Chase Log: June 12th, 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: 500 miles
Target Area: Wellington, KS
Chase Area: West of Wellington to Atlanta, KS
Maximum SPC Risk category: Moderate
Watches: Tornado Watches 446, 448, 449, 453, and 454, Severe Watches 456 and 457
Mesoscale Discussions (MCDs): 1212, 1214, 1217, 1219, 1221, 1225, 1226, 1228, 1233, 1234, 1235, 1237, 1239, and 1240

We had spent a couple of days prior looking forward to June 12th. Decent vertical shear and strong instability were progged over much of eastern Kansas and Oklahoma. Original intentions were to head to northeastern Kansas, but it looked more and more like southern Kansas would be just as valid as northern Kansas. With that said, we headed out on I35 towards southern Kansas.

By around noon, the moderate risk had been extended down the dryline, to now include much of Oklahoma and northern Texas. Despite some optimistic talk about the tornado potential in western north Texas and southwestern Oklahoma, it still appeared to me that the best tornado potential remained in Kansas. So, we continued northbound, before stopping in Wellington for a data stop. While there, it appeared that Wellington was as good a place as any to await convection. And so, we waited...

Some weak convection developed my mid afternoon along the dryline from near Medicine Lodge, KS, into northwestern Oklahoma. A pre-dryline trough had set up just west of I35, with mid-70 dewpoints east of it, while only 60 degree dewpoints were west of it. We opted to sit in Wellington a little longer, as we knew that the storms wouldn't do much until they hit the deeper moisture east of the trough. Since a storm over Harper county was nearing Wellington, we decided to head just west of Wellington to watch it roll in.

Well, that was pretty uneventful. The storm looked pretty weak and was relatively high-based. After watching it for about 45 minutes, we decided to meander back into Wellington to check data again. An impressive-looking storm was visible well east of us, with another storm well north of us. When we got into Wellington and checked data, we learned that the storm we were on had just gone tornado-warned. Indeed, getting out of Wellington to give us a view, we saw that the storm now had a nice updraft appearance. We watched this storm for the next hour or so, as it tried again and again to do something. The storm would produce a wallcloud, then, after about 15 minutes, the wallcloud would dissipate. This happened about four or five times in that hour. Interesting, and not coincidentally, the storm didn't have a good RFD (rear-flank downdraft) during this time...

As the storm crossed I35, approaching Mulvane, a very nice RFD began to cut in. Almost immediately, a nice funnel developed. A couple of minutes later, as we pulled over on the road and tripoded the video, the tornado touched down a couple of times, though the only evidence of it was a dust whirl at the surface. When this feature dissipated, we wanted to reposition enough east of it that we'd be able to tripod again and watch the storm. However, we had to cross a river which was just to our east. As we headed south to get to a highway that would let us cross the bridge, we noticed that the storm was trying again to produce something. By the time we got the our desired road (K55), we saw that the bridge was closed. NO! A quick look at the map showed that there was not another river-crossing for a good 8-10 miles. North or south? While deliberating, we noticed that a funnel had formed again and was stretching towards the ground. After making a quick decision, we opted to head north to stay close to the storm. Ugh, wrong decision...

The tornado intermittently touched down for the next 10-15 minutes. We stopped occassionally to do some handheld videotaping, though I had to keep driving northward to get to a road that would cross the river (K53). However, we finally got to some clear area, and the shot was too good to pass up. I had wanted to get some good video of the tornado, so we pulled over, and I set up the tripod. The tornado was beginning to decrease in size, but it was still grinding away just beyond the trees. Absolutely beautiful tornado...

Well, the tornado dissipated, and we again trekked northward to get to K53. Let the headaches and frustration begin. For the next ~40 minutes, our average speed was probably 10 mph, as the local traffic in and near Mulvane was ridiculous. There was numerous people stopped in the middle of roads and intersections. This made getting around Mulvane quickly nearly impossible. Let me say this: JUST BECAUSE THERE IS A TORNADO NEARBY, THAT DOES NOT GIVE SOMEONE AN EXCUSE TO DISREGARD ALL TRAFFIC LAWS! DO NOT stop in the middle of intersections or in one lane of a two-lane road! UGH! We sat at one intersection for about 15 minutes, as people were parked in the right-hand lane and in the intersection. Let's just say that there have only been a few times in my life that I have been that frustrated...

Well, we were hearing more reports of funnel clouds and tornadoes with this storm. We finally did catch up with it again southwest of Rock. At this time, there was a decaying wallcoud to our northwest, and a developing wallcoud to our northeast. Rather quickly, this a nice funnel cloud dropped down from this wallcloud. We headed east on some backroads in an attempt to both get closer to the storm and get a good view of it. The funnel touched down intermittently in the next several minutes. Not wanting to miss this tornado due to driving, we pulled over and shot some video and slides. This tornado was very skinny, though the setting sun provided for some good lighting.

We proceeded to follow the storm towards Atlanta, KS. We actually caught up with the rest of our chase group near Atlanta (we got seperated back at the 'bridge closure' before the Mulvane tornado). Driving east, the storm had a very impressive wedding-cake updraft, and rotation remained quite strong. We filmed one more, near-dark tornado just west of Atlanta. We followed the storm for a little while longer, though it took on a linear-appearance and, since it was getting dark, we opted to give up chase. We did meet up with JR Hehnly and some other chasers in Winfield.

All in all, this was an excellent chase. We were on the storm from the beginning, and saw some impressive tornadic structure. The bridge closure on K55 was our ruin, as it cost us good positioning and about 50 minutes in driving-near-Mulvane-mess time.

06-12-2004 Chase Pictures

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