornadoes including the Rozel, KS EF-4 which I was able to document the entire life cycle of. Called chase as storms congealed and had steak dinner in Great Bend, KS to celebrate.

Stats:

Tornadoes: 2

Hail: .25″ (pea)

Wind: N/A

The Forecast:

A deep trough moving into the plains with ample shear and instability in place for supercells and tornadoes. Everything was in place, but the big concern for tornado potential was high LCLs due to strong surface heating forecast to be into the mid 90s with dewpoints generally in the upper 60s/low 70s. Extreme cape around 4500 could potentially offset this, but the main threats today appeared to be very large hail. Still, with such strong cape in place, strong tornadoes would be possible if storms could root closer to the surface. The SPC put out a Moderate risk for hail, with my favorite 10 hatched tornado probabilities across Kansas and into Oklahoma.

Detailed Account:

2013 had been off to a record low tornado season at this point. Good news for every0ne except bored storm chasers. This system began to appear on the models 10 days out, and it began to peak my interest. The initial pieces of energy produced strong tornadoes during the week, leading me to believe that once the real system arrived, we would be dealing with a string of active chase days. In an usual twist of fate, I had a hard time filling seats in the chase truck. Some of my usual partners had already departed to chase the day before which ended up busting, and many others could not tag along since I planned to chase Monday in the plains and would not be back for work obligations Tuesday. A chaser from the area named Joe Pudlik, who had been trying to meet up to chase with me for awhile was able to jump on board. Danny Neal, my past partner in crime wanted to wait an extra day, but I finally convinced him to leave a day early and the 3 of us set sail from Chicago around 1am.

This would be the first run to the plains with my vehicle of the year, which I had spent thousands of dollars on during previous months doing extensive maintenance so I was curious to see how it would perform. I managed to grind through all the driving and we arrived in Greensburg, KS a little after noon to greet all the other chasers in the area. The forecast was looking pretty good. A deck of stratus clouds kept the surface temperatures lower through most of the day but managed to clear out in time to allow heating, which would help with the LCL heights since temps would not be approaching the 100s like they were in Oklahoma. Still, temps did reach the low 90s and it was a bit of a concern. To the north though temps were holding in the mid 80s which was a positive sign.

Another positive sign were the development of beefy cumulus towers off the dryline as we sat in Greensburg waiting.

A few tried to get going into storms, but struggled against the strong cap, which looked breakable, but it was still early and experience told me not to get suckered after them and to hold tight. A strom blew up well to the north that began dropping reported tornadoes and the temptation was tough to fight off. It was now 6pm and we were starting to fear a bust. A cluster of storms was ongoing to the south but looked like a linear mess despite a weird MD from the SPC saying tornado threat was highest in that area even though the surface obs were showing 100/60 (ideally for tornadoes you want a less than 20 difference between those numbers.)  A storm blew up just to our east that had a nice base and caught Danny’s attention. We argued and debated which storm to go after for awhile, Joe wanting to go south, Danny wanting to stick with the middle storm, and me wanting to go to the north storm with reported tornadoes and perhaps check out the middle storm on the way.

We started going for the middle storm, but then it weakened on radar and we bailed south for the south storms, but then a vice versa happened and we turned around again for the north storms. I began to favor the middle storm as a cell merger was about to take place which made me think of a similar scenario back on June 10th 2010 that worked out well. Sure enough as we approached the base began to look really good. Lightning was picking up and Danny wanted to get stills but I insisted we keep north a few more miles to put us northeast of any rotation that could develop and also be in a spot to watch the storm for a good deal of time instead of cat and mousing it every 5 minutes. I found a spot and we pulled off. Not long afterwards the first signs of rotation really began to pick up.

The rotation began to tighten up and I couldn’t believe a big tornado was about to develop. I set up my camera on the tripod, aimed the live stream, and posted to social media to tune in. Not long after, a funnel slowly started to form.

The funnel teased us for a couple minutes by only half way condensing. Finally the first little poof of fust whirled up from the ground and it was an official tornado.

Even after being on the ground for only a second it was already the best tornado I had witnessed since November 7th 2011 and I was ecstatic.  The tornado took awhile to fully plant and condense, but when it did it grew rapidly into a really fat trunk.

I was shooting video and streaming the entire time. The tornado lasted an incredible 26 minutes and we caught the whole thing from birth to death. I pulled this still shot from the video of an amazing lightning strike.

The tornado occluded to the north underneath a beautiful RFD cut. After being gone visually for a few minutes a new tornado  touched down under the same circulation. We were a little far away from this and I decided it was time to move north to get into position for the next one.

As we moved north we ran into a growing problem I hate dealing with, police road blocks. This interfered with where I wanted to go but I was able to keep us moving north as a new tornado touched down to our east. This was another beautiful tornado backlit a grey/white against a green core with lots of lightning. We were closer to it than the previous ones which made for really good shots, though light was fading so I stuck with video. This tornado lasted a good 10 minutes and displayed lots of wild motions. It began to wrap around the parent meso and actually movwed back west closer to us instead of continuing off to the east. Luckily it was not stronger because the cops had us all blocked on our road. Eventually they and everyone else began to slowly move but we held out position a little while longer, as we moved we drove under the occluding circulation and experienced a pretty fast wind shift.

We pulled over shortly down the road and the tornado, still in its rope stage was now on the other side of us underneath a brilliant display of mammatus. I was wowed by the sight and continued filming/video taping. The following are a combination of video shots and pictures from this tornado.

The storms had begun lining out by now so rather than pursue them we decided to let the storm slip away and watching lightning on the back side as well as regain our thoughts. This was the chase I had been longing for since the end of 2011 and there was allot of emotion to take in. Also, while filming this tornado I took a nasty fall when I slipped on the wet embankment so I was in quite a bit of pain and needed to take a break from trying to move so fast. We began to run into some of our familiar chasing pals and we decided to meet up in Great Bend, KS for a celebratory steak dinner, where it was all smiles all around. Alec and Jon, 2 of my regular partners as well as other good friends Nick Nolte and Jeremy Degenhart were also there.

Video clips of the tornadoes can be seen on the facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151452548743807&set=vb.167447826684097&type=3&theater
Conlcusion:

As mentioned above, this was the chase I desperately needed. 2013 flipped the switch in a positive direction and I felt reborn. The tornadoes were beautiful, long lived and photogenic. This may very well round out my top 5 chases of my career.  There really isn’t anything more to say, this was an amazing chase, plain and simple. The Rozel, KS was rated EF-4 based off doppler measurements taken nearby. It did strike a farm house, but luckily noone was hurt. It was the perfect way to start a multi day trip on the plains.

Map. Red track is Rozel tornado. Green track is my best guess at tornado #3. Black circles are where we documented them from.

SPC Reports:

Rozel Tornado Facts:

MAXIMUM EF-SCALE RATING: EF4

FATALITIES:  NONE
INJURIES:    NONE

BEGIN TIME/LOCATION:  7:18 PM CDT SIX MILES SOUTHWEST OF ROZEL.
END TIME/LOCATION:    7:47 PM CDT THREE MILES NORTHWEST OF ROZEL. 

MAXIMUM ESTIMATED WIND SPEED:  165 TO 185 MPH
PATH LENGTH:                   7 MILES
MAXIMUM PATH WIDTH:            1100 YARDS

Intercepted multiple tornado warned, HP supercells in southwest Oklahoma. Encountered mean, classic HP structure, large hail and  brief tornado in the city of Lawton and another possible tornado near Elgin. Detoured for tornado-producing tail end charlie storm near the TX border before calling chase and heading east for next days target.

Stats:

Tornadoes: 1

Hail: 2.00″ (hen egg)

Wind: n/a

The Forecast:

Strong cold front/dryline setup. Good instability in large warm sector with only minor cap. Huge model differences especially between NAM and GFS painted a very different scenario. The GFS screamed tornado outbreak while the NAM said surging cold front likely meant undercut storms similar to the week before. Other models had solutions in the middle which was believed to be the likely scenario.

The cold front was forecast to stall or even retrograde a bit north. The main 850 and 500mb energy was already in place, unlike the week before where it lagged to the west. Early storm initiation looked likely with discrete supercells being the early mode. This looked to be the best setup of the year so far. SPC went MDT risk with good tornado probabilities.

Detailed Account:

This finally looked like a really solid tornado chase. With my vehicle still needing a repair before it can be road ready I teamed up with Alec Scholten and Mike Mullenhoff. We made arrangements to pick up Donovan Gruner who had been stranded in Norman, OK due to his car being nearly totaled after hitting a dear. That meant we had a full boat. The difference between the NAM and the GFS was scary and there was a choice to be made. Either hope the NAM was wrong, or stick back and play the lesser, but consistent warm front target in Illinois home turf. I decided it was go big or go home and we set sail for Oklahoma, making really good time.

We got down there a day early to be plenty rested, when the day came the forecast looked pretty solid and we were excited for our first big chase of the season. We departed Bens apartment with my preliminary target being Vernon, Texas. By the time we reached Lawton, storms had begun firing. There were 2 storms to choose from, one directly to our west near Snyder and one to the south. The one to the west looked better organized on radar but was behind the cold front, while the storm to the south was fully rooted in the warm sector.

The west storm was closer, and if it was able to cross and latch onto that boundary it stood a real chance at putting on an amazing show so we went for it. If the southern storm became dominant, it would be easy to drop south to as opposed to a vice versa scenario involving us trying to blast north as the storm moved away.

We got on the first storm north of Snyder just as my GPS began to malfunction causing us to lose our position, so while I fumbled to get that running again Donovan guided us from the back seat. The storm exhibited good structure, with a long inflow tail feeding into what looked like a wall cloud, but it was still behind the front.

Temperatures at our location would dramatically shift back and forth between warm and moist to downright cold and chilly. We just needed the storm to cross that boundary and it would be showtime. We kept up with it for awhile, eventually reaching the Wichita Mountains, where I began to remember better times from November 7th 2011

The base of the storm actually hit the top of one of the mountains. I thought it would be cool if I was standing on top of it to experience that. I may have to add that to the bucket list.

We kept ahead of the storm a little while longer, on radar the boundary was pulling away and it became clear the storm wouldn’t cross it. The southern storm was still looking good so we let this one go and dropped to the southern one. We picked a spot to let it core us. Our plan was to let that happen then follow it once we were in the inflow region, but the storm began to turn right and take on a more tornadic appearance on radar. I decided it was time to core punch to get into position sooner which meant it was time to tangle on some dirt roads. Radar Image at the time.

We meandered our way down the dirt roads, which Alec did not seem to enjoy very much and was getting quite concerned about the path I had chosed but I insisted we press on or we would miss a show. Eventually we found pavement again just outside the core and we had a view into the storms base, which was great and classic looking. The storm had a large base with a tail cloud feeding into a wall cloud that was showing obvious low level rotation. We were really excited at this point.

The wall cloud would eventually become elongated, appear to gust out, and begin cycling again. This process went on a few times and we had to cat and mouse the storm. having to avoid dirt roads meant we were stuck on pavement and had to battle the chaser hoards. Everytime we saw a parade of headlights coming down the road we made our move to stay ahead. I don’t like playing storms that way but we weren’t left with any other option.

The storm was approaching Lawton, and we stopped just outside of town to take a peak at it. A new rotating wall cloud was ongoing, and a brief white funnel seemed to dip down but would soon dissipate.

Soon after this we spotted a gustnado on the leading edge of the outflow. It was neat, but not the rotation we wanted to see. We pursued the storm into Lawton before deciding to let it go for yet another storm right on its heels. Basically driving in a big circle and getting on the second storm on the same road we were on earlier. First, we decided to sample the hail core and got some hail up to 2″ in size.

The second storm displayed similar characteristics, though darker and more menacing looking. With multiple storms to choose from the chaser crowds thinned out a bit and we were able to get closer to this one without being stuck in a traffic jam.

We decided to stay right under the base, which would transition from rotating wall cloud to outflowy gust front in rapid cycles.

The motions in the clouds were chaotic and very low. The storm being incredible HP made it hard to identify features that would get us a tornado. I did the best I could to keep us tightly packed in the inflow notch/hook so we could at least see. The storm was again approaching Lawton and was now tornado warned. From inside the hook we had a decent view of some pretty good tornadic structure. A big, rotating bow shaped lowering with a clear slot behind it. Some more tease funnels also would rapidly form and dissipate.

Shortly after this I noted a powerflash south of our location, but I could never confirm any ground touchdowns. Other chasers have reported them though. We were now entering Lawton with this area of rotation nearly on top of us. Suddenly 2 more powerflashes happened at close range. The first about a block up, and the second a few seconds later right next to our vehicle that sent sparks raining down outside the window. I was not filming, but Mike Mullenhoff was. This prompted me to turn on my camera and start filming as we entered town.

Shortly after this, Alec spots some funky movement right infront of us and calls it out. I turn to see what appears to be condensed vortices like you would see in a multi vortex tornado. I thought NAH, couldn’t be. I was confused for a moment, but upon studying the area more I noticed there was definite rotation. A weak tornado was ongoing probably less than a block infront of us, and thankfully it was weak because we were on a main street through Lawton in pretty thick traffic. The tornado soon moved to our north and we lost sight of it, or it weakened.  Video:

We chose to pursue the storm east of town and up I-44 and were now caught in the wrap around precip which was downright blinding. White out conditions with zero visibility slammed the vehicle and slowed us down quite a bit, but eventually we were able to clear it and exit the highway to stay in the hook. First we needed to get gas in the town of Elgin.  As we fueled up the wrap around caught us again with an assault of blinding rain and hail. We now had to repeat the move of getting out of this precip, which was more difficult being not on the highway.

We were successful though and as we approached Sterling Springs, Donovan spotted an “edge” of something interesting in the rain. Light was now fading and it was difficult to see, but there was indeed something embedded in the rain. Other chasers got what looks to be a cone tornado on their camera, and I believe that is the same thing we saw, however there is that 1% doubt in my mind due to lack of concrete proof and the fact it was near dark and hard to tell for sure, but here is a radar image at the time I saved because of the good velocity signature.

We were in good position to view the tornado at the time, its a shame it was now dusk and the storm was extremely HP. Could have been a really nice tornado. Here is the LSR:

That was only a couple minutes after the above radar image, and we are on highway 17 at the time. We pursued the storm a little while longer, just to see if we could get a clearer view or see something in the lightning. Meanwhile, a tail end charlie storm blew up in Texas just south of the Red River. We began discussing going after it, but hesitated thinking it would be a similar scenario as we encountered all day, only in the dark. Sure enough, about a minute later tornado icons start popping up along the storm and the decision was made to blast down there. We made good time and met the storm, but it was done producing tornadoes. We met up with Ben Holcomb and David Drummond, who had captured the tornadoes. They all shot lightning while I sat and monitored the radar and plotted any potential intercept courses. The storm began weakening shorlty after and we called the chase. We had intended to chase in Illinois the next day and began the long drive home, tired as ever, but very satisfied with the day.

Conclusion:

Today fell only a little short of expectations because we were hoping for a better daytime, fully condensed tornado. Instead in 2012 like fashion we were dealt a weak bird fart and some at dusk encounters. The tornadoes on the tail end charlie storm were a little better, about half condensed with little debris clouds under them, but again they were at dusk or after dark and I have yet to see any really wowing video of them.

It was nice to get the skunk off my back though, and while not the ideal catch I at least know the year wont go tornado-less. I believe the tornado we caught in Lawton was a weak multi-vortex style tornado that had been ongoing for several minutes and lasting a few miles, but I have not read the official survey yet. It was also great to be on an all day, active storm chase with storms going up at 3pm and chasing till after dark, intercepting multiple storms. The structure was mean and classic for HP supercells. We got into some large hail, caught a tornado from very close range, saw great structure. All in all it was a great, solid chase. Best of the year so far and it felt damn good. The technology glitches were a bit frustrating, but I am used to that by now. The trip was worth it.

Map: Green arrow represents approximate powerflash location, red arrow is where we encountered our tornado. If Mike Mullenhoff ever stops being lazy and gets me the powerflash video I will update this log.

SPC Storm Reports and outlook verification”

Final day with the TIV. Diverted from original target for more challenging play in Arkansas. Intercepted tornado warned storms in difficult terrain noting some quick rising motion but no real rotation or tornado.  Caught my best and closest lightning strike on video near the end of the day.

Stats:

Tornadoes: 0

Hail: .25″ (pea)

Wind: n/a

The Forecast:

Advancing cold front ahead of vast warm sector. Strong instability would be present along with increasing favorable moisture.  Jet energy missing from the day before was more in place today and with a slower moving cold front it meant storms stood a better chance at tornado production than the day before. Instability was a concern initially due to clouds, but the clouds cleared and SPC upped the tornado potential across eastern Arkansas.

Detailed Account:

Today was originally supposed to be a gentleman’s chase on the way home across IL as a warm front was forecast to lift through bringing the usual IL warm front magic hopes. We convinced the TIV to head into the area as well.
Brandon Ivey was unable to chase so Skip took over navigation duties while Sean and I split the driving.

We awoke at our hotel in Joplin, got organized and set sail for the day. On our way conditions began to come better together across Arkansas than originally forecast. In addition, veering surface winds in IL began to concern us. We made the decision to divert south into Arkansas despite the general loathe for the terrain. Our hope was something could get going in the eastern part of the state where terrain is very favorable for chasing.

Skip navigating:

Sean driving:

Abandoned building in rural Arkansas:

Supercells began to form well to our west ahead of the cold front in the bad terrain. I took over driving so Sean could work his camera. One particular storm showed a classic shape on radar with velocity couplet and hook echo. We didn’t want to tangle in the jungle and held out hope a little longer that storms would form further east in the better area. After awhile it appeared this would not be the case and we turned around to head for the storm. Since we were not using my laptop setup I only have an image from my mobile app.

We caught the storm northeast of Clinton near a town called Mountain View. As expected the terrain and road network were quite difficult. We pulled off briefly and began to discuss the best plan to intercept.

As we wound our way through town with sirens blaring the storm had began weakening. A local had tipped us off to where we might be able to find a view and using that tip we did manage to find at least a somewhat decent view, but it was not ideal to put us in the path of the storm so we had to settle for watching it from a distance. We noted some rapid rising motion on what looked to be a wall cloud, at one point there was a coney lowering which could have been an attempt at a funnel/tornado but we could never confirm anything reaching the ground.

We decided not to pursue the weakening storm in the unfavorable terrain. There were no other good storms in the area so we called the chase and pulled over outside of town to discuss what would happen next. This looked to be the end of the mission and we would soon pack all our things and head back into our original vehicles. Skip in his van, and me back with Alec and Jon.

While getting organized, an approaching line of storms dealt us quite a lightning show. I could hear frequent CG getting closer and closer so I started rolling, hoping to catch a close strike, and for once nature dealt me what I asked as a CG bolt came crashing down behind us. Perhaps I am a bit crazy for not being scared sitting inside a giant metal tank, but I love lightning and thunder so I was a happy man at this point.

Video:

Video Still:

Once the strike assault was over we said our goodbyes and parted ways. Driving all the way home to Illinois through the night.

Conclusion:

Today fell short of expectations, but at least had a couple redeeming qualities in the lightning strike and least being on a tornado warned storm. The original target in Illinois lit up with similar storms, so it may have been better just to have stuck with the original target where there would have been at least more favorable roads to mess with.

Chasing with the TIV the past 3 days was an awesome experience and I would like to thank Sean and Jen Casey with proving me the opportunity. They have expressed interest in having me do it again and I am definitely excited about that!

Map/radar not available.

SPC Storm Reports:

A surging cold front ruined what could have been a promising day giving way to the first storm-less bust of the season.

Stats:

Tornadoes: 0

Hail: 0.00″

Wind: n/a

New Milestone: Coldest temperatures ever experienced on a chase morning, 21 degrees!

The Forecast:

A strong cold front plowing southward through the plains. South of that front, strong instability was in place along with favorable directional shear profiles for supercells. Speed shear was on the weak side as the main jet energy lagged to the west still. A stout cap was also in place that looked to hold off thunderstorm initiation till late in the day, except along the cold front where storms had a very short window to get organized before being undercut. SPC had out modest tornado probs, just in case a storm could form far enough ahead of the front to utilize the favorable directional shear.

Detailed Account:

This was supposed to be the big day in the 4 day run when the setup initially appeared on the models. Many were calling for the first tornado outbreak across the plains. However, nature had other plans. The main trough slowed down, keeping the best parameters out west and instead we were dealt a very strong cold front plowing through the plains. This would basically ruin the setup.

We awoke in Colby, KS to a frigid temperature of 21 degrees and our chase vehicles covered in ice! This was by far the coldest I have ever started a chase day, which is impressive considering I live in Chicago. None of us were really prepared for that. I had no socks and only flip flops. Skip had only T-shirts and the rest of us only had light sweaters or hoodies. Heat from the ice coated vehicles became our refuge, only the TIV has no heat. I hit up a local gas station where I paid 7 bucks for 3 pairs of socks, wearing all 3 pairs at the same time (with sandals and looking really goofy!)

I hopped in the TIV and we all began the frigid drive to the warm sector. After 20 minutes into the drive the TIV began malfunctioning and we had to pull off. Not sure what was wrong Sean decided to stay with the TIV and the rest of us were to continue on. Brandon and I hopped into Alec’s vehicle to get some heat, leaving poor Sean to drive the ice cold TIV alone to a better repair shop.

As we slowly made our way into less colder air, the TIVs problems went away and it was determined to be a faulty gauge reading probably caused by the cold air and the TIV rejoined us for the chase. The cold front was plowing through the entire target area, and it took us hours to catch back up to it. When we did, we watched the temperature gauge shoot up from 42 degree to 73 degrees in a matter of minutes.

None of us were enthused at the forecast at this point, we decided to hang out around Wichita and hope for the best. The best never came. After sitting around for a couple hours eventually storms did go up ahead of the cold front and we made a half-assed attempt to get infront of them, but they were rocketing away at 50+ mph with the main threat being barely-severe hail. With no real structure to shoot either we decided to call the chase early and move east for the next days chase. Eventually we settled on Joplin, MO as our place to stay for the night.

An interesting meteorological side note to the day came in the form of a squall line forming in an area where surface temperatures were in the 20s. Parts of Kansas and Oklahoma in the path experienced bonafied thunderstorms producing snow/hail/sleet with numerous lightning strikes!

I took no pictures or video. All I will show you from the day is a picture of me running in the cold wearing my 7 dollar socks and my sandals. One thing about going storm chasing, there are so many with cameras that never a moment goes by without being documented!

Conclusion:

This day fell about as far from initial expectations as it gets. I definitely don’t travel to the plains every spring to wake up to sub freezing temperatures. The best thing I can say about this day is that at least some unique and fun[ny] memories were made. It may have been cool to experience the squall line in 20 degree temperatures and should I ever unfortunately find myself in the middle of such a setup again, I may have to give it a shot for the bucket lists’ sake.

Map/Radar not available

SPC Storm Reports:

Day one driving the TIV. Got on persistent supercell near Burlington, CO noting good structure. Core punched storm once tornado warning was issued getting blasted with hail up to half dollar size.  Called chase once storm began weakening and roomed up for the night in nearby Colby, KS.

Stats:

Tornadoes: 0

Hail: 1.50″ (Half dollar)

Wind: n/a

The Forecast:

Strong instability was forecast again under a stout cap. 850 to 500mb jet energy was still lagging the main surface fronts, but was stronger than the day before. Directional shear was very favorable for supercells and even tornadoes. Moisture was forecast to be stronger as well and with this plus better speed shear, tornado potential looked like it would be higher.

Detailed Account:

The original forecast called for today being a potential localized tornado outbreak. It was one of the big lures on this setup. Awakening to the current forecast though it appeared a good tornado threat had withered away to a marginal risk depending on several key factors. First, the cap. It was strong and storms only looked to form on the outer edge of it, away from some of the better parameters. The area where it looked like storms were a certainly was plagued with lower dewpoints than originally forecast. Been there…done that.

It was my first day with the TIV though, and I was eager to get behind the wheel and see what I could do. We awoke in our hotel room bright and early to Sean (yes, Sean Casey) prepping Alec’s vehicle with a radio so they could caravan. We geared up, Sean gave me a quick “Driving the TIV 101″ course and we set sail for the target area, which looked to be near the NW KS/NE CO border, but not before a photo of course. Pictured is me with TIV navigator Brandon Ivey, and Sean Casey in back.

En route we passed another iconic vehicle. The Weinermobile, and my first critical assignment became to stay along-side it for a photo op.

We made it to Burlington, Colorado with small storms firing to our west. There we met up with other well known chaser Tim Samaras and his son. Both chasers I always enjoy running into in the field. The storms were slow to mature so we held our ground while they got organized and we were able to pick out one we thought would become dominant.

TIV with developing storm in the background.

Our storm near Burlington actually began to look the best on radar and from what we could see visually, so we began to move after it heading north out of town. Similar to the previous day the storm began to display nice structure as we approached.

The storm, while pretty, was suffering from a lack of deeper moisture, which had failed to advect into the area as advertised by the models. Getting a tornado was going to be tough. Similar to yesterday we let the storm pass us so Sean could get a time lapse of the backside structure, which again was a pretty sight to see.

I have been messing around with panoramas lately and am happy with the way this one came out. Click for full size.

Well, much to our dismay the storm went tornado warned at this point, and we jumped back into our vehicles to catch back up to it. Given the road network this meant another core punch was in store. It felt pretty cool to be punching the core in a giant metal tank, not worrying about hail damage. The hail got up to half dollar or maybe even golfball size, which in the TIV only sounded like pea size.

We pulled over once we got into the notch and had a hail fight. It was amusing until Jon got pegged in the face by a line drive shot from Alec. Its all fun and games until someone gets injured. It became apparent our storm was weakening. Darkness was setting in and there were no other storms in the area that were within play. Some storms to our west were producing tornadoes but they were out of reach in the daylight so we opted to head back and get into position for tomorrow.

Our storm did in fact produce a very weak landspout while we were observing the structure, but given the pics I saw it was nothing worth being upset over. The thing was condensed barely 10 feet off the ground and lasted less than 30 seconds. We arrived in Colby, KS where we decided to room up for the night, not knowing a raging arctic front was about to give us the coldest chase-morning of our lives.

Conclusion:

From a chase standpoint, the day fell a little short of expectations given the fact it was originally supposed to be a potential big tornado day. The storm we got on was nice and photogenic though, and the hail was fun as always. Driving the TIV also made this chase a memorable one, it is something I will never forget.

Map/radar unavailable.

SPC Storm Reports:

Sat in chilly air for most of the day until storms finally blew up north of target area. Intercepted southern-most, strongest storm of the day noting great supercell structure and area of rotation with reported tornado. Core punched storm a few times with hail up to half dollar size before letting it go as it began weakening near dusk.

Stats:

Tornadoes: 0

Hail: 1.50″ (Half-dollar)

Wind: n/a

The Forecast:

Day before the day setup. Good instability under a stout capping inversion with main jet energy lagging to the west. A weak shortwave was forecast to move over the area that could ignite storms should the cap not be too strong.  Favorable directional shear meant supercells would be likely with large hail. Meager moisture meant an overall low tornado threat.

Detailed Account:

With the season off to a painfully slow start I was itching to get out there. Finally the long range models began showing a chase-able pattern, but I was cautiously optimistic. In my opinion the pattern wasn’t right to support good tornado setups, still, the models held on to the system and showed some very favorable chase days. With there being multiple days to chase, and time off work I decided to bite on the setup despite my gut’s concerns.

I teamed up with Jonathan Williamson and Alec Scholten who patiently waited for me to get off work the day before so we could head down. I finally arrived and we set sail for the first multi day run of 2013, excited as ever.

We made good time getting to the target area, which was near the KS/OK border. I slept most of the way so it felt really fast. My target city was Greensburg, but many of our chaser pals had converged on Medicine Lodge, which was south of there so we decided to go meet up and shoot the breeze while we waited for storms to fire…and wait we did…for awhile.

It began to look like a bust due to cloudy, cool weather overspreading the target area. Storm began to finally develop to our north near Great Bend around 6pm and the chase was on.  Heading out of Great Bend we finally began to notice some structure, first a really nice beavers tail.

As we got closer and the view got better we were able to see the left edge of the supercell. A lowering was present and really caught our attention.

We pulled over to observe the storm, which was showing signs of rotation and giving an attempt at tornadogenesis.  At one point it appeared a small funnel was ongoing and we thought for a moment it was going to happen.

All the while this storm presented an amazing corkscrew updraft along with a very long beavers tail. The structure was pretty classic, my camera could not capture the whole thing in one frame but luckily Jon’s could and this picture of his shows the amazing structure as a whole.

The rotation soon weakened and the base began to elongate. It turns out that at this time a weak dustwhirl tornado did occur. We were unable to spot it with our eyes though, but other chaser video confirmed the event. I’ve debated on whether or not I wanted to count the tornado as my first of 2013 seeing as how we were technically watching it, but I decided against it for now.

We moved to position ahead of the storm, in case it decided to cycle and try again, but it appeared the base was becoming elongated and slightly more elevated as the storm moved into an area of lower dewpoints. It still displayed nice structure, though.

After observing the storm for awhile we decided to get in a little closer to the bears cage and do some core punching. Alec’s vehicle was looking too new with a flat, un-hail dented hood so it was time to change that. We dove into the core and were dealt a heavy barrage of hail generally nickel or smaller in size. Coming out of the core and into the cage we encountered some larger hail up to half dollar size.

We also had a better view of the area of interest, but the storm still wasn’t showing any signs of imminent tornadogenesis, so we repeated the same core punching move a few more times until the storm began to show weakening signs on radar as the sun was setting.

Jon wanted to head back east to get some photo shots of the backside of the storm being lit up by the setting sun, so that became our next plan. The backside did indeed provide some nice sun-lit structure.

Once daylight faded we decided to head back towards Wichita and meet up with some of our crew. Little did I know I was about to be offered an awesome opportunity. Prior to coming down for the chase, I was asked to navigate the TIV for a couple days. Upon meeting them at an Applebees north of Wichita it was made clear that in fact I would be DRIVING the TIV. Needless to say I was excited for this opportunity and it was a great end to a very good chase.

Conclusion:

Overall this day met expectations. This was not supposed to be a tornado day but rather a day where structure and hail were the main goals, and those were met. Counting the tornado is a grey area at this time. We were watching everything at the time, but were too far to notice the weak dust whirl. For now I will leave it out. This day was a great start to the trip and already the structure shots were nicer than anything I saw in 2012.

Radar image during our cat and mouse core punch game:

Map. Circled area represents area of chase:

SPC Storm Reports:

The tornado was streamed live by Storm Chaser David Drummond, and updates were posted to the Aerostorms facebook page as the event was unfolding: www.facebook.com/tornadochasing