Chase Log: April 22nd, 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: 450 miles
Target Area: Henryetta, OK
Chase Area: Okmulgee to Bixby to Muskogee, OK
Maximum SPC Risk category: Moderate
Watches: Tornado Watches 104, 105, and 106
Mesoscale Discussions (MCDs): 428, 432, 433, 434, 435, 436, 437, 438, 441, and 442

I actually liked the setup today more than yesterday. I liked the shear and instability. However, two things really got me excited: upper 60-s along the I40 corridor and points south, and a big fat boundary from south of Tulsa and southeastward. We all know what can happen when supercells interact with boundaries, so I was quite optimistic about the area bounded by OKC-Tulsa-McAlister.

Left Norman about 3p, and heard that a storm was going up north of Tulsa. Got to Henryetta, and proceeded to head north on 75. I liked a storm to out west, but the storms south of Tulsa, and north of us, were severe with rotation. Hearing persistant reports of a large and damaging tornado in and around Rogers County, briefly thought to try and catch up to that storm. However, the storm in Okmulgee county went tornado-warned as we neared west of Bixby. So, we shot east on 171st and then south of hwy 64. Drove through some very heavy rain, but emerged near Haskell and watched a very nice wallcloud try to do something. The main one seemed to get undercut, as a new wallcoud formed a little to east south and east. Headed back on 64, where we saw a tornado looking west out of Haskel. It had nice cloud-to-ground condensation, but was relatively short-lived. I reported it to WX5TUL, but but forgot to keep videoing while reporting it. By the time I picked the camcorder back up, the tornado was barely visible. You can see it as roped-out in a video-still below.

Caught hwy 62 and headed east a little, periodically stopping to watch wallclouds and attempts at tornadogenesis. It looked quite promising for a while between Jamesville, through Taft, and up to Muskogee. As we neared Muskogee, we began to see evidence of a strong RFD punch developing, as scud was pushing rapidly southeastward just to the south of the meso. Non-coincidentally, rotation started to tighten up and again attempt to do something. Now, here is the grey part....

Looking north from Muskogee, we saw a narrow area where condensation in the shape of a tornado was touching the ground, and it had some rotation as well as strong upward motion. However, the rotation was quite weak. The pseudo-nado lifted, but 'touched down' again near the same area a few minutes later. Whatever the case, we went south a little in Muskogee to ensure safety, but later went back north and then east on 64 out of Muskogee. As darkness was falling, the storm appeared to lose some of its supercell characteristics. Could be wrong, but that's just what it looked like from our perspective. So, we called it a day and headed back to OUN.

All in all, it was a good day. Slightly disappointing to again have a nice supercell with numerous wallclouds that only produced brief, weak tornadoes. However, I can't complain with one tornado for sure and possibly another tornado. Whatever the case, I was happy that my target verified well.

04-22-2004 Chase Pictures

Click on any photo to see a larger version

We saw this wall cloud as we came out of the precipitation north of Haskell. We pulled over at this church as it provided a decent place to see the wall cloud. As we left town, we saw this tornado to the southwest. I only got about two seconds of video, as I dropped the camcorder to report it to WX5TUL. When I picked the camcorder back up, the tornado had elongated. It is now rope-like. Another view of the elongated tornado. Another view of the elongated tornado. Another view of the elongated tornado. You can see the funnel stretching from the top-center to the lower-right part of the video grab. This supercell had quite the structure, including occassional low-level rotation, as it continued slowly eastward. A possible tornado north-northwest of Muskogee, OK. While the condensation is in the shape of a tornado, the rotation was quite weak. Therefore, I am reluctant yet to call this a tornado. This supercell did have some impressive CG lightning. This, and others, were captured via video.