Chase Log: April 15th, 2003

Click on any of the SPC products below (Convective Outlooks, Watches, or MCDs) to see the SPC's "Severe Thunderstorm Events" page pertaining to this event.

NO CHASE MAP EXISTS

Total Distance: 500 miles
Target Area: Gage to Erick, OK
Chase Area: Arnett to Sayre to Weatherford, OK
Maximum SPC Risk category: Moderate
Watches: Tornado Watches 118, 120, 123, 124, and 125
Mesoscale Discussions (MCDs): 459, 461, 463, 466, 468, 472, 473, and 474

A rather potent day was forecasted. A very strong upper low was progged to move across and just north of the area by evening. A dryline was slowly pushing eastward from its 18z position in the central panhandles. Paul Marinski and I headed out about 1:30 (he had work till then), aiming for Gage, OK.

Clouds broke up a bit by afternoon as the area was upgraded to MDT. Paul convinced me to head north, and we sat in Arnett for a while waiting for convection to approach from the west. We heard of a tornado warning for Wheeler county, and we opted to start heading southward to see if we can get the "tail-end Charlie". We didn't see much until we got to Weatherford, where we saw a decent wall-cloud to our immediate north as a tornado warning was issue. This wallcloud was relatively short-lived, and we made it home after dark.