Chase Log: March 27th, 2004


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.


MAP

Total Distance: 350 miles
Target Area: Elk City, OK
Chase Area: Clinton to Watonga, OK
Maximum SPC Risk category: Moderate
Watches: Tornado Watches 36 and 38
Mesoscale Discussions (MCDs): 228, 232, 235, and 236

Left Norman about 10:30am, with a plan to head west on I40 to Clinton or Elk City. We picked these areas because they have good north/south options. At any rate, as we neared Clinton, we heard and confirmed two storms going up in far western OK -- one to the southwest of Woodward and one to the southwest of Sayre. We stopped in Clinton and spent about 10-20 minutes trying to decide which cell to go for. Despite hearing of the unconfirmed reports of a tornado with the northern cell, we figured we'd head to the cell near Sayre as it was closer, and we saw no reason why any either of the two cells would have a better chance at tornado-ing than the other.

Well, essentially, we chase that southern cell from near Sayre all the way to Kingfisher county. We saw numerous wall clouds and decent rotation, but we never saw any tornadoes... We heard a couple of reports, but we couldn't confirm them. The inflow to this thing was cold cold cold cold cold. I mean, I needed a jacked basically... At any rate, as the cell passes Faye, it began to take on an outflowish appearance. I mean, we were right near the main circulation, but to the east and south it looked more like we were on the back side of a shelf cloud.

So, we gave up on this northern cell and jetted south to the southern supercell. As we passed Geary heading towards I40, the base of the supercell came into view and we saw a fantastic wall cloud. We got onto I-40 westbound and exited at the Hydro exit... We got a good farm road and set up shop for about 20-25 minutes. Rotation was excellent during this time, and a couple of wall clouds formed and dissipated. As the cell passed, it seemed that it went through a slight weakening and reorganization phase. After going back east on I40 and exiting on the same road that we had taken about 45 minutes earlier, we stopped for gas and some munchies. At this time, another very nice wallcloud formed to the north of Hydro. To make a long story short, we followed this supercell to west of I-35... We saw numerous wall clouds, but most lasted on minutes and were poorly organized. There was a hairy moment, however, when we drove under the mesocyclone between Geary and Calumet. Right as the storm appeared to have weakened, and the sun had set, we saw two nice funnels just to the between Calumet and Okarche. The storm did have some excellent lightning after dark too.

All in all, though we failed to see a tornado, I consider it a decent chase day. I saw a myriad of wall clouds (most short-lived and with weak rotation) as well as several wall clouds. Perhaps the coolest thing I saw was the awesome structure the meso had as it was crossing I-40 southwest of Hydro.... Very very cool!

Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I don't think I have ever chased a tornadic supercell, in spring, that moved 25-30 mph! That is just crazy when you think that 500mb winds were 45-60kts at the time.

03-27-2004 Chase Pictures

Click on any photo to see a larger version

The funnel in this picture is located just left of the first tree that breaks the horizon on the left. A very-low contrast video still as the funnel, on the right side, is in front of some heavy rain and hail. I have enhanced this still to help make the funnel easier to see. What we thought was a funnel cloud to the left of the road. Again, the contrast is quite low so it is rather difficult to see. Other chasers have reported this to be a tornado, but I couldn't see it well enough to say one way or the other. A funnel cloud to the left of the road. Contrast is poor so it is difficult to see (granted, the hill in the way does not help either). Deciding to leave the weakening supercell we had chased for the past few hours, we headed south and west towards another very strong supercell south of Clinton. I took this video still as we were heading westbound on I-40 east of Hydro. What a fantastic looking storm!! Another picture of the updraft and rain-free base of this incredible storm. Note that this was dumping tennis-ball sized hail on motorists on I-40 near Clinton. Have I mentioned that this storm had AWESOME structure?! I wish I had an ultra-wide angle lens for this shot, as the updraft / mesocyclone of this storm was nearly text-book perfect! This storm had the best structure of any supercell I've seen to date. Now going north on 281, watching this nice wallcloud try to do something. We followed the storm north and east of Hydro. Realizing we had few road options to the east, we opted to take Hwy 33 east out of Geary. As we left the small town, this very nice wallcloud developing right ahead of us. While we were in near-perfect viewing position, the road ended up bringing us right under the meso. Another view of the wallcloud as we drove eastward on Hwy 270 out of Geary. This particular wallcloud began to dissipate soon after I took this piece of video. However, broad rotation persisted. Video still of cloud-base rotation under the mesocyclone and a nice hailshaft on the left.