May 15th featured a boundary across far southern Kansas into northern Oklahoma. Strong convergence, decent moisture and good shear would set the stage for supercells to form along it. By mid afternoon, storms did just that. One main supercell developed and right turned into northern Oklahoma. Structure was very nice and at one point it even produced a funnel halfway to the ground. The supercell was a prolific hail producer with stones falling as large as softballs. As it moved east, it eventually out ran the instability and weakened near dark. One of the prettier supercell of this year so far, and even though it didn’t produce a tornado, the guests loved it! Enjoy the pics!
May 6th High Risk Oklahoma Chase
May 6th looked amazing on paper. All ingredients were well balanced and it appeared that a major tornado outbreak would occur. As the chase set up, models kept hinting at a rapid evolution to a line of severe storms instead of individual supercells. In the end the afternoon models are absolutely correct. The Storm Prediction Center issued a HIGH RISK for Oklahoma and the highest tornado probabilities that I’ve ever seen! As the old saying goes, sometimes too much of a good thing isn’t a good thing. Strong forcing would cause rapid line of storms to form. Most storms were tornado warned, but did not produce. We chased a half dozen tornado warned storms, but only one came close to producing near Canton, OK. We kept dropping to the tail end storm with no luck. Each cell would mature, with a fast developing storm on its flank causing the forward storm to become a cell embedded within a line. Storms need space to rotate and nature didn’t provide that this day. In the end, it was a total bust for almost all chasers, the SPC and local NWS offices. It just goes to show you that no matter what you think you know about the environment, nature knows more!
May 4th Davis Mountains Tornadic Supercell
Even though May 4th was the last day of the tour, we could not pass up the chance to chase the set up this day. Upslope flow, good moisture and instability, along with good shear provided the needed ingredients for supercells and potential tornadoes this day. We knew storms would start out high based, but their bases would lower as they moved east off the mountains into the lower lands where better moisture resided. That is exactly what happened. A cluster of storms formed, of which the tail end cell took over and became dominant. A quick spinup occurred as low level rotation cranked up under the updraft We had to vacate our position due to huge hail falling and drove east of Ft Stockton to a south bound road that would be give a view. The only issue is there just aren’t many roads in this part of Texas. As we drove south, rotation increased as the supercell dropped a rather large cone. It became rain wrapped after a few minutes so we continued southward to where the road put us directly in front of the supercell. Soon cgs started raining down from the updraft and rotation became focused. Several tornadoes formed and rotated around the wall cloud. It was quite the sight!!! After becoming strongly HP, we blew it off since we had a 600 mile drive back to Oklahoma City that night. 3 am arrival, but everyone was stoked due to the excellent day we had! Enjoy the pics!
May 3rd Southwest Texas Tornadic Supercells
May 3rd kept us in southwest Texas near San Angelo and vicinity. Strong instability, good moisture, high CAPE ad decent shear would set the stage for several supercells. A tornado occurred near Silver, Texas early on as we tried to get over to the supercell. Due to one lane roads and closed roads, we could not make it in time, so we dropped south towards San Angelo and played another supercell that had formed and anchored on a boundary east of Town. It had a very pronounced clears slot with rapid rotation in the mesocyclone, and dropped a quick brief dusty tornado. As we pushed east near Eola and watched couple brief landspout tornadoes. RFD was wrapping hard to our north and we decided to explore it. A big bowl formed with tons of blowing dirt, and eventually a brief tornado occurred. Soon numerous storms exploded and things became messy and outflow dominant. At this time, we decided to get away from the mess and call it a day. Fun day, a bit frustrating due to closed roads, etc, but another day with supercells and tornadoes is always a good day! Enjoy the pics!
April 30th Red Oak, Iowa Tornado Warned Supercell
April 30th provided a fast moving, but strong upper level system across the central states. Moisture was sparse, but racing north of southerly low let jet winds. We knew it would be close to get enough good moisture to allow cloud bases to be low enough to produce tornadoes in Iowa. By mid afternoon clusters of storms for in southeast Nebraska. One such storm intensified as it moved into southwest Iowa. It became severe as it moved further east and eventually became tornado warned. On radar it looked like a classic tornadic supercell, but in real life, it’s base was just a tad too high to produce tornadoes. It was a prolific hailer and had nice structure. At one point it had a very large wall cloud that had the look. However, it could never maintain tightened rotation, only broad slow motion. A pretty storm, but just couldn’t produce any tornadoes. A fun day nonetheless!
April 26th Iowa Violent Tornado Outbreak
April 26th had the appearance of a major tornado outbreak. It certainly lived up to the hype! We had spent the night in Salina, Kansas and targeted Nebraska City, NE to Creston, Iowa for tornadic supercells. Strong wind shear, with dew points in the lower 60s and surface based instability of 2500 CAPE would set the stage for the event. We arrived in the Nebraska City area mid afternoon, as a supercell produced a couple of tornadoes between Lincoln and Omaha, Nebraska. Due to storm motion and speed, we could not catch up to it, so we decided to stay put. An hour later storms erupted along a confluence line near the Missouri river and quickly gained rotation. Near Council Bluffs we decided to go east and get in front of a tornado warned storm. When we saw it, it was ready to produce a tornado. As it approached a cone shaped tornado formed, turning into an 800 yard wide EF3 wedge tornado as it crossed the road within a half mile of us. It completely destroyed 2 farmsteads along highway 92 and as we approached them, nobody was there to help the residents. We immediately stopped and went into search and rescue mode. We found a family trapped in their storm shelter as their home collapsed on them. After removing a lot of debris as a few other chasers stopped to help, we were able to get them freed. Shook up, but healthy, attention turned to the other farm. An elderly woman and her dog were buried in debris as her house was demolished except for the walls. They also were able to be rescued. Soon paramedics and the local fire department arrived as we directed them to the residents and told them about propane tank leaks. At that point, it was time for us to leave and let the authorities do their jobs they did so well!
By the time we were able to depart the scene, it was too late to keep chasing as the tornadic supercell was 15 miles north moving away. It went on and produced more strong tornadoes near Minden and Harlen as we turned south to make the journey back to Oklahoma City. I do NOT regret missing the other tornadoes to stop and render help to those in need. Given the opportunity to do it again, there would be no hesitation!!! People are far more important than weather. Thanks to all who stopped that day to help families in desperate need of assistance.
April 23rd Sweetwater, Texas High Based Supercell
April 23rd promised some decent severe weather opportunities. However due to lack of good moisture, storms were high based. We intercepted one storm northwest of Sweetwater and stayed with it all the way south of Abilene where it gusted out. Structure was pretty and the hail up to golfball sized. It was also a pretty decent lightning producer. As it reached maturity and started weakening an haboob developed spewing red dirt all over. Winds were gusting over 70mph. All in all a decent day for the ingredients available to produce intense storms. Enjoy the pics!
March 13th Rossville, Kansas Tornado
March 13th saw our first ON CALL tour of 2024 take place. We chased the 13th and 14th and intercepted either tornadic supercells or tornado warned supercells both days. March 13th took us to central/eastern Kansas to play the warm front/dryline triple point. Most models suggested storms would form there and also along the warm front. And they did both! We jumped on the first strongly rotating supercell east of Alma and watched it intensify and become tornadic after dark. A second supercell to our west also became tornadic near Alta Vista. Unfortunately, since we were committed to the initial eastern cell, we could not make it back west to play the Alta Vista cell. As our cell crossed I-70 west of Topeka it became tornado warned with two large cone funnels extending halfway to the ground. The eastern funnel touched down and became a tornado which lasted close to 10 minutes near the town of Rossville. We stayed with the storm all the way to Hoyt, where a tornado was also reported. We could not confirm one as anything was completely rain wrapped.
March 14th we chased in eastern Oklahoma and western Arkansas and intercepted several tornado warned storms. No tornadoes were confirmed, however hail nearly grapefruit sized occurred. We ended up near Atoka, OK at the end of the day chasing a tornado warned storm just north of town.
Overall, a great way to start the 2024 chase season!!!!
Here’s a You tube link of our video from this day: https://youtu.be/uuLlzTRFcA0
July 15th Northeast New Mexico Supercell
July 15th had a lot going for it. Strong northwest flow aloft would generate good shear with surface southeast winds. High dewpoints in the 60s at high elevations, would also generate a lot of instability. The upslope flow helped develop a well structured supercell near Wagon Mound, New Mexico. This storm was well structured and also produced huge hail baseball sized. The low levels never could tighten up enough to produce a tornado, however the supercell spun southward toward I-40 near Cuervo. It was severe warned for over 4 hours as it moved towards the south. Eventually we let it go as numerous storms blew up around it and thus reduced its ability to continue to maintain its strength. Fun chase over the plains and canyons of northeast New Mexico and fortunately to road network allowed us to continue chasing it all afternoon and early evening.
July 8th LaJunta, Colorado Tornadic Supercell
July 8th was the arrival day for our final tour of the year, Tour #9 the Great North Tornado Hunt. Due to the weather forecast that day, we took the group out for a chase in southeast Colorado. A supercell formed east of Colorado Springs late afternoon and spun like crazy all the way to Kim, CO near the New Mexico border. With strong shear, good moisture and instability in place, the storm would become a long-lived supercell and produce hail 3.5 inches diameter, as well as a nice tornado north of Kim that was on the ground for a few minutes. The structure of this supercell was one of the best of 2023! By mid evening it dissipated, so we went back to Denver to get ready for our official start of the tour. A great way to spend arrival day chasing a stunning tornadic supercell! Enjoy the pics!!
