12/2/2023 0 Comments Monster apocalyptic shelf cloud![]() These storms also dropped a tremendous amount of rain – a theme that would continue for the majority of the day. These storms had severe thunderstorm warnings for 60+ mph gusts and quarter-sized hail, so we just decided to wait the storm out at a gas station. Note the potential wall cloud below the main cloud base.Īdditional storms soon popped up and headed straight towards Woodward. We stopped at a junkyard along the road to snap a picture of a storm we were chasing, but after seeing how fast it was moving to the NNE, we decided to retrace our steps and head back to Woodward. After that, we eyed some storms to our south and headed south to catch them. In Woodward, we decided to stock up on the three Gs: gas, grub, and a grocery or two. Cloudy in Clinton at 11:25 am When we saw this DOW, we knew we were in the right place! Taken around 12:40 pm in Woodward, OK. ![]() These are commonly used to study tornadogenesis from supercells. In Woodward, we saw one of the famous “DOW” (Doppler-On-Wheels) vehicles that haul a portable doppler radar around to get extremely high-resolution radar imagery of supercell thunderstorms. By 12:40, we were in Woodward, and skies were rapidly clearing. As we drove northward toward Woodward, OK, these stratocumulus clouds began to burn off, indicating that the sun was warming the lower atmosphere and eroding away the inversion (or as its commonly referred to, the “cap”). When we left our Econolodge in Clinton, OK at 11:25 am, we had a thick layer of stratocumulus clouds above us, indicating a strong inversion like the one shown in the sounding above. Still, with a couple days of experience and a little luck, we managed to have our most successful day of chasing yet. This gave us a broad area of heavy precipitation and stormy weather rather than discrete supercells that are less expansive but pack more of a punch. This was likely because there was too much dynamic forcing over the area, allowing storms to pop up earlier and all-at-once. However, Thursday actually ended up having fewer tornadoes and smaller hail than Tuesday. Oklahoma City 12z (7 am CDT) soundingĬredit: Storm Prediction Center Sounding Analysis Tool And to think Norman was only in the “enhanced” zone! If you are curious about how to read soundings, check out this tutorial I wrote on Wednesday, which was an “off day” for us. This type of sounding is called a “goal post” sounding because of its similar look to the goalposts in football, and it’s THE sounding you are looking for if you want severe weather. ![]() ![]() And finally, the wind had good directional and speed shear, with the wind veering from southerly to westerly and increasing with height. Additionally, we had very cool temperatures aloft, giving us lots of CAPE. In the sounding below, southerly winds are bringing very warm, humid air into the area from the surface, and hot, dry air at mid-levels originating from the Desert Southwest is creating a strong capping inversion with lots of CIN (convective inhibition) to prevent convection from mixing the atmosphere too early in the day. The hashing indicates there is a 10% chance of an EF-2 to EF-5 tornado striking within 25 miles of any given point in that region.įorecasts are one thing, but our simultaneous emotions of fear and giddiness were confirmed when we saw the sounding (from a weather balloon) at Norman, OK (half an hour north of Oklahoma City) at 7 am. Tornado outlook issued at 11:30 am CDT by the Storm Prediction Center. Their map of tornado probabilities (which highlight the probability of a tornado occurring within 25 miles of any given point) was very threatening, with a bullseye of 30% probabilities and hashing, with indicates a 10% potential of a EF-2 to EF-5 tornado striking in a certain region. In a pink highlighted message at the top, they warned that “some strong, long-lived tornadoes are expected, along with hail to near 4 inches in diameter.” In their “Convective Outlook,” they also designated Central/Southern Kansas and Western Oklahoma as a “high risk” area for severe weather, the highest on their scale. The SPC homepage Wednesday night and Thursday morning painted an apocalyptic scenario for the day. We saw it all: a tornado, tons of wall clouds, an amazing shelf cloud, multiple funnel clouds, and we were pummeled by high winds, torrential rain, and hail on two separate occasions. Even though it was nowhere near as active as forecast, day 6 was by far our most active day yet. ![]()
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